WIAA head says fight effort to only cultivate top athletes

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The head of the WIAA is telling Wisconsin high schools to fight a national coalition’s effort to cultivate only the top prep players in basketball.

Doug Chickering told the WIAA’s annual meeting near Wausau that schools are facing growing pressure from outsiders in several sports to court the elite athletes.

And it comes at the expense of the average athletes who make up the majority of prep sports teams.

Chickering said the NBA and NCAA have formed a company that seeks to change the structure of youth basketball and compete for players in the AAU ranks.

But Chickering said high school sports will only survive if administrators fight for the best interest of all student-athletes, not just the stars.

Also, Chickering said the WIAA would take at least another year to study the idea of having some private schools compete in larger tournament divisions.

Tags: wisconsin_sports, wiaa, athletes