Trost

Kids AND Parents: Please do me a favor…

Click the video and watch the players, the emotion.

Click the video and listen to the announcers.

Read the shared Tweet/X post from the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the most iconic professional franchises in the world.

You don’t have to specialize in one sport.

You don’t have to skip high school.

You don’t have to play for this club or that club or else.

Kids AND Parents: This goes for ALL sports. Mason was a first-round NHL draft pick this past June.

If this doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what I or anyone else can do to make you realize this is about YOUR life, YOUR lifelong memories - not another adult’s decision for YOUR future.

#MoreThanJUSTGames #IHSA

A coach told me today he didn’t think it was a big deal that National Signing Day fell on Veterans Day.

I asked several school leaders about it. Many admitted they hadn’t even thought about it.

Think about this for a second.

Veterans Day comes once a year and of the 11 Federal holidays in the U.S., it’s the only one some schools are in session for.

Veterans Day is a day to pause, reflect, honor and thank the millions of men and women who have served our country, including those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

College athletics now has four - yes four - major signing dates: Nov. 11, Dec. 2, Feb. 3 and April 14.

Four opportunities for signing celebrations and photo ops for social media. So you’re telling me some schools couldn’t wait 24 or 48 hours to hold their photo ops?

Really?

Veterans Day is an opportunity to teach kids about service, sacrifice, gratitude and something bigger than themselves.

Nobody is suggesting the world needs to stop on Veterans Day, but there is a time and place for everything.

The signing photos could have waited until Thursday, Friday or another date.

Veterans Day couldn’t.

We constantly talk about teaching student athletes leadership, character, respect and perspective and the important of serving others.

Those lessons aren’t just taught in classrooms or on playing fields. They’re taught through the decisions adults make.

And today, some schools missed a meaningful opportunity.

Some things are bigger than sports.

#VeteransDay #MoreThanJUSTGames

Thanks for the note.

Many parents, who cycle in and out of the high school sports system so quick, don’t realize the logistics and how Illinois is so different region to region in terms of schools and distances, etc.

The one thing the IHSA could try as a proof of concept is adjusting the sectionals each year and using a so-called non-success factor for them. There are ways to do it to shuffle the sectionals around to ensure the same regions don’t have the same powerhouses knocking heads every year.

Think about it: Using MaxPreps seedings were a proof of concept in the spring, and coaches around the U.S. “loved” them so much that the IHSA decided to keep them.

Again, isn’t it amazing how the IHSA always does what the member schools want, just as they consistently remind folks in their tired and outdated talking points.

(And yes, I’m being very sarcastic that coaches love the MaxPreps seedings.)

#MoreThanJUSTGames

90 percent mental, 10 percent physical.

High schools need to add a mental skills pro on staff to help kids.

Athletic trainers can only do so much.

#MoreThanJUSTGames

High school state associations have spent decades arguing in court that participating in high school sports is a privilege, not a right.

I've read and studied plenty of court transcripts over the years. It’s an argument that comes up time and time again.

But here’s where things are about to get really, really interesting: Could a future high school student-athlete #NIL case challenge decades of legal precedent?

You better believe it could.

Think about how much high school sports have changed over the decades: Corporate sponsorships, multimillion-dollar media agreements, commercial partnerships and now Name, Image and Likeness.

While the business of high school sports has evolved dramatically, state associations continue leaning on legal arguments developed in the 20th century.

How much longer can that legal thinking actually hold up in today’s commercialized high school sports landscape?

Look at Illinois, where the IHSA has faced multiple legal challenges over its rules and authority and lost multiple cases in a row for the first time ever.

Remember something very important: The IHSA is a private third-party business that drives its monetary value from competitions involving kids.

As the commercial value of those kids continues to grow, so do the legal questions surrounding their rights.

See where I'm going with this?

You can’t keep evolving the business of high school sports, while assuming the legal framework governing kids and families will remain frozen in time.

The business, opportunities and stakes have all changed.

Next will be the legal conversation, because you can’t have it both ways.

#MoreThanJUSTGames