Wow - just wow.

Kudos to the Bowman Academy administration for taking the bull by the horns:


Bowman Acad. returns trophy, teacher resigns
Friday, November 30, 2007

Ineligible players occasionally show up in athletic events, but the S.C. Independent School Association has never before seen an ineligible chess player compete.

Until now.

In the wake of the SCISA State Chess Tournament held in Orangeburg, Bowman Academy has returned its second-place trophy and won't play the game competitively for a year. Chess team sponsor Ryan Davis, the pastor of a local church, has resigned his teaching position at the school.

"We're dealing with young people here, and we have to send the message this is not tolerated," SCISA executive director Larry Watt said.

Davis admits he substituted his son for another player. But he didn't mean to do anything unethical, and he certainly didn't mean for him to win. One bad decision led to another that day, he said. "I didn't know he was good enough to win a trophy."

He's apologized for the event, which "embarrassed me and embarrassed members of my church," he said.

During the Nov. 13 chess tournament, 86 participants representing 15 schools faced off across the chess board for six rounds.

Bowman took home the second- place trophy. But when SCISA officials arrived at their office the following Monday, they found the Bowman headmistress in their parking lot with the trophy.

She told officials that another child played under the name of a Bowman student. Davis allowed his son to play in the student's place when the student wasn't able to show up for the match.

The student who did not show up was not aware of the substitution, officials say.

While SCISA does allow substitutions at matches, Davis' son is home schooled and not eligible to play, Watt said.

"It was as big a shock to the school as it was to us ... To the school's credit, they were horrified."

What made it most unusual was the nature of the event, he said. "It was like, 'A chess tournament?' "

"The stakes for a chess tournament and the stakes for an athletic tournament are not equitable ... Chess is not high-pressure," Watt said.

The school received a financial penalty and is suspended from chess tournaments for a year, Bowman Academy Headmistress Ada Smith said. Neither she nor SCISA would reveal the amount of the financial penalty.

The chess club will continue, however, with a new sponsor, Smith said. "The chess club is a good thing. We just cut back on the activities."

"Bowman Academy regrets this unfortunate incident, and such action is not condoned and will not be tolerated," she said.

Davis said he made a bad decision that day. Bowman prepared to have 13 students compete, but one was unable to show up.

His son came along that day, not expecting to play, Davis said. He decided to let his son play one match while they waited to see if the missing student showed up.

"We didn't take him as a ringer," Davis said.

One thing led to another, and Davis' son continued to play. And win.

Davis said one of the organizers told him if there was a tie, they'd have a playoff. He prepared to have his son throw the match.

But instead of a playoff, they fed the names into a computer to come up with rankings. And Davis' son came in second.

Davis says he was embarrassed.

"I did not intend for it to happen this way ... I did not intend to win a trophy. I had one kid missing and one extra kid standing by," Davis said. And he says, it being his first SCISA event, he didn't understand the severity of the problem.

Gene Crider,

Orangeburg Times & Democrat

Strong...

It is amazing what competition - regardless of what kind it is - can do to a normal, rational thinking adult.

How many of us have moments in a church league basketball game we would like to forget?

Kudos to Bowman for doing the right think. Their headmistress has taught everyone a great lesson; when you break the rules you truely win nothing.

haha

To anyone who lives in the south Midlands this story is not surprising at all. The only surprise is the guy is the pastor of the FB church and that BA actually self reported.