Early Wednesday afternoon, the Tullahoma City School District was informed that due to an off-the-field
violation, all fall middle school sports teams would be removed from their respective Central Tennessee
Conference Tournament.
The TSSAA informed TCS that because the TMS middle school girls soccer, volleyball and cross-country
teams are listed as club sports, those squads are ineligible to compete for their respective conference titles.
Tullahoma is the sole member of the CTC in those sports that is not a member school of the Tennessee Middle
School Athletic Association.
“My heart hurts for these girls because they have worked so hard and set themselves up for success,” said
TCS Director of Schools Dr. Catherine Stephens. “We have participated for about 18 years as club sports with
no issues, but our teams will no longer be participating in CTC competition this fall. While I know they are hurt
now, these young ladies should hold their heads high and know that they are true champions.”
Due to the violation, the TMS girls soccer team will no longer be eligible to compete in its upcoming CTC
Tournament matches. The TMS volleyball team is also forced to forfeit its CTC Title that it won on Tuesday
evening.
“Those head coaches and I spoke to the student-athletes affected at both East and West middle schools,” said
TCS Athletic Director John Olive. “They were tough discussions to have because our students did nothing
wrong. We plan to honor these athletes individually as they deserve to be celebrated.
“Last spring, we started researching what it was going to take to move the remaining eligible teams to be
TMSAA affiliated. We did not make that transition before fall sports got underway. However, we are working to
make this move as soon as possible so our athletes can compete this spring and going forward under the
TMSAA.”
Currently, Tullahoma has four sports associated with the TMSAA: football, basketball, track and field, and
cheerleading. TMS wrestling is associated with AAU, while the remaining sports fall under the club sports
category, which has existed for about 18 years.
“Tullahoma East Middle School and Tullahoma West Middle School are not allowed to compete against TMSAA
member schools in the sports of cross-country, tennis, soccer, golf, baseball, softball, bowling, volleyball, and
wrestling until their School Board approves those sports,” said TSSAA Executive Director Richard McWhirter in
a letter to Olive. “Additionally, the schools must recognize these sports by having school-sponsored teams and
must follow all TMSAA Bylaws for these sports. Furthermore, if Tullahoma East Middle School and Tullahoma
West Middle School continue to field teams in these sports as club teams instead of school-sponsored teams,
TSSAA officials will not be assigned to work in those contests.”
Moving forward, the Tullahoma City School District is working toward making sure that eligible teams are
associated with the TMSAA.
“I am disheartened that this occurred this fall,” Dr. Stephens said. “District administrators, the TCS School
Board and myself are working to ensure this does not happen again for any of our Tullahoma teams.”
