Hockey players deserve chance to enjoy high school experience

This letter is in response to the June 5 editorial "Public School Not A Place for Private Club Sports." I have never written a letter in response to an editorial before, but I was bothered by the remarks and felt I needed to respond with my own comments.

I have three sons, two of which currently play ice hockey. Their ages are 8 and 10. They play in a "private league" because there are no "public leagues" available. The cost of playing in the "private club" is almost the price I pay for "public" Little League baseball.

I understand the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education cannot afford the expense of ice hockey at this time, but I think it is unfair to characterize that the kids wishing to play high school ice hockey should continue to play in private leagues or attend private school. My family cannot afford to send our boys to private school and I’m sure most of the other families in the SKATE program are in same situation. Other public high schools, like Brick and Mana-squan, have had hockey programs for many years.

As for the comment that troubled the editor by the SKATE representative about college athletic scholarships (being) jeopardized, there are many basketball and football players’ parents that make the same comments. I have even heard them from my sons’ friends’ parents.

Does the editor honestly believe that most students that try out for high school sports have no previous sport experience? Can you tell me that the pitcher of any high school baseball team has no previous experience or any high school gymnast does not have previous experience from a "private club?"

Hockey, like any other sport, takes skill that takes many years of training to play at the high school level.

Hockey should not have to be a private club sport. If the parents of SKATE players are willing to hold fund-raising to start the program, then let them.

Do the parents of other teams offer to help with start-up costs? No one knows more than parents of hockey players how expensive the sport is, but why should our children be excluded from playing the sport they love when children in other sports are not?

Is there as much interest in lacrosse and swimming teams as there is in a hockey team? I believe SKATE has around 1,000 members. My final thought is if each high school is specialized for different career fields, why can’t each school have different sports team options?

I’m not looking for college sports scholarships. I would be happy just to see my boys have the opportunity to make the high school team and play their favorite sport. I don’t even know if they will still want to play hockey when they reach high school, but for all the kids in the FRHSD that do, they should not have to compromise and stay in their "private club" sport.

Patricia Peras

Howell