Home Educators Student Sports Association members may not get Medals in Championship tiered events as they are not a member of a school, School Sports NZ says. Photo: 123RF
When 12-year-old George Fisher got first place at the North Island secondary schools mountain bike competition he was given a certificate but not the first-place medal.
The medal was passed to the next person instead, because George was homeschooled.
It was standard practice according to School Sport New Zealand rules, but a group of parents want to change that - saying it was not fair that they pay the entry fee and were considered fulltime students by the Ministry of Education.
Home School Sports Association chairperson Mel Ewart said it happened more than people realised.
"It's sort of a hidden secret in sporting circles that in student sports, homeschool students at the secondary age level aren't allowed to compete."
She said her daughter had been affected by the rule.
'My daughter used to do team sailing when we lived in Marlborough and she was able to compete in silver fleet but not go through to gold fleet if their team had qualified, it affects kids at all levels."
One of the reasons she was given as to why homeschool students could not collect a medal or stand on the podium was because they had an uneven ability to train, she said.
"One of the myths that we keep encountering is that homeschooled students have an unfair advantage because they could train all day and it's just unrealistic.
"What parent is actually going to think that it's sensible even that their kid just trains all day and doesn't prepare for everything else in life?"
She said the rules were disrespectful to homeschooled children.
"My own kids, they play in the youth orchestra, my daughter went off to the Model UN she's just been selected as a youth MP, these kids aren't excluded from the rest of everyday life but they are excluded from student sports.
"It stops them from being able to play with their friends and peers because they're friends with school students."
Nowhere else would it be considered okay to exclude a small group of people because of how they were educated, she said.
"If we say to Pete Burling 'oh sorry no you can participate in the America's Cup, but you guys can't compete' that would be shocking but apparently it's not shocking for schools for student sports."
She said the reasons for the rules were flimsy and did not make sense.
"They can train all day they have the opportunity to choose when to play sports but for team sports that's pretty unrealistic. Schools have sporting academies, there's even a school in Palmerston North that's been set up with the character of high-performance sports.
"When you look at it from a different perspective there's plenty of advantages that school children have that homeschooled children don't have."
School Sport New Zealand were undergoing a regulations review, she said.
"They do it every year notably we weren't invited and we only found out by chance. We put in a late response which they have thankfully accepted that they basically have said they're all about schools, they're not.
"At the end of the day is sport about the participant or the schools that oversee the students? Our argument is that all students in New Zealand all Kiwi kids who are student aged should be allowed to participate in student sports with their friends and peers."
School Sports NZ said HESSA members may participate and medal in more than half of their sanctioned events on the SSNZ calendar.
Home educated students may not medal in Championship tiered events as they were not a member of a school - which it defined as having a Ministry of Education number.
It said special exemption requests were approved last year for HESSA members at a Cup and Carnival level - with recognition given where appropriate.
It said it will be consulting with schools, sports and HESSA as part of a comprehensive review of its constitution, membership structure, and eligibility regulations over the coming weeks.
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