Community Corner
Should a Team Be Penalized for an ‘Act of Faith’?
A runner' gesture cost his high school a trip to the state championships. Tell us if you think the ruling on the gesture was right on, or if the disqualification was unwarranted.
A high school’s chance to compete in the state championships was halted last month despite a winning performance from four of its athletes.
Columbus High School saw four of its athletes take first in the 4 x 100-meter relay. But the team was disqualified, according to KHOU 11 News, after its final runner, Derrick Hayes, pointed up to the sky as he crossed the finish line. The DQ was levied as the gesture violated a rule that prohibits excessive acts of celebration, and it cost the school an opportunity to make it to the state championships.
Hayes’ father said he believes his son made the gesture to give thanks to God.
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“It was a reaction,” K.C. Hayes said. “I mean you’re brought up your whole life that God gives you good things, you’re blessed.”
“I don’t think that the situation was technically a terrible scenario as far as his action, but the action did violate the context of the rule,” Columbus ISD Superintendent Robert O’Connor told KEYE TV.
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Were officials right to disqualify the school due to the gesture made by one of its runners? Should athletes be disqualified or penalized for making gestures if they are religious in nature?
Share what’s on your mind with us, and then return here to see what your neighbors in Bartow, Cobb, Douglas and Paulding have said.
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