DENVER — Atiya Taylor's son, Tariq Childers, missed a year of school after the family fell on hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though they are in a better place now, Tariq has been deemed ineligible to play football his senior year following a year of housing instability.
“They could say no, but I’m a mom and I will not give up without a fight,” Taylor said.
The mother wants her 18-year-old son to play football at Abraham Lincoln High School his senior year. She says her family fell on hard times right before the start of the pandemic. They relocated to Denver from Missouri after Tariq completed his freshman year, bouncing between relatives’ homes.
“All the schools were closed. I didn’t have a real steady place to live, so I didn’t have a school to put them into,” said Taylor.
She tried enrolling Tariq into the online school, Goal Academy, but says there wasn’t space for him.
“They didn’t have space for a sophomore, so they said they’d put him on a waitlist. I contacted a couple other schools, but [they] didn’t have openings at the time,” said Taylor.
Tariq is currently attending Excel Academy, which doesn’t offer athletics. That's why he wants to play at Lincoln High.
The Lincoln High football coach allows Tariq to attend practice, but the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) says he’s not allowed to play in any games.
Denver7 reached out to CHSAA, which issued the following statement:
“The student in question completed eight semesters (4 years) of athletic eligibility per the State’s membership bylaws. The student was seeking a ninth semester of athletic eligibility which was denied due to the fact that the student had already exhausted the eight semesters (4 years) of athletic eligibility granted while the opportunity to gain academic credit existed during each of those eight semesters.”
“He played freshman year, didn’t go to school at all his sophomore year and started last year his junior year playing at Lincoln, and then this is his senior year. He only had three years,” Taylor responded.
CHSAA says a student-athlete’s eligibility clock begins when they enter high school as a freshman, regardless of what state it’s in.
Football is Tariq's passion. He says the sport helped him get back on track academically and kept him off the streets, giving him the drive to want to go to college.
“Ever since I touched a football, I was like, "Man, this is my sport,"” Tariq said. “I do feel like I’m being treated unfairly. That COVID situation, I couldn’t do nothing about that.”
Taylor says her son’s teammates and coaches support him being on the team.
Denver7 out to Denver Public Schools for a statement but did not receive one prior to publication.