This appears in the Sunday, July 5, edition of The Birmingham News.

I have always believed that extracurricular activities in high schools are a good thing.

A varied offering of sports, band, cheerleading, drama clubs, debate teams, Beta Club and other such activities gives every student a place where he or she can fit in.

These activities also teach a lot of qualities not otherwise taught in high schools. In some cases, I believe, students who might be prone to dropping out of school don't because of these activities. Most of these programs require that a student maintain a minimum grade-point average to participate.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association is currently considering the addition of competitive bass fishing to the list of sanctioned sports in Alabama high schools. That is definitely out of the box thinking and it borders on brilliance. I believe even the AHSAA would be shocked by the acceptance should it become a reality.

The AHSAA has a process that it must go through to make competitive bass fishing a championship sport in this state. That process would end with 10 percent of its member schools signing up to participate. The final hurdle would not be a problem, I assure you.

The unspoken truth is that it will take money to make high school bass fishing a sport in Alabama. There's a short supply of it in these tough economic times.

Regardless, I called Jerry deBin, the director of outdoor marketing for Academy Sports and Outdoors, at the company's headquarters in Katy, Texas. I told the former Alabama resident of the possibility of bass fishing becoming a high school sport in his former state. He thought it was one of the greatest ideas he had ever heard.

"We will watch this closely," he said. "I believe it would be something we'd definitely be interested in. I think it's something the whole fishing industry would be interested in."

I think it's safe to assume that every high school in Alabama has a number of students with parents who own bass boats. I know bass fishermen and bass clubs well enough to know that they will be slobbering at the mouth to participate as soon as they learn that high school bass fishing is even a possibility.

What would it cost the cash-strapped high schools? Absolutely nothing. Should it become a reality, they would have volunteer coaches waiting in line.

Illinois this year became the first state to offer bass fishing on the high school level. A total of 198 of the 700 high schools in that state participated in the inaugural season. This upcoming school year, more than 400 of the high schools have signed up. I believe the interest would be even higher in Alabama.

On top of that, the sport could become a money-maker for the AHSAA. Imagine cities such as Birmingham, Gadsden, Eufaula and Guntersville bidding for the right to host the state championship. Imagine boat manufacturers, lure companies and rod manufacturers signing on as sponsors.

Should the AHSAA not get on board, I suspect that high school bass fishing competition will be a reality anyway. Advocates for such a program in this state have a back-up plan that would create high school bass fishing on a club level, as Illinois did. That would be fine, I suppose, but the AHSAA would give the program instant credibility.

The AHSAA is currently studying the addition of "emerging sports." I don't know what other sports are being considered but I assure you they pale in comparison to the popularity of bass fishing in this state.