Soccer and the Army Don't Mix

Jordan-Elbridge (upstate New York) high school senior Kristin Raeon, the team's leading scorer, won't be allowed to play soccer her senior year because she missed too many practices. She was in basic training for the Army.

From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

The 17-year-old had been talking about following the footsteps of her two older brothers for years. Mitchell Raeon is deployed as a sniper on border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Matt Raeon is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, preparing to ship out to Baghdad in early December.

"Having my brothers over there, putting their life on the line for me you can't thank someone enough, unless you do what they do," she said. "I want to fight right beside my brothers."

But the family was surprised when their daughter, who has played on J-E's varsity soccer team since eighth grade and is the school's all-time leading scorer, was told her senior season would be shortened because of practices she would miss while in basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Kristin isn't the only high schooler in New York to run afoul of state rules designed to ensure that young ahtletes are physically fit enough to participate in sports.

South Seneca High School senior Stephen Brewer missed his football team's season opener and several other games because he was in Fort Benning, Ga., for basic training instead of in Ovid for preseason practices.

Maybe New York State governor Eliot Spitzer could take time out from his frantic efforts to provide NYS driver's licenses to illegal aliens via executive order and cut some slack, via executive order, for these young folks who are actually his legal constituents and want to serve their country.