The State of High School Sports

[wobycat]

High School Sports have changed drastically since I played, some good things and some not so good things. The not so good things are causing problems. I made a list of my pet peeves for discussion.

1. Youth Sports - To me this is where some of these problems arise.
It should more like playing each other in the back yard.

2. Specialization: Specializing in the off-season should be for college and professional athlete. Don't get me wrong, I think working on your game when you can is a good idea but coming out of another activity to do so is something I don't agree with.

3. Travel Ball: At this point, it's overkill. Kids are playing all summer. Playing AAU immediately after basketball season while playing a spring sport is dumb. Holden and Loveday should be playing AAU, not the backup guard for the jv team.

4. Parents: Some parents are either too involved with their kid's sports or have unrealistic expectations. This is what causes them to go ballistic in stands at coaches, other players, and officials.

5. Protection of Officials: I like to gripe about officials like the next guy but some fans are relentless. I believe quality of officials are declining because they just don't want the hassle and it's not worth it.

6. Transferring: This is not just a high school thing, you see it a lot in college sports as well. If kids would just fill rolls and compete for positions naturally and respect the wait your turn, I think some of these arguments can be avoided. Kids should transfer if absolutely betters their position, but how often does that actually happen?

Thoughts?

[trojandave]

Very good post, wobycat. One point I would like to add is the aspect of social media in high school sports. It's becoming more and more a very big part of HS sports, but unfortunately there is way too much negativity toward kids, coaches, and officials. I'm a passionate fan of my Trojans but I try very hard to keep what I post as positive as possible. Some people, though, live in a very cynical world and unfortunately this exists in the HS sports forums. There's no reason whatsoever to be hurtful on a message board toward an individual involved in HS sports.

There's also too much rumor talk on message boards. Facts should be gathered before someone posts about a topic. Rumors can and have been used in the wrong way with repercussions that we may not realize.

There are thousands of people who are members of message boards or who read such, so the influence of what is said is something that cannot be taken lightly.

[Orange and Brown]

Officials do a hard job for little pay.
I've yet to have met an official who showed up and decided to screw over one team for another. Their are some officials who are better than others, but at this point it is hard to find people who want to put up with the abuse night in and night out.

[wobycat]

Very good post, wobycat. One point I would like to add is the aspect of social media in high school sports. It's becoming more and more a very big part of HS sports, but unfortunately there is way too much negativity toward kids, coaches, and officials. I'm a passionate fan of my Trojans but I try very hard to keep what I post as positive as possible. Some people, though, live in a very cynical world and unfortunately this exists in the HS sports forums. There's no reason whatsoever to be hurtful on a message board toward an individual involved in HS sports.

There's also too much rumor talk on message boards. Facts should be gathered before someone posts about a topic. Rumors can and have been used in the wrong way with repercussions that we may not realize.

There are thousands of people who are members of message boards or who read such, so the influence of what is said is something that cannot be taken lightly.

Definitely should’ve added social media.

[mlittle]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

[Ironman92]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

I agree with most of this. I hate how mlittle is growing up right before our eyes

[mlittle]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

I agree with most of this. I hate how mlittle is growing up right before our eyes

Unioto has a way of changing people

[wobycat]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

Apparently you don’t agree. Lol that’s cool but specialization is very new, aau in 3rd grade come on man..kids are being told they’ve arrived already. Apparently travel football is now a thing in the area. A lot of Kids can’t handle being told anything but you’re the greatest. Open enrollment is not the cause of transfer. Any kid can show a phone bill and never live in district. Transfers are happening either to win games or the kid not getting their way. We will just disagree but I stand on why I think high school sports are having their problem. I think eventually there will be more harvest prep schools pop up and kids will be recruited a lot. I think the public school will eventually just become a service and schools will privatize being bought out. I went on a rabbit trail there but to me it’s all related and I feel that’s where amateur sports are heading.

[mlittle]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

I agree with most of this. I hate how mlittle is growing up right before our eyes

Unioto has a way of changing people

You just asked for thoughts and I gave mine That is why I love these forums. We don’t have to agree and can share our own opinions.

To get deeper into specialization, I think one reason it may be more prevalent now is the same reason steroids are running rampant in college and professional athletics and it’s MONEY. College tuition reaching upwards of 100k ? Yeah, as a parent if I felt my child had an opportunity to get a 4 year degree paid for with a sport then I’m gonna absolutely try to persuade them to put all their effort into it and not apologize to a single person for it. But I don’t think it’s some new thing that just started.

[mlittle]

Sorry, I copied the wrong text apparently still have some growing up to do

[mlittle]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

Apparently you don’t agree. Lol that’s cool but specialization is very new, aau in 3rd grade come on man..kids are being told they’ve arrived already. Apparently travel football is now a thing in the area. A lot of Kids can’t handle being told anything but you’re the greatest. Open enrollment is not the cause of transfer. Any kid can show a phone bill and never live in district. Transfers are happening either to win games or the kid not getting their way. We will just disagree but I stand on why I think high school sports are having their problem. I think eventually there will be more harvest prep schools pop up and kids will be recruited a lot. I think the public school will eventually just become a service and schools will privatize being bought out. I went on a rabbit trail there but to me it’s all related and I feel that’s where amateur sports are heading.

You just asked for thoughts and I gave mine That is why I love these forums. We don’t have to agree and can share our own opinions.

To get deeper into specialization, I think one reason it may be more prevalent now is the same reason steroids are running rampant in college and professional athletics and it’s MONEY. College tuition reaching upwards of 100k ? Yeah, as a parent if I felt my child had an opportunity to get a 4 year degree paid for with a sport then I’m gonna absolutely try to persuade them to put all their effort into it and not apologize to a single person for it. But I don’t think it’s some new thing that just started.

[wobycat]

1. Youth sports are fine. Only thing I have issue with is there is too much emphasis on winning. Should be for development and learning the game. They’ll learn to “win” later.

2. Specialization isn’t new. Athletes have been eliminating other sports to get better and play the sport they actually enjoy instead of one their parents or peers pressure them to play.

3. Travel ball shouldn’t only be reserved for the better players who you think it will benefit. What if the backup you speak of actually has aspirations to be a starter? Should he not be afforded that opportunity? Or what if that kid just LOVES the game and since he is a backup he’s not getting enough minutes and this is his opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

4. Is rather parents be too involved than for them to not be involved at all.

5. Referees aren’t being thinned out due to people yelling at them from the stands. That’s been happening since the beginning of time and will never stop regardless of how good officials are. It’s part of the game and officials uunderstand that and actually expect it.

6. The reason transferring has been an issue is due to open enrollment. If open enrollment would have been this easy 50 years ago. Them 50 years ago people would’ve been complaining about transferring then. If a kid is good enough to not have to wait his turn or fill a role at another school and their home school doesn’t see it that way then they move. Nothing wrong with that at all

Apparently you don’t agree. Lol that’s cool but specialization is very new, aau in 3rd grade come on man..kids are being told they’ve arrived already. Apparently travel football is now a thing in the area. A lot of Kids can’t handle being told anything but you’re the greatest. Open enrollment is not the cause of transfer. Any kid can show a phone bill and never live in district. Transfers are happening either to win games or the kid not getting their way. We will just disagree but I stand on why I think high school sports are having their problem. I think eventually there will be more harvest prep schools pop up and kids will be recruited a lot. I think the public school will eventually just become a service and schools will privatize being bought out. I went on a rabbit trail there but to me it’s all related and I feel that’s where amateur sports are heading.

You just asked for thoughts and I gave mine That is why I love these forums. We don’t have to agree and can share our own opinions.

To get deeper into specialization, I think one reason it may be more prevalent now is the same reason steroids are running rampant in college and professional athletics and it’s MONEY. College tuition reaching upwards of 100k ? Yeah, as a parent if I felt my child had an opportunity to get a 4 year degree paid for with a sport then I’m gonna absolutely try to persuade them to put all their effort into it and not apologize to a single person for it. But I don’t think it’s some new thing that just started.

I understand your disposition. I respect your opinion But how many get true full rides. I think parents spend a lot of money believing that it will happen when it rarely doesn’t. Now don’t get me wrong. I still love high school sports and I’m not speaking about every athlete but there are some things that are different that I don’t agree with and feel unnecessary

[Ironman92]

The 3rd-6th grade travel/AAU...that’s 1,000% the parents

You catch a young family and their oldest hits 3rd grade and he’s asked to be on an all-star or AAU team...almost all of them bite and sell out completely....ESPECIALLY if they weren’t much on the athletic field in their day.

That stuff is not for everyone and many parents aren’t suited to make decisions on it but are so elated.

Kids are way different but so are parents. Kids never play sports unless it’s an organized game, scrimmage, practice, showcase etc....they can all dribble behind their back better but often lack understanding on the court that comes with “recess” or backyard play.

For 90+% of the sporting issues that kids have...I’m blaming the parents.

[svac83]

With transfers i think sometimes gets a bad rap on sports. taking gallia county schools for instance. because that is where i am from. my daughter is a senior at gallia academy this year. when she started at washington elementry in first grade with 110 first graders. we were looking the other day. 13 of those kids will graduate from south gallia 15 from river valley and at least 4 from meigs. there have been others transfer out that we have no idea where they are graduating from. Most of these kids transferring are not doing so for sports. Sports is just what we talk about. On a different subject i was out at school today taking something out for my daughter. the office was full of people i asked what was going on. The high school had like 5 kids transfer in today. So associated the transfer from just a sport point of view is not correct view of that i would actually say kids transferring for sports is a minority of transfers

[mlittle]

Apparently you don’t agree. Lol that’s cool but specialization is very new, aau in 3rd grade come on man..kids are being told they’ve arrived already. Apparently travel football is now a thing in the area. A lot of Kids can’t handle being told anything but you’re the greatest. Open enrollment is not the cause of transfer. Any kid can show a phone bill and never live in district. Transfers are happening either to win games or the kid not getting their way. We will just disagree but I stand on why I think high school sports are having their problem. I think eventually there will be more harvest prep schools pop up and kids will be recruited a lot. I think the public school will eventually just become a service and schools will privatize being bought out. I went on a rabbit trail there but to me it’s all related and I feel that’s where amateur sports are heading.

You just asked for thoughts and I gave mine That is why I love these forums. We don’t have to agree and can share our own opinions.

To get deeper into specialization, I think one reason it may be more prevalent now is the same reason steroids are running rampant in college and professional athletics and it’s MONEY. College tuition reaching upwards of 100k ? Yeah, as a parent if I felt my child had an opportunity to get a 4 year degree paid for with a sport then I’m gonna absolutely try to persuade them to put all their effort into it and not apologize to a single person for it. But I don’t think it’s some new thing that just started.

I understand your disposition. I respect your opinion But how many get true full rides. I think parents spend a lot of money believing that it will happen when it rarely doesn’t. Now don’t get me wrong. I still love high school sports and I’m not speaking about every athlete but there are some things that are different that I don’t agree with and feel unnecessary

I understand both sides. I get it. My kid plays 3 sports. He’s actually wanted to specialize for a few years and I won’t let him. Sports won’t be paying his bills so I told him to play them all and enjoy it all now while he can. Only get to do high school once.

[svac83]

when it comes to travel sports i think you need to look at at participation numbers. when i was a seventh grader at gallia academy we did not have a seventh grade basketball team. why we had like 113 kids who wanted to play. we played intermurial within the school in 7th grade think we had 14 teams that year. want to talk about competitive thinking that the next year maybe there would be 10 to 12 chosen for the 8th grade team.

when i played midget football for 5th 6th and 7th grade we had enough kids for like 6 teams and almost 20 kids a team. That was enough for a season now maybe your getting 30 kids that age you kind of half to travel.
we could play baseball in little league or pony league and not leave the county and schedule 10 to 15 games now your lucky to have 6 teams in the county the world is a smaller place. and travel for sports is the only thing you can really do.

[mlittle]

The 3rd-6th grade travel/AAU...that’s 1,000% the parents

You catch a young family and their oldest hits 3rd grade and he’s asked to be on an all-star or AAU team...almost all of them bite and sell out completely....ESPECIALLY if they weren’t much on the athletic field in their day.

That stuff is not for everyone and many parents aren’t suited to make decisions on it but are so elated.

Kids are way different but so are parents. Kids never play sports unless it’s an organized game, scrimmage, practice, showcase etc....they can all dribble behind their back better but often lack understanding on the court that comes with “recess” or backyard play.

For 90+% of the sporting issues that kids have...I’m blaming the parents.

I’m 100% of my kids sporting issues

[wobycat]

You just asked for thoughts and I gave mine That is why I love these forums. We don’t have to agree and can share our own opinions.

To get deeper into specialization, I think one reason it may be more prevalent now is the same reason steroids are running rampant in college and professional athletics and it’s MONEY. College tuition reaching upwards of 100k ? Yeah, as a parent if I felt my child had an opportunity to get a 4 year degree paid for with a sport then I’m gonna absolutely try to persuade them to put all their effort into it and not apologize to a single person for it. But I don’t think it’s some new thing that just started.

I understand your disposition. I respect your opinion But how many get true full rides. I think parents spend a lot of money believing that it will happen when it rarely doesn’t. Now don’t get me wrong. I still love high school sports and I’m not speaking about every athlete but there are some things that are different that I don’t agree with and feel unnecessary

I understand both sides. I get it. My kid plays 3 sports. He’s actually wanted to specialize for a few years and I won’t let him. Sports won’t be paying his bills so I told him to play them all and enjoy it all now while he can. Only get to do high school once.

I would do the same thing. You’re absolutely right.

[svac83]

I am zero percent of my kids sporting issues. We have one rule in my house you honor your commitments you start a sport you finish it. You don’t want to do it next year find. When my kid is involved in a sport was different before high school but once he got to high school we didn’t really talk about that sport at home I might tell him he played well or good effort. But he had a coach and I stayed out of it and if he had a problem with a coach I had him take it up with athletic director not me.

During football season me and his coaches would not say 10 words all season. When he wrestled I would see the football coaches and we would sit and talk football for a hour.

When we wrestled over summer I coached him when wrestling season started I kept my opinion to myself.

Just my way of doing things

Since my son graduated and no longer plays I have been a been a volunteer assistant in 4 different sports. I just didn’t feel comfortable putting my son going through the whole coaches son thing. It was his high school opinion not mine

[Ironman92]

I am zero percent of my kids sporting issues. We have one rule in my house you honor your commitments you start a sport you finish it. You don’t want to do it next year find. When my kid is involved in a sport was different before high school but once he got to high school we didn’t really talk about that sport at home I might tell him he played well or good effort. But he had a coach and I stayed out of it and if he had a problem with a coach I had him take it up with athletic director not me.

During football season me and his coaches would not say 10 words all season. When he wrestled I would see the football coaches and we would sit and talk football for a hour.

When we wrestled over summer I coached him when wrestling season started I kept my opinion to myself.

Just my way of doing things

Good to hear...but doesn’t change my thought on it