I believe the Ohio High School Athletic Association's(OHSAA) eligibility rules should be made easier to understand. The controversies over the rules of accepting gifts in the last couple weeks in uncalled for. I think the OHSAA should take a look at its rules and possibly re-write any part of the rule that may be unclear. They should look at the rule about accepting gifts especially because I do not believe it is clear enough. Some athletes accept gifts thinking it is alright but what it actually does is make them ineligible. There are many different opinions on the issue as well.

One of the main opinions about Lebron James accepting gifts is that he should not have special rules because he is better than most players. Many of the people I surveyed said that "he should not be treated any different than other players". Only two people out of the twenty-one I surveyed actually said the rules are good enough as they are now. The media sources seem to think that the OHSAA is not clear enough because many of the articles I have read have said something about the OHSAA rulebook or about the rule of accepting gifts. The rule as it is now should be re-written because

The rules for high school athletes maintaining their amateur status and accepting gifts should be another one under review. Many high school athletes do not know that if they are offered a gift for a reward for their achievements they will no longer be eligible to participate in high school athletics. Eight out of the twenty one people asked if there should be a rule against accepting gifts said "yes there should be a rule". The media also seems to think so because they are always saying on TV shows about how much kids should be able to accept and what they should be able to accept. The rule against accepting gifts needs to be re-written because if athletes can accept some gifts then they will be able to make the excuse that they thought it was an acceptable gift and get away with a lesser penalty. There should be a concrete rule of what they should and should not be able to accept. These athletes are not complete adults yet and can not distinguish between what is aloud and what is not aloud. Most of them do not understand the rules about accepting gifts and therefore have no idea what is and is not alright to accept.

With young athletes becoming more and more talented the question always rises "Should there be special rules for athletes such as Lebron James?". Seven out of the twenty one people surveyed said there should be special rules for more gifted athletes. Those kinds of athletes are few and far between and should get their own rules because they do not lead the normal lives that most high school athletes live. Some have special TV appearances and get to play in bigger arenas because the high school gym is not large enough to hold the crowds that want to see them play. What special rules should they have? How far from the normal rules should they be? Many popular newspapers and TV shows believe that special athletes should follow normal rules as much as possible. There are always rules that can be bent because they have to b

Some common words found in the essay are:
James Seven, Lebron James, Athletic Association'sOHSAA, accepting gifts, , rule accepting gifts, rule accepting, special rules, school athletes, able accept, lebron james, people surveyed, participate school athletics, capitalized athletic fame, amateur status, rules accepting gifts, media sources, game suspension, athletes accept gifts,
Approximate Word count = 1314
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)