“KSHSAA rule modification allows coaches more time to teach.”

On first glance, some readers who saw this recent Journal-World headline might have thought the Kansas State High School Activities Association was interested in giving coaches more time to devote to the academic courses they teach.

But don’t be silly. We’re not talking about classroom teaching.

The new rule gives high school volleyball, football and basketball coaches another eight weeks in the summer to work directly with their team members. They can accompany them to camps, hold their own camps, coach youngsters individually or in groups and participate in summer league competitions.

Coaches in many sports — baseball, track, cross country, tennis, soccer, swimming and golf — have been allowed to work with their athletes during the summer for years. With the new rule, it would be pretty easy for students who participate in multiple sports to spend all day, every day working out and practicing for the upcoming seasons.

Lawrence coaches say they are sensitive to the possibility of burnout among team members, so they aren’t ramping up their summer routines much, at least for this year. But they also see the opportunity to use the extra time to help build their competitive edge.

One coach said the main summer goal was skill-building: “We’re mostly just working on skills. The consequence is losing and that’s what I try to get in their heads because no one likes to lose.”

Another coach noted a certain keep-up-with-the-Joneses philosophy: “We’ve always butted heads with Missouri because they were able to coach their kids. It’s been so difficult. … Now we can have our coaches out there and can actually coach.”

It seems the growing overemphasis on athletics at the college level is having a trickle down effect.

At the high school level, it’s less about money, but the ultimate goal still is all about winning. And, high school coaches are citing the same excuse used over and over by university officials for pouring more money into athletics: If someone else is ramping up their program, we simply have to keep up.

Coaches say they understand that their athletes have other work and family obligations during the summer, but there has to be significant pressure to participate in summer sessions if they hope to make the team later on. For some athletes, that may mean giving up one or more sports to concentrate on a single team.

Everyone likes winning teams, but is something akin to the pressure-packed college-like atmosphere what we want for our high school athletes? Local coaches say that what they are doing this summer isn’t much different from what athletes have done without coaches in the past, but this is only the first summer coaching has been allowed. In the current climate, it stands to reason that expectations and pressures will only increase in the years to come.

Participation in team and individual sports is a great learning opportunity for many high school students, and the recent Kansas coaching changes may be harmless enough. However, seeing how far out of whack the balance between athletics and academics has gotten at U.S. colleges, even small steps in that direction at the high school level are legitimate cause for concern.