A New Jersey high school swimmer was reportedly disqualified due to the American flag on his swimming cap being too big for regulation, according to the boy’s father.
Rob Miller is the father to a Morristown High School sophomore swimmer, 16 years old. During last week’s “senior night” game against Parsippany Hills High School,” Miller’s son donned an American flag on his swimming cap to honor his grandfather who was killed in the September 11 terror attacks.
However, Parsippany High’s coach raised concern over the size of the flag on Miller’s son’s cap. Contrary to popular belief, the flag was not measured by the coach until after the race.
The National Federation of State High School Associations Swimming allows the following:
A single American flag may be worn on uniform clothing. It must not exceed 2 by 3 inches. If adopted by a state association, special events may allow commemorative or memorial patches to be worn without altering the uniform’s integrity.
Miller said officials determined the flag on his son’s cap to be “0.2” too large” for regulations in a since-deleted tweet.
“Blood is boiling. My son was part of a 200 Free Relay to win a swim meet on Senior Night. After the final event, the opposing coach asked to measure the size of the American Flag on his @SpeedoUSA swim cap,” Miller reportedly tweeted. “It was 0.2”Too large in accordance with standards. DQ’d. They lost.”
Miller added that “the issue is the coach waited until after the swim to get the DQ, deciding to put the burden of a ‘loss’ on a 16 year old, letting down all the Seniors that won their last dual meet of their HS careers.”
Yes, the issue is the coached waited until after the swim to get the DQ, deciding to put the burden of a “loss” on a 16 year old, letting down all the SeniorsThis won their last dual meet of their HS careers.
— robmillertime (@robmillertime) February 3, 2023
After his disqualification, Miller’s son’s teammates rallied to support him, posting on the Morristown swimming team’s Instagram that “everyone knows motown boys were the real winners.”
Miller said that his son “wishes no ill will on the opposing team and just wants everyone to get back to swimming.”
“Thanks very much for the support on the my son’s swimming DQ. Tough rule with a harsh penalty but we’ll learn from this,” Miller tweeted. “My son wishes no ill will on the opposing team and just wants everyone to get back to swimming. Hopefully the spirit of this rule can be changed in the future.”
Thank you so much for your support regarding my son’s swim DQ. It was a hard rule, with severe penalties. But we can learn from it. My son doesn’t wish any bad will upon the opposition team. He just wants to swim again. We hope this will be a change of heart in the future. pic.twitter.com/ZtOkYMqbaZ
— robmillertime (@robmillertime) February 3, 2023
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton works as a reporter at Breitbart. Send an email to Jordan Dixon-Hamilton [email protected]You can also follow him Twitter.
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