Crittenden County High School’s boys will be back in the All A Classic Basketball Tournament next year, albeit under duress.
The Rockets and two other area schools (Lyon and Livingston) boycotted the small-school basketball tournament in January to bring attention to their opposition to the All A Classic allowing certain private schools – that they say recruit and offer student-athlete financial aid – to be involved in event.
Now, the All A Classic has, in effect, retaliated against the boycotting schools by creating a new rule for participation. Its new regulation says a school must participate in all of the Classic sports tournaments (if the school offers that particular sport) or it can't compete in any of them.
Right now, the All A Classic offers basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, golf, volleyball and cheerleading.
Crittenden County basketball coach Denis Hodge is unhappy about being compelled to play in a tournament where he thinks cheating goes unchecked and Crittenden Superintendent Vince Clark says opposition to what's happening in scholastic sports will continue.
See next week's printed edition of The Crittenden Press for more on this developing story.
