Bill Banks
For the AJC
On Tuesday night Decatur squeezed past Oconee, thus advancing to Thursday’s Class AAA boys state soccer championship against East Hall in Macon. The game was at turns elating and excruciating, the Bulldogs finally prevailing on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie in regulation.
But that was nothing compared to what followed.
The post-game celebration hadn’t even crested when coaches and a few players realized that Thursday’s 2:30 p.m. game time conflicted with International Baccalaureate testing. Five seniors, all starters, with each having spent two years taking rigorous IB courses, had IB history finals slated for 12:30 p.m.
The full test takes 2½ hours to complete, although a student can choose to leave after one hour. Macon, at the fastest, is a 90-minute drive from Decatur.
“It puts the kids in terrible position,” Decatur Superintendent David Dude said. “You either take the entire test and miss your championship game, or you play and skip the test. Or you take the test in half the time normally allotted and barely make it to the game.”
“They have prepared years for both of these events,” he added, “and being forced into such a decision by the inflexibility of GHSA and IB is unacceptable.”
This year, as it was last year, all 12 boys and girls soccer championships are wedged into three days and one venue at Mercer University. In the two previous years, the games were held at two neutral sites. And previously the games were home or away.
Decatur Coach David Harbin said Wednesday he always knew that if his team made the final—a long shot at season’s beginning—it would be either May 12, 13 or 14. But he didn’t find out the precise time and day until Tuesday morning and, of course, it wasn’t until Tuesday night he knew they’d be playing at all.
The GHSA said Wednesday that Decatur and East Hall would have to persuade another pair of schools to swap game times. That effort failed. Therefore, the GHSA said, Decatur was locked into the 2:30 slot, which not only conflicts with testing, makes it nearly impossible for fans who are students or working adults to attend.
The IB testing schedule is equally inflexible. According to its website, if a student fails an IB exam the year they graduate, they have to wait until “the next year’s testing session” to retake it.
Thursday’s testing has complicated ramifications. It won’t affect the five students’ graduation, and each has already been accepted into a college.
But bypassing the test means they’ll receive no IB diploma, and it also means not taking the final, symbolic step that concludes two years of intense homework, two days a week of taking a 7:30 a.m. seminar along with completion of a college-level research paper.
Doug Altizer teaches social studies at DHS along with a class in IB psychology. He also has a son who’s a junior on the team (not one of the five players involved) and, until two years ago, was the boys’ head coach.
“I’ve taught these students and I’ve coached them since middle school,” Altizer said. “I’ve seen them develop in both disciplines. Championship opportunities are rare, to be sure. But I also understand if they [skip testing] the teachers who have prepared them for two years feel undermined.”
Indeed Decatur championships, particularly in recent years, have been hard wrought. Since 1948, when the GHSA divided into a classification system so that every team had a chance at a state title, Decatur has won a total 24, but only five since 1982.
Boys’ soccer won in 1977 and 2003.
As of Wednesday night Harbin said that it appears all five will make it to Macon, with four skipping the test altogether and one taking the partial test.
“I hate to see kids forgo success in either area,” said Harbin, who played on the ’03 championship. “It just creates a difficult decision for kids and families at a time when they should be celebrating.”
No matter Thursday’s outcome, or how many athletes eventually show, Dude’s not about to let the matter drop.
“This is frustrating,” he said, “because the situation is entirely avoidable. The simple solution is don’t schedule a game during school hours. I will be following up with GHSA leadership to share our district’s disappointment with how this all was handled, along with potential solutions for the future.”
