This is how the school was able to get an NHL player – the municipality paid 100,000 a year
We present the NHL player score documents from middle school in front of the principal at Elite Hockey High School.
Do you see anything strange here?
Nations…
What?
– I really don’t want to comment on this case.
At the start of the summer about five years ago, the much-coveted hockey talent was introduced as a freshman at one of the nation’s elite hockey high schools. He told himself on the Co-op Club website about how he was attracted there, that he would study at the association’s NIU High School and which course he would take.
This is despite the fact that final admission was not ready at the time – and that he was not even qualified to start high school.
Score documents in front of the principal show how an NHL player finished ninth grade with a failing grade, an F, in one of the core subjects.
But there are more question marks.
Then they start swinging.
When we compare the value of a player’s merit to the current year’s admission limit, it does not reach it either. A total of 42.5 points are missing. How did the training come about though?
– Here we are divided into different programmes, and this particular man did not go to my programme. So I don’t know what led to his decision to go here. But I know the student. The director says he is a world famous.
We ask the president of NIU at a completely different school if there is any possibility of circumventing the admission rules.
– If you ask the school principals officially, they say no. But if you ask instead if it is possible to create an “extra place” in the high school program, they will probably start to make an impact. Also, if you’re asking what’s going to happen after September 15th…
The principal talks about how many hockey boys generally have a low or very low merit value from the ninth grade.
– However, they have always managed to put pressure on these guys.
The principal also describes perceived influence processes from hockey clubs so that the right player gets a place at his school and that there are ways to bypass the waiting list system.
The student can enroll in another secondary school in the municipality, or in the “wrong” program at the school where hockey training is available, and then wait until September 15.
Namely, responsibility for reserve admission is transferred from central high school admissions to the schools themselves and the principal can then choose who will take the new place in education, regardless of merit.
But what actually happened when an NHL player was accepted?
Someone with insight into the school part of the current admissions describes how the player in question was in high demand among the country’s elite clubs. He also reveals, contrary to a promise of anonymity, how the school worked to cater to a related elite league.
Because the school’s location gave the club a real competitive advantage over other stakeholders.
– The alternative he considered was a total failure in school but still a part of school training. But his mother thought school was important.
– So he didn’t start high school until 9th grade in August, but at the same time he was playing NIU with others. If the training is not full after that, you can take a new student later. So he sat down to ninth grade first and then started studying much later than the others when the class wasn’t full.
I got two exceptions
The person who was in charge of the school when the student was accepted has a partially different interpretation. It is believed that the student in question gained a place through a “free quota”.
Then the principal himself can decide to accept the student even if his merit points are insufficient. This is in the case of “special circumstances”.
However, the prerequisite is that the student meets other eligibility rules. But an NHL player didn’t?
The principal here refers to the fact that it is possible to make another exception, if the student fails in English in particular. This is if the student “because of special personal circumstances has not had the opportunity to participate in English language teaching during a significant part of his time in elementary school”.
After that they can be accepted for special reasons, but then, as the principal, I have to make sure they get an education and can graduate from high school with English for both primary and secondary school, says the principal in charge.
The concerned student reads English well in high school for the degree of d. However, according to the grading documents, during his two years in school, no English language teaching began at the high school level.
It’s also hard to understand why he couldn’t read English in high school. Because he was still able to get into school so much that he got an A in both sports and health as well as crafts, and at least a pass in all the other subjects he studied.
What exactly gave this student all these exemptions?
– I think that for private reasons it is secrecy, says the rector.
How do you feel about the fact that it still takes a place from someone else in both the NIU and the program in question?
– My assessment should be in the case of free quotas that they will pass their studies, and if no student does so, then I have given an incorrect assessment. But in this case I have a very good conscience. My later assessment is that he ran his studies very well.
did not graduate.
– It’s a problem in sports, when they change clubs or end up in situations that are unfavorable from a school point of view. One of those things is when they get to the first team and training interferes with teaching. But we chose to keep trying to retain students then so they can take the courses they have time for.
Nevertheless, the student passed his studies “very well”.
We display grades as well as a study plan from high school studies for an NHL player to an external and objective NIU advisor. His first reaction is a resigned laugh.
– This student has very bad grades. Too low. But in ice hockey there is an A grade.
The player has five F, five E, one D, and one C in his high school transcript. But in Sports Major 1 he has an A.
– This is nonsense, says the director and continues:
– A student can be really good at skating, but when you look at what the course contains, there are a lot of theoretical elements. This student got an A in it but an F in health education and an F in recreation and sports.
considered embarrassing
The person with access to student admission confirms that hockey managers without formal training are working with the teacher in charge of grades. From elsewhere, we also receive testimony that among the ice hockey leaders within the NIU at this time, there was a perception that they could not give low scores in the sports discipline to players they themselves brought.
It would be embarrassing.
At the same time, the external manager continues to find anomalies in the estimate documents.
He points out how grades are determined in two cases six months after the courses have ended, and is also surprised that the student is completely missing out on the grade notes in Natural Science 1a1 but still reads the supplementary Natural Science 1a2 course, with a score as a result.
– You should not have a rating document like this. Here is someone who has committed official misconduct. It shouldn’t look like this.
Indicates several courses that have been started but in which the student has not received a mark or mark.
– You can not do that.
He leaves his eyes run over the lines again.
– This is a rather sad read. I must say so. And he never graduated.
He is still in the School Hall of Fame.
– Fa?
Yes, he was inducted as one of the school’s most successful students into the Hall of Fame.
– It’s embarrassing. It’s one thing if he’s sitting as a star at his mom’s club, that this is our hockey product. But this is a high school that says “we are very good at combining sports and school”. Why would you put him in your Hall of Fame then?
He earns 60 million today.
We return to the manager responsible for admission. Because we have to ask again.
Did this student really do “very well” at school?
– In general, NIU students have slightly higher grades than other students, except when someone has a problem which means they can have lower grades in their coursework but still exercise well. But I don’t want to talk about each student individually. But my assessment is that even his parents would say they were very happy with the way we handled everything. I don’t remember the exact grades but the other students had more challenges in this program.
The principal names another student who went to the same elite high school for hockey.
– He had a really hard time in school, but now I read in the newspaper that he makes 60 million hockey players. So he succeeded. But he didn’t complete high school either.
We also ask about late grades, courses that were never completed and follow-up that started though.
– I don’t remember exactly what happened here, but this is not strange.
The principal said today that his decision to accept the student was correct.
– There were reasons for the decision I made. This is what I can say.
“Line designed for low grades”
Someone who has insight into the admissions process also tells the NIU Seal amount of the respective school. It has transformed an educational place with a somewhat tarnished reputation into a school attractive to large numbers of students.
Today, former “successful” students are highlighted in both buildings and marketing. People who have come a long way in life have walked here.
At the same time, the respondent describes how the importance of sports to the school gave him strength in dialogues with the high school. Not the least of which applies to ice hockey, where cooperation with an elite association is a prerequisite for being able to obtain an NIU education.
– We were adamant that you need to get enough grades to get into school, but if that doesn’t work, there are creative solutions. But we never started from them, says the person transparently.
Through close cooperation with the school, the club was also able to attract players with an education that players did not have a chance to get in other schools.
– We had a streak set up so that even those with very low scores could enter. So if someone wants to study economics, they can study something else for six months and then apply for a change of classes. If there is room, he can change. We know that if you show up and wait three months and take the first core courses, the data for the Swedish National Education Agency will be deleted. After that, you no longer follow the booking list, but if someone drops out, you can change rows.
But is anyone losing out if hockey players continue to get an education? Isn’t it better than forcing them to stand outside the school system?
There were people who were denied a place in a high school program that an ice hockey player entered instead. Not to mention those who were eligible and wanted to attend his NIU education.
But there are many who have reasons to question the procedure.
Pay 100,000 per year
External rector indicates the number of NIU students studying in places other than their hometown. Education that is still funded by the original municipalities.
This also applies to an NHL player.
The cost of the Social Sciences program is 85,000 SEK per calendar year. Then professional programs are more expensive. There is also a payment for the NIU of about 15,000 SEK per year. In many cases, a settlement allowance.
The manager adds the numbers at his discretion.
– Between the thumb and forefinger, the municipality of this student’s home paid 100,000 SEK annually to another municipality to train a promising young hockey player. What did they get out of it? What did the taxpayers get out of? It is a related question.
Sportbladet searched in vain for the NHL player and his parents. At the same time, it is worth emphasizing that the player himself did not make any mistake.
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