In an email to the Tri-City Herald on Friday, the Yakima man who filmed and posted the Connell flagrant foul video said he initially sent the video to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
On Dec. 29, Michael Christenson emailed Cindy Adsit, the assistant executive director at the WIAA, which oversees all high school athletics and activities in the state.
Adsit told Christenson in an email to him on Jan. 2 that she would forward the video to the local officials' association and the Connell High athletic director.
She couldn’t be reached for comment.
The outrage about a high school basketball video containing alleged flagrant fouls posted to YouTube continues to grow, after two national websites linked to it this week.
Yahoo! Sports and Deadspin, a tabloid sports website, highlighted the video, which shows two Connell players fouling Cowiche’s Highland High School players Dec. 22.
On Thursday, the WIAA’s sports and activities information manager Conor Laffey said he found out about the video when it was linked to the WIAA’s Facebook page. He did not indicate what day that was.
Christenson also released a statement concerning the situation:
”The response to the Highland/Connell video I posted online has been overwhelming. I initially uploaded the video with the intent of showing the game film to the Highland High School basketball players and parents who were not able to attend the game. When the national website guyism.com found the video and featured it on their website, the views on the video jumped from a few hundred to a few thousand overnight. Several Highland parents and community members were appalled by the video, and that's when the video really started gaining attention and being promoted by several people--myself included, through sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. I was fully aware that some people might be upset by the video, but I felt it needed to be seen in order to help protect future players from being injured. If I had kept the video quiet and a player suffered a serious injury because this type of rough play was allowed to continued, I would have deeply regretted it.
The video has received tremendous support nationwide, but I have been extremely bothered by some of the comments I've been reading involving some of the Connell basketball players. I do not condone any personal attacks against these players. These young men are not the reason I made this video public. Did the players make some mistakes on the court? Yes. Do I feel there were several other people involved with this game that could have stepped in to avoid such dangerous fouls? Absolutely. They did not however, and that is the real issue here. Player safety was not a priority in this basketball game. Thankfully no one was seriously injured, but that doesn't make the actions and non-actions in this game any less wrong.
My hope is that people will stay focused on the issue at hand, which is the officiating and lack of intentional/flagrant foul calls. The Highland Boys Basketball players were put at repeated risk for serious injury because the officials failed to control the game from the opening tip-off. Anyone who watches the video will see that. Obviously there is something in the video that people are passionately responding to. I think the video speaks for itself.
I ask that people who view the video refrain from making any personal attacks against the players and their families, and not lose sight of the real issue here. I hope the WIAA will make changes that ensure player safety for all of our high school student-athletes in the future.”
