TDSB Announces Selection for Sports Teams Will Now Be Done Via Lottery to Promote Equity

TORONTO, ON - The Five Lakes Academic Board has introduced a new policy change aimed at making sports participation more equitable. Students who express interest in joining teams will be selected via random selection by lottery. This system hopes to improve equality among the physically challenged.

FLAB’s plans state that a mere sign-up form will be used in lieu of tryouts. Any students, who wish to participate in a sport will be required to fill out a form with their name and express interest, and submit a portfolio for review. The names on the form will be cut out and placed into a hat from which prospective coaches will draw names individually until their roster is full. Students are to be permitted and recommended to submit as many applications as they want to increase their chances of admission.

All forms of physical or skill-based tryouts are to be removed, with the FLAB stating that they will no longer be necessary given that all players will be randomly selected. Individual portfolios listing previous activities, qualifications, and achievements will be reviewed after the team is drawn and finalized to assist in creating coaching strategies. This new selection policy will streamline team creation while eliminating any selection bias, improving overall recruitment efficiency and selection equality.

The chief aim of this policy is to increase equity by considering the circumstances of the physically challenged. A lottery system will ensure that every student has an equal opportunity to play on a team. As FLAB spokesperson, Farah Thletic, says, “Skill should not matter, as it is ultimately the opportunity to play that is important. Skilled athletes will have no greater chance of playing on the team than unskilled athletes.” Equality will be very effectively achieved, as a lottery system ensures that each and every person has an irrefutably equal opportunity to be selected on the team; no movement impediment, not even general slowness, will be taken into account during selection.

“The longstanding tryout tradition has prevented new and less experienced players from exploring and developing their interests. This systemic barrier that prevents numerous people from getting onto teams and winning scholarships will no longer be permitted to stand,” a FLAB spokesperson says. “This new policy ensures that all students will now have an opportunity to perform in higher-level athletics while simultaneously breaking down the barriers that once may have prevented them from trying out.”

The policy change has spurred a mixed reaction among students, staff, and parents. Many students have protested that this policy change is ridiculous, considering that sports are about skill and are thus built on fundamental inequalities and imbalances. On the other hand, many parents cheer at the prospect of their child having a chance to compete alongside other talented players.