Dorchester Times: Crete Player Ineligible For 2007-08 Season

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Crete Player Ineligible For 2007-08 Season

As a follow-up to a previous Times' story, the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) ruled late Wednesday that former Crete basketball standout Marissa Kastanek must sit at least three months before she can play varsity competition for Lincoln Southeast High School, where Kastanek transferred late last month. The Times' post has spurred a flurry of comments from readers.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports the NSSA Board of Control ruled Wednesday that Kastanek must sit out "90 school days" before she is eligible for varsity competition.

The article continues: "The 90-day waiting period means the former Crete all-state junior guard will miss the 2007-08 basketball season, unless she plays on the Southeast JV team. Kastanek transferred to Southeast on Oct. 29. Her family moved into an apartment in the Southeast district, but still owns a farm just outside of Crete." The 5-foot-9 Kastanek committed earlier this fall to North Carolina State, and last season helped lead Crete to a 25-1 record and a Class B state runner-up finish.

As a side note, we will mention that Times' reader "Bob" made mention of this NSAA rule early in the comments on our original post.

11 comments:

AnonymousNovember 14, 2007 at 9:43 PM
Allow me to wade into this discussion. First by saying I feel really bad for this 16 year old girl. What a shame. I don't think playing JV is what she had in mind. However I have a feeling that's not the sole reason she transferred.

I hope she's learning that any negative attention being directed her way came about because of her/her parents' decision to transfer. They have made themselves public figures. For the rest of us, we can all learn several things from this unfortunate affair:

1.) As someone alluded to in their comments earlier, kids in high school should play for school pride and community ... not their parents or even their coaches, whoever they are.

2.) Never, never, never let one player become bigger than the TEAM. (Did you hear me, parents? If not, read it again. Your kids will thank you in 10 years.)

3.) You can't solve your personal problems by moving away.

4.) Parents, learn to say "no" to your kids! Teach them early they are NOT the center of the universe. I don't know if transferring was solely the girl's idea. If not, then here's another lesson. Don't try to live your high school days through your kid!

That's all.
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AnonymousNovember 14, 2007 at 10:10 PM
Hate to say I told you so...
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AnonymousNovember 15, 2007 at 8:53 AM
I'am very sad for marrisa, by her parents decission, they have made a very costly move. It will hurt marissa, and the whole entire family. The parents are at fault her, by trying to live tdhrew there children, remember your only as great as your team members, and it takes 5, to make a team, not one.
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AnonymousNovember 15, 2007 at 10:28 PM
It's too bad that this has ended up so badly for the Kastaneks. I'm sure they checked into these rules before the move occurred.- did they get inaccurate information? I do think that the decision served as a vehicle for NSAA to display their muscle. I'm not sure that NSAA would have made a decision like this if the player in question wouldn't have been so talented. Or maybe it wouldn't have been front page news.
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AnonymousNovember 16, 2007 at 10:02 AM
I agree with you Anonymous that it's an unfortunate situation, especially for the young player invovlved. However, I agree with the NSAA's decision.

Had the NSAA overlooked this situation, it would have created a harmful precident that would have resulted in utter chaos. If simply renting an apartment in a district makes a player eligible, imagine the transfers that would have taken place in metro areas such as Lincoln and Omaha after players failed to make varsity or the starting team in their original schools.

More troubling, imagine a scenario in which the sixth man from every Lincoln high school decided to transfer to DHS a couple of weeks before basketball season. Is that fair to the legitimate students who have attended the school over the long haul?

Remember, public shools are NOT free schools. Your property taxes (about 65% of them) go to your school district. Your kids need to go where your property taxes are going, I think.
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AnonymousNovember 17, 2007 at 8:45 PM
It's sad , what was the benifit of the bigger school? I'm not sure I understand why her parents did what they did.
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AnonymousDecember 5, 2007 at 9:10 PM
Marissa Kastanek you are my hero!!! If i were as good at sports as she is i would transfer to a larger, more saught out, school too!!! Anyone who bashes this decision should be ashamed because she is a good student and good athlete!!! She and her family made the right decision even if it costs her a year of eligibility.
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AnonymousDecember 12, 2007 at 11:49 PM
Why do you people continue to repeat the NSAA lie? Do any of you know the truth? Do any of you know the basis for the NSAA BoC denial? Do any of you know the NSAA transfer eligibility rules/guidelines? Do any of you know the facts? or are you merely repeating the NSAA partyline?

The fact is, the Kastaneks have moved to Lincoln, their kids are enrolled in LPS schools and the Kastaneks have no intention of ever returning to Crete.

Also, get ready, Marissa will be playing for Southeast this Friday night. Get ready to eat crow.
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AnonymousDecember 13, 2007 at 8:38 AM
Ha, ha, ha............ youre funny Dan ...... so youre saying all six NSAA board members have a vendeta against the kastaneks???..... youre crazy if you believe that ...... last I checked theres no for sale sign in front of the farm ..... sad to see a girls basketball season ruined by parents who dont have the guts to tell the kid to buck up!
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AnonymousDecember 19, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Marissa is a great player, but there are rules and guidelines, no one persone is exempt from. She should have to wait, like everyone else. Their farm is not for sale and will probably never be. Iam really sorry for the other kids, not being able to go the crete, and see their old friends, I think the mother needs to not try to live through her daughter, see may of run out of friends here, but come on think about the other kids, I see the family heading in the wrong direction, I hope for the best for all that are involved.
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AnonymousJanuary 28, 2008 at 8:41 PM
What do you say now Bob?????
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."