Question about college coach recruiting

[heavy_hitter]

22 hours ago, Noles said:

Are you saying that high schools should not have sports?

I am mixed on it, but yeah.  There is no reason for high schools to offer sports for any other than football.  I wouldn't have said that 20 years ago.

[RmoorePE]

2 hours ago, heavy_hitter said:

I am mixed on it, but yeah.  There is no reason for high schools to offer sports for any other than football.  I wouldn't have said that 20 years ago.

 

I understand where you are coming from, and also realize that there are a LOT of non-school leagues and sports for kids to participate in. Counterpoint is we live in a rural area, with small schools and the only opportunities for outside of school sports is in towns 30 minutes away. To that end, any small community can start an outside of school league but these areas don't have the infrastructure to support them. I.e. in my area there are no outside gyms where leagues can practice or play, so the school gyms become de facto community gyms for the town kids. In larger metro areas the municipalities often build beautiful play structures and fields, which can support a lot of kids.

 

Of course I have a huge soft spot in my heart for a small town gym packed to the rafters on a Friday night for a rivalry game. If there wasn't the town and school pride mixed in I think a lot of the passion and fun would be missing.

[heavy_hitter]

3 minutes ago, RmoorePE said:

 

I understand where you are coming from, and also realize that there are a LOT of non-school leagues and sports for kids to participate in. Counterpoint is we live in a rural area, with small schools and the only opportunities for outside of school sports is in towns 30 minutes away. To that end, any small community can start an outside of school league but these areas don't have the infrastructure to support them. I.e. in my area there are no outside gyms where leagues can practice or play, so the school gyms become de facto community gyms for the town kids. In larger metro areas the municipalities often build beautiful play structures and fields, which can support a lot of kids.

 

Of course I have a huge soft spot in my heart for a small town gym packed to the rafters on a Friday night for a rivalry game. If there wasn't the town and school pride mixed in I think a lot of the passion and fun would be missing.

 

I am skewed in my thinking because Florida HS Activities Association has royally screwed HS athletics in our state.  It is no longer Local/Community teams.  There are no border lines and no transfer rules.  A kid can live in a Brevard County, transfer to play football in Indian River County, then transfer back to Brevard to play for the best basketball team, and one last time transfer to neighboring Osceola County to play Baseball.  There are no repercussions for the transfer and the family doesn't have to move. It is a rich get richer scheme.

 

Our Starting QB, who is already a D1 commit, lives two counties away in Palm Beach and drives an hour every day to school and home.  A WR at our school who is a D1 prospect lives in the next county over and drives here every day.

[RmoorePE]

1 minute ago, heavy_hitter said:

 

I am skewed in my thinking because Florida HS Activities Association has royally screwed HS athletics in our state.  It is no longer Local/Community teams.  There are no border lines and no transfer rules.  A kid can live in a Brevard County, transfer to play football in Indian River County, then transfer back to Brevard to play for the best basketball team, and one last time transfer to neighboring Osceola County to play Baseball.  There are no repercussions for the transfer and the family doesn't have to move. It is a rich get richer scheme.

 

Our Starting QB, who is already a D1 commit, lives two counties away in Palm Beach and drives an hour every day to school and home.  A WR at our school who is a D1 prospect lives in the next county over and drives here every day.

 

That would skew my thinking too. It just makes HS sports predictable and boring. It is so much more satisfying to watch teams mature together over years of elementary, middle and high school. 

 

That happens far less out in the sticks where we are. The rules about that kind of thing are pretty specific in Washington, the student must have an address in that district or they are forced to sit out a year after an out of district transfer. Of course there is a loophole where if the student claims bullying (by coach or other student) they can play the same year. There is no way they could play different sports for different schools in the same year that is nuts.

 

I just can't figure out what the upside even is for that situation.

 

 

[tiger1873]

13 minutes ago, RmoorePE said:

 

That would skew my thinking too. It just makes HS sports predictable and boring. It is so much more satisfying to watch teams mature together over years of elementary, middle and high school. 

 

That happens far less out in the sticks where we are. The rules about that kind of thing are pretty specific in Washington, the student must have an address in that district or they are forced to sit out a year after an out of district transfer. Of course there is a loophole where if the student claims bullying (by coach or other student) they can play the same year. There is no way they could play different sports for different schools in the same year that is nuts.

 

I just can't figure out what the upside even is for that situation.

 

 

 

 

High school sports is okay for social time and some kids would never pick up a club if it wasn't for high school.  The biggest problem I see in Florida with High school golf is they play way too many tournaments.  Some these kids need range time and just basic practice. 

 

The good thing is 1 decent player can make a huge difference in a season but you still need 2 or 3 players that can play ok  to advance a lot.   It's okay to play just don't take it too serious. 

 

 

[TroyB123]

2 hours ago, heavy_hitter said:

 

I am skewed in my thinking because Florida HS Activities Association has royally screwed HS athletics in our state.  It is no longer Local/Community teams.  There are no border lines and no transfer rules.  A kid can live in a Brevard County, transfer to play football in Indian River County, then transfer back to Brevard to play for the best basketball team, and one last time transfer to neighboring Osceola County to play Baseball.  There are no repercussions for the transfer and the family doesn't have to move. It is a rich get richer scheme.

 

Our Starting QB, who is already a D1 commit, lives two counties away in Palm Beach and drives an hour every day to school and home.  A WR at our school who is a D1 prospect lives in the next county over and drives here every day.

That would all seem pretty crappy to me too.   I thought you said football as the one sport you were ok with being associated with schools, but it seems to be the biggest problem?

 

The high school sports I am more familiar with are soccer, golf and baseball.   In all 3 of those sports, the high school team is more just a fun way to play your sport with school mates and support the school.   Development and college recruiting for all 3 of those sports have little to do with the high school teams.    Depending on the school, you generally need to already be at a pretty high level to make the teams, but the clubs, academies, or non-school tournament and coaching is what matters to the serious player.

 

I think of living in Canada for contrast, and if you are an elite level 15-16 year old hockey player, you generally have to leave home to go play major junior where you are drafted, and that brings up a host of other problems.

 

There are probably no easy solutions.

[golfortennis]

On 11/14/2022 at 3:29 PM, TroyB123 said:

That would all seem pretty crappy to me too.   I thought you said football as the one sport you were ok with being associated with schools, but it seems to be the biggest problem?

 

The high school sports I am more familiar with are soccer, golf and baseball.   In all 3 of those sports, the high school team is more just a fun way to play your sport with school mates and support the school.   Development and college recruiting for all 3 of those sports have little to do with the high school teams.    Depending on the school, you generally need to already be at a pretty high level to make the teams, but the clubs, academies, or non-school tournament and coaching is what matters to the serious player.

 

I think of living in Canada for contrast, and if you are an elite level 15-16 year old hockey player, you generally have to leave home to go play major junior where you are drafted, and that brings up a host of other problems.

 

There are probably no easy solutions.

 

So coming back late to the angle I guess I kind of started.

 

My thoughts on "sports not being tied to schools" come from a few things.  At a college level, you have millions of dollars being spent(and a lot of schools it's student fees) for facilities that only 2 % of the student body can access, not to mention those fees also paying for scholarships at some schools.  In high schools, you have an inordinate amount of the budget being spent on athletic facilities.  While you don't necessarily have the same access issue, is this really the item an educational institution should be spending up to 20% of its budget on?  

 

Like you said about here in Canada, you essentially have to go through a club system to get to the top level for hockey.  And Europe operates completely that way.

 

Then you have the whole "you have to go through the calculus charade just because you can get to the quarterback" business of "where will you play in college" in virtually every sport.  Why?  If the professional leagues want players, they can run their own processes.  

 

And more recently, there is an issue with foreign students taking up a large number of scholarships, and in some cases, coming to high schools as well.  From a US perspective, these are taxpayer funded institutions, or at least, tax-advantaged athletic departments, and here you have how many non-Americans taking up these spots?  If a student can make a breakthrough medical discovery, I can understand them attending a school despite not being from the US.  But because they can stick the flag from 145 yards on a very consistent basis?  

 

I say this as someone who has done a complete 180 on this topic in the last 25 years.