frdbtr wrote:
DComing home early is a different story because sometimes you can't help that and from what I've seen everyone who has come home early has had to do it because of a medical reason.
Not to open a can of worms or derail the thread, but I've never understood what kind of a medical condition (barring mental health) would mean that you can't complete a mission but you can compete at the highest level of collegiate athletics.
I've always thought the medical reason thing was a smokescreen. And it's too bad that an athlete feels they have to throw up a smokescreen rather than being honest with themselves and others or just telling people it's none of their business. That's as much a comment on our LDS norms and culture rather than the athlete.
Regarding Chatman - I suspect that at its core, this was a mission issue scholarship crunch. Everything else is just Dad venting. The mission/scholarship tension is a lot easier to manage in football because there are so many of them which allows greater fungibility. I wish that bballers were encouraged to go even after they said they weren't planning on it, but I understand the need to plan from the coaches' perspective. And if a kid changes their mind, it isn't fair to have to revoke a scholarship from someone else that's been offered. I imagine the coaches would tell players that if they change their mind, the team will accommodate if they can but can't make any guarantees.
Jessica Chatman wasn't kicked off the team, it doesn't seem. Her scholarship essentially expired because she changed her timetable. Why couldn't she have continued as a walk-on and continued to earn her place in the rotation? It's not like BYU is really THAT expensive. Tuition is $2700. But if she wants to go somewhere else where she wouldn't even incur that debt, that's fine too. Just saying, there are choices, consequences and solutions. None of that needs to cause rifts.
