High school governing associations have academic success rules or guidelines for athlete participation. Some schools design even tougher academic rules for participation beyond what state organizations suggest. When I was a head football coach, our school’s eligibility rules were steeper compared to the state high school association guidelines. The rules did not affect a lot of our players at the time, but for one learning and emotionally disabled special education student, it was always a barrier for him to play. This was a sad situation because football was the sport he loved even though he was not a very good
