High School Sports

Every fall, sports fans by the millions sit glued to their TV sets for a season of college and professional football and basketball. But high school games often command even fiercer devotion. Beyond the relative handful of communities with college or pro teams, interscholastic sports are literally the only games in town. High school sports enjoys widespread loyalty and respect. But there are growing concerns that it is not immune from the drug and academic scandals that have hit college and pro teams in recent years. There are also concerns about exploitation of young athletes and the increasing incidents of “trash talking” and other displays of poor sportsmanship. Indeed, there are even those who challenge the notion that, if nothing else, high school athletics “builds character.”