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I am opposed to the NIL idea in high school sports. Name, image, and Likeness doesn’t belong in high school! They will ruin the idea of one of the best forms of amateur sports that exists today. They have the transfer portal in college along with the NIL . Those two have driven some of the best coaches out of the game, Nick Saban and Tony Bennett, to name a couple.

In my opinion, It will ruin what is now the only form of amateur sports left and will make it professional if it has not already . The larger metropolitan areas will stand to gain a larger percentage of athletes, not because of the capital in those areas but think about how much harder it would be for smaller areas like Washington NC to play in a state championship game.

The smaller areas in the West would gain the advantage ! It has more industry and think about the private schools in those areas.

We have better athletes in the east , but in the west, they have better programs. Coaching staffs are larger and they have more specialized coaches. The coaching here isn’t the same as in the west .

Please do not allow the only amateur sport left to allow the NIL to infiltrate it! You are only allowing youngsters to be older than they are. It will ruin the truest form of sport that we have today; high school athletics ! That’s all I have for today’s column. Thanks and I will see you here next week.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and the best of places, Washington, N.C. The Original Washington!

Harold Jr.