Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

1/11/2010 - Geffken Makes Right Choice

There was a time not too long ago that if a player missed a game or practice for any reason other than illness, injury or family emergency, Sparta girls basketball coach Fred Geffken would have handed out a lengthy suspension or even dismissed the player from the team.

Boy, how times have changed. And the question is has it changed for the better?

Over the course of the last 15 years or so, the growth and influence of club sports, select travel teams in soccer, AAU in hoops and ASA in softball have infiltrated the high school sports scene to the point where student-athletes are forced to make a choice.

The reason why I bring this up is because of two incidents that caught my eye over the last week. The first one was local as Sam Greiner, the top rebounder and a key starter on Sparta’s girls basketball team, missed two games because she made a commitment to play softball for her club team.

One of those games was a tough 41-40 loss to rival High Point, but fortunately for the Spartans, the game was an independent clash and not a Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference American/National Division showdown.

The Spartans topped Dunellen 39-36 in their other game sans Greiner.

And the other incident came out of Bergen County where Immaculate Heart Academy dismissed three-year starter and All-Bergen selection senior Tara Schwitter from the basketball team for attending a soccer showcase event in Florida, missing the Joe Poli Holiday Tournament at Pascack Valley.

According to a column written by Art Stapleton, the outstanding local sports columnist for The Record of Hackensack, the school has a strict policy of preventing student-athletes from competing in out-of-season club activities.

The reason for the rule, according to Stapleton’s column, is that IHA officials “believe they are taking a stand to preserve the integrity of their athletic department by shunning the athlete who prioritizes club over high school.”

But as Stapleton points out, this issue has created a tug-of-war between high school and club teams and has created incredible tension for all of those involved.

Now back to Greiner. First off, the purpose of this blog is not to judge Greiner. Griener is a wonderful kid from a great family and is a no-doubt, blue-chip Division I prospect in softball as a junior.

She is the reigning Mugs Media Softball Player of the Year and she looks like a shoo-in to defend her crown. So let’s get that out of the way.

I only bring her up because she was put in a tough situation by adults. And is that fair?

“It has had a big effect,” said Geffken of the explosion of club and AAU teams. “Everyone has a No. 1 love for a particular sport and if the sport is not the one you coach, you have to adapt.

“It is a new era and every coach handles it differently,” he added. “Sam is a sweet kid and good player for us. She knows there will be some consequences, but I wouldn’t kick her off the team or suspend her. I don’t know if I would have said that years ago. I told her don’t get hurt.

“I feel it is dead wrong to have these showcases during other seasons,” he said. “The summer is a different story.”

Geffken knows all too well the influence AAU coaches have gained over the years. Even Geffken, who has over 660 career wins and three state titles under his belt, feels that some AAU coaches undermine what is being taught on the high school level.

He added that some college recruiters even by-pass high school coaches and go right to the AAU coach for a recommendation or scouting report on a player.

Geffken has produced 17, 1,000-point scorers and has sent 27 players onto play Division I ball.

Quite an impressive record. Now here is the kicker, only half of those played AAU ball, according to Geffken.

“Jeff Jasper hates it. He is beside himself on it,” said Geffken of the legendary Pascack Valley coach who has over 800 wins. “He tried to ban all of his players from playing AAU.”

So what choice should the student-athlete make when it comes to playing in a showcase event during another sports season?

Schwitter, according to Stapleton’s column, knew there would be repercussions for her choice but felt that she had built up enough goodwill as a terrific student-athlete over the years that she wouldn’t be kicked off the team.

But IHA stuck to its guns and dismissed her from the squad. The ironic thing is that Steve Silver coaches both girls soccer and basketball at IHA and he said he is a big supporter of Schwitter.

Silver added, “I also support the rules by which IHA goes by.”

So why did Schwitter go? She said that she had promised she would attend when she made a verbal committment to go to the University of Miami. She didn’t want to let her new school down and she didn’t want to jeopardize her future at Miami. The official signing day for college sports is Feb. 3 so she didn’t want to take any chances.

“I expected some sort of penalty, and I understand that, but to take away my whole season, I still can’t believe it,” said Schwitter in the article. She also added that she wasn’t looking for special treatment, but “more understanding of the situation I thought I was in.”

Does the punishment fit the crime? If she knew before she went the consequences and did not ask for some sort of waiver, then yes. I don’t know if there is any appeal or waiver process at IHA, there doesn’t seem to be, so it seems pretty clear-cut—if you leave, you are gone, whether you believe the rule is fair or not.

But there are student-athletes who choose not to play in these showcases and still go onto terrific collegiate careers in their respective sports. Case in point, Jessica Trainor of Sparta.

Trainor was and still is one of the top girls soccer players ever to come out of Sussex County. She was also a terrific point guard for Geffken in the early 2000s and was a key member of Sparta’s 2001 state-champion squad.

Her senior year Trainor was selected to play in a national soccer showcase event in California right around state tournament time. She had verbally committed to the University of Virginia and the coaches there wanted her to play.

Geffken said he was resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t have her and that Sparta’s postseason dreams had taken a severe hit.

“Before practice she comes up to me and says, ‘Coach, I’d like to talk to you,”’ recalled Geffken. “I knew what was coming, at least in my mind. I told her congratulations and she looked at me and said, “I would never let the team down. I’m not going.”’

“I was stunned and she jumped into my arms and we both had a tears in our eyes. That was the kind of kid she was,” he added. “Those types of kids are rare.”

Trainor went onto Virginia and had a splendid career. But that was her choice not to go and it is not the right one or the wrong one, but her choice alone.

This phenomenon is not totally new. I remember when I was in high school, my friend Kris Peat, for my money the best soccer player to ever come out of the county, was selected to play for a United States youth soccer squad in Russia at the height of the Cold War during hoops season.

Peat went and missed a few basketball games for Vernon but it helped him gain great exposure and he went on to have an All-American career at North Carolina State before playing professionally for over a decade.

It also sparked a fairly comical chant from the Jefferson fans when he came back of “Comrade Peat.”

You can’t blame kids for playing out-of-season showcases. I have always been a big advocate of kids playing more than one sport, so it’s tough when the dominant sport interferes with the second sport.

But if coaches don’t bend, than kids will be forced to choose a sport, and that is not the answer either.

Geffken said maybe the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association could step in and give schools some guidance on how to handle the ever-growing situation.

“The only solution is that the state mandates that you can’t play an out-of-season showcase during another season,” he said.

I don’t know if that would fly. But schools should have a policy in place and it should be clear-cut so there are no misunderstandings. And maybe have a waiver process in place as well.

Fortunately for Greiner, Geffken is an old school coach who has learned to adapt and I think Geffken’s choice was the right one.

So here is hoping Greiner has continued success on the diamond and finds the right school to continue her career. And when she does, Geffken can add another Division I athlete to his list even though it won’t be a hoops scholarship.

That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

1/11/2010 - Geffken Makes Right Choice