Tragedy in Jackson
There was a tragedy this past week in Jackson Township. Jackson Memorial High School student and defending State Champion wrestler Tyler Biscaha failed to make his division weight. According to an article that was posted on the Asbury Park Press website by Steven Faulk, reliable sources had told the Press that the student “did not even show up to be weighed in and was having trouble making weight this week”. The title of the article was “Jackson’s Bischaha fails to make weight” and went on to exaggerate “Thus Biscaha’s season and career are over”.
The APP reporter, Steven Faulk went on to say that Biscaha declined to comment via text message. The article was later removed from the APP website, but another article the same day, presumably from the same reporter quotes Jackson Memorial wrestling coach Doug Withstandley as saying “”I can’t understand how a senior defending state champion, and supposedly one of the leaders of this team and faces of this program, doesn’t make weight, I can’t stick up for him in anyway. It bothers me. Somewhere along the line, he lost that feeling in the pit of his stomach of remorse and guilt.”
The tragedy of this story is not that this young man, champion and oustanding Jackson schools sports figure missed his weight, but that the Asbury Park Press and coach Withstandley would take the opportunity to pounce on this kid who for whatever reason, which is his own and his family’s reason, missed weigh in.
Is it standard for APP reporters to text our students when they’re down, ridicule them in the news and to follow up with our children so they can get a scoop? What’s good for paper sales, may not necessarily be good for the welfare of our children. This article exploited a young man’s private and confidential situation and on top of that, the coach, whose job it is to safeguard our kids in team sports was the first to send the young man down the river without a paddle.
Steven Faulk and Doug Withstandley should be ashamed of themselves and should have to face the consequences of their reckless actions this week. Mr. Withstandley seemed more concerned about bringing home another trophy for Jackson than he was for the well being of Tyler. Steven Faulk seemed more interested in a sensational headline than he was for the well being of Tyler.
I’m not exactly sure how press relations works in our district, but I’m sure the schools have some sort of press liason to deal with instead of having newspaper reporters hound our children and text them directly.
This incident just highlights the level to which winning has become everything for school sports and the welfare of the children across America takes a back seat to the championship. If the kid couldn’t make his weight, what would the coach have suggested? Fasting? Dehydration? A power session at the gym while dehydrated and fasting? I cannot imagine the pressure on this kid by his coach to stay under the weight limit of his division. What’s wrong with him moving up to the next weight class? While that would be what’s best for Tyler physically and mentally, the coach seemed focused on locking in a particular class and running with it at all costs. Hopefully the school administration looks into this incident, because who knows what kind of pressures are being put on these kids to make weight at all costs.
