Metro Sports Report

Kibby has proposal to help save the Valley

(Editor's Note: The Metro Sports Report is tying to help save the Mississippi Valley Conference as a football league and stop a move toward Class 4A districts. This is the latest in a series of articles.)

Scott Kibby has a suggestion to help save the Mississippi Valley Conference as a football league, but he's reluctant to stand on a soap box and shout about it.

He thinks the suggestion could help solve a few problems and stop the rush toward Class 4A district football, but he doesn't want the folks at the Iowa High School Athletic Association to get the wrong idea.

"I'm really not trying to leverage the state at all," said Kibby, the activities director at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. "I'm just trying to see if there's some momentum to save the conference."

The Board of Directors of the IHSAA will meet Oct. 13 in Boone to discuss the proposal for Class 4A district football, which appears to have support in other parts of the state. The board will not vote on the proposal Oct. 13, but it could vote as soon as November or December to implement 4A districts for 2012.

1st Amendment battle pits schools vs. media

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association chalked up a victory last month over media, and it’s one that could have far-reaching impact on how high school games are covered.

We wrote last March about a case that began in 2008 when the Appleton (Wis.) Post-Crescent was sued by the WIAA for streaming live coverage of high school football playoff games on the Internet. The 7th Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled last month that the Wisconsin association has the right to limit who streams games.

This could have First Amendment ramifications for media outlets nationwide. The appeals court essentially ruled that media cannot stream games without paying for them.

The Iowa High School Sports Network, which operates in conjunction with the Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union, charges radio stations for broadcasting state tournament games. Television stations independent of the IHSSN can run highlights but cannot do live coverage.

Pospisil is CVC principal, coach and bus driver

Cedar Valley Christian Coach Jeff Pospisil has the optimism of the Little Engine that Could and the patience of Job.

More than that, says friend and longtime Cedar Rapids educator Mary Lehner: "Jeff? Why he's a saint."

Well, not quite.

There's no halo on his head, but he does wear quite a few hats.

He's the longtime volleyball coach at the 230-student K-12 private school in southeast Cedar Rapids. When the season ends, he'll pick up duties as the only boys basketball coach the school has ever had.

Since he goes to the games anyway, the 39-year-old Pospisil drives the team bus. He's also been the driver this fall for the school's first eight-man football squad.

Oh, and he's in his first year as the school's principal, too.

The married father of four, whose wife Jennifer helps him coach volleyball, he was the assistant principal for 14 years. His tenure at Cedar Valley Christian dates back to 1991, when he started physical education part-time in a building with no gymnasium while a student at Coe College.

"It seemed like a better job than flipping burgers," explains the former Kennedy High School athlete and senior class president.

High School Volleyball and ACL Injuries

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a vulnerable anatomical link in the knees of all female athletes.

Girls high school soccer and basketball present the highest risk for female athletes when it comes to knee injuries, comprising the highest rates of ACL injuries. But fall sports in Iowa are in full swing, so let’s take a look at the high school sport with the third highest risk for ACL injury for girls: volleyball.

In high school sports, 50 percent of all knee injuries involve the ACL and girls are eight times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than boys. High school ACL injuries are eight times more likely to occur in competition than in practice. Research (2009 study) shows that nearly 100 percent of all ACL injuries suffered by high school volleyball players require surgery. This can be devastating to the player and the team.

The most common type of ACL injury in volleyball is via a non-contact mechanism, usually when landing on one leg while hitting or blocking at the net. Chasing down a ball to pass or dig the volleyball is a less common mechanism that may also contribute to an ACL injury. All of these mechanisms have one common element: a sudden application of load via a change of direction or sudden stop. When the load is too great, the ACL may stretch or tear.