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The
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March
2, 2013
The Other Side
of the Story
Sam Schlagetter
Editor:
Obviously someone at your organization does not believe in getting to
the facts before allowing something to be printed. The article written
by Mr. Starks entitled "A three point winner vs a big time loser" has
switched some facts around that should be corrected online by your
organization. Since this was not an "editorial" document where one can
just say what they want I believe you have obligation to state facts
and Mr. Starks is wrong on a number of points.
First, he wrote that Coach Billing got in Coach Stonebreaker's face
about a call that was never made. The intentional foul was called and
rightly so. The Anna player who was knocked face first onto the court
is a tough hardnosed player who could only be taken down by a very hard
foul. There was no doubt this foul was intentional and appropriately
called so.
Second, he writes "Of course, Stonebreakers’ staff, headed by her
brother, Joe Raterman and assistant coach Kim Custenborder, came to her
aid, as the pushing and shoving started." Everyone there will admit
that Coach Billing and Coaches Stonebreaker, Raterman and Custenborder
were ALL heatedly discussing something after the game BUT it was the
local law enforcement, Tipp City officials and school officials who
came rushing in after a female Versailles assistant coach (whom I
assume was Custenborder) deliberately chest bumped coach Billing. Not
once, not twice but three times the female assistant coach pushed into
Coach Billing knocking him back a few feet. At no point did Coach
Billing react to this physically. He did not try to push her away, bump
back into her or even raise his hands.
Third, Mr. Starks wrote "your coach is a total loser". Since he
probably has no idea what the coaches were arguing about he has no
facts to base this on. If Coach Billing was upset about the hard foul
put upon his Senior point guard then I applaud him for trying to
protect his players from a meaningless foul with 1.6 seconds left. I do
not fault the Versailles player for playing hard and not wanting to
give up but the Versailles coaches should have just admitted that it
was a hard foul and was not meant to hurt anyone. What would we all be
saying if that hard could have really hurt the Anna player and she
could not finish the season. If that were to have happened would people
look at this situation differently? It also goes without saying that
Coach Billing has a record that any coach in any sport would love to
have and for that Mr. Starks writes that he is a loser????
One of the things he was correct about was when he ends his article
stating there was no excuse for that kind of behavior; he is absolutely
correct. The Versailles female assistant coach showed extremely poor
sportsmanship and should be disciplined by school officials.
I was in attendance at the game last Saturday as I have been at many of
the Anna girls' varsity games over the last seven years. I also have a
daughter who played for Coach Billing. Coach Billing and I are not
considered close friends and I am only writing this to get the facts
out. I do not know what the coaches were arguing about at the end of
the game but to write an article implying that the mild mannered
Versailles coaches were verbally attacked by the Anna coach is way off
the mark. Coaches Stonebreaker, Raterman and Custenborder were equally
engaged in the face to face verbal discussion before the Versailles
female assistant coach started the chest bumping.
Sam Schlagetter
Sidney
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