Braden River football hit with disciplinary sanctions

The Braden River football program self-reported off-season conditioning rules violations to the Florida High School Athletic Association, and as a result will forfeit its spring football practice sessions and spring game vs. Immokalee High, the FHSAA announced on April 20.

In addition to the loss of spring practices, athletic director Matt Nesser and head coach Curt Bradley will be required to attend FHSAA compliance seminars in 2018 and 2019, to find a replacement opponent for Immokalee or pay the school financial restitution, and has been fined $1,600.

The school has also been placed on FHSAA administrative probation until June 2019, and if the organization finds another violation during that time period, the school could be fined an additional $38,400. 

The Pirates violated FHSAA Handbook Policy 21, which states in part: "Weight training is the use of free weights and stationary apparatus. Cardiovascular conditioning is distance and interval training. Plyometrics is the use of pre-set conditioning programs. Conditioning IS NOT teaching sport specific skills and drills, and DOES NOT involve the use of sport specific equipment (i.e.
starting blocks, hurdles, rebounders, ball machines, bats, balls, rackets, etc.)."

“Braden River takes extreme pride in sportsmanship and running a high quality and compliant program,” Nesser said in a release. “We have already made changes to ensure oversights such as this do not happen in the future. We look forward to moving forward and preparing for the fall.”