Old Fart: You said it right. It only pertains to the kids that sign up for athletics. It does not pertain to the other kids. But the kids that sign up are held to a higher standard.
Now that said: My son was a Hockey player. He played for the North Pole High School, and for the Arctic Lions down town. Both teams had strict rules, and the coaches enforced their rules hard. When they were on the road and they ate at a restaurant, he made each boy bring his check by and show the coach how much he was going to tip the waitress. In other words the boy or gal had to do the math and get it right. Strict lights out times, and the coach walked into their rooms and checked on them. If someone started acting stupid in public, they got reprimanded. Every game day the boys wore coat and tie, the girls wore dresses. But the biggest and strictest rule of all. If they did anything, at any time, that put the team in a bad light, they were dismissed from the team. The school board and the principals got so much praise and admirations from the Hockey Teams, they set back and let the coaches run the programs the way they saw fit.
After high school I had a talk with Sky. I told him I knew that many boys together, they were bound to have had Beer Parties. I wanted to know how they got away with it without any of the parents, coaches, or anyone else knowing. And how they kept things under control so there was no DWIs. Sky told me they had a metal box, with a lock on it. One guy was designated as Keeper Of The Box. The Keeper did not partake of spirits that night. Everyone without exception was required to drop their keys into the box upon arriving. Everyone spent the night, and was required to help cleanup the morning after. Sky told me they only got busted once. Conan McGuire's parents were in the Phillipines on a business trip. They called Jettie Stone's Mom and aked her to go to their house and get them some information from a file cabinet. Mrs Stone walked in on the party. "Busted" She opened every bottle and can, then poured it down the drain. She made all the boys stand there and watch. Then she called her Husband, and Collage age daughter, to come over and help her keep control. Then she called the Hockey Coach. When the Coach arrived she had every boy standing tall against the wall dressing them down like a Marine DI, which she had been before Jettie. Coach made the boys pull out their sleeping bags and sleep on the living room floor. No one slept on the couch, or in a chair. And those boys caught Hell from the coach for the next month. I knew something had happened at the time, because of the way Mrs Stone treated the boys while on a trip to Anchorage. Mrs Stone was the Team Mom. But the information never came out, it was kept inhouse as the coach called it. I made a statement to Jettie one day months later, about not having her mad at me. Jettie said, "You don't know the half of it".
Have to say all those kids that stayed in the area have moved on and either went to a trade school or college. The one young woman on the Arctic Lions Team, is now the General Manager of the major clothing and sports stores in Fairbanks. You don't see them hanging out asking for change like some of their classmates.
