High School Softball season in the fall?

I do agree with you on some points. If I moved Softball and Baseball to the fall I would move football and volleyball to the spring. Football during the months of Feb., Mar., and April would be great in my opinion.

 

Football is the revenue sport at most HS's in the State with Basketball coming in second, and Baseball probably coming in third Attempting to move any one of those sports at any time would take an act of the entire U.S. Congress. It is not going to happen!

 

Hey Pop...I don't disagree with you on this...it is just nice to be able to daydream about a better way...again, just my opinion.

 

I feel exactly as you. It is nice to daydream of how things could be better for all involved.

 

ok pop, ....

...very well posted here my friend. So.....if the weather is a problem, and it is; and the logistics of coaching duties be it football/cheerleading/etc. is a problem and it is; then does it not make sense, at least on the surface here, to allow spring outdoor sports players, teams, coaches, and/or "interested local parents" to be given some room to practice or get together when the weather breaks from 40 on a Wed. afternoon, and the temps hit 70 on Thurs.?

 

This week in our area is a perfect example of temperatures that would be conducive to practice. The NCHSAA does allow skill development during this time of year. We are not in a "dead period" right now. Skill development is allowed as long as you only have eight softballers at a time. Now that is not the best scenario, but there was a time when it was against the rules from the NCHSAA to do any type of practice, skill development, or even meeting with your team out of season. As much as we would like to get in some pre-season full practices with full rosters when the weather is great, it can only be done by breaking the rules that have been set for us. It is our responsibility as coaches to adhere to these rules, no matter how great the temptation to get a head start on the competition. I don't believe we will see any changes from the NCHSAA in the forseeable future.

 

What's the breakdown with the rest of the country?
I tried to find a source and could not.

What states play in the Fall and which play in the Spring?

It always seemed to me that HS ball would be better if played after a summer of playing Travel Ball... but I can see that many players might be burned out... plus the other reasons given above have made me reconsider the "fall is better" idea.

 

I know that Georgia plays a fall high school schedule and i believe quite a few of the west coast teams do. But at a majority of these places the high school and travel ranks are like two different leagues. It's not like here where the girls play both for the most part. Almost all of the serious players out west play only travel so high school almost becomes a rec league. If you look at something like spysoftballs site where they list recruits for the coming years it doesn't even list their high school, just their home town and travel team. the bottom line is this. girls sports are secondary to boys sports at almost every school and until the revenues for girls teams go up it will always be that way. Last year our volleyball team made state for the first time in several years. Had a home game, on the weekend and drew about 15-20 people. Football will pull that many volunteers just to work concession. This year was a little better but we just don't produce the $$$$.

 

Football

Football is the most popular sport in America and just from shear numbers usually has 50+ players, volleyball 12-15? From my experience football games are the social event, only about a third of the kids that attend actually watch the game and know the score when they leave. Sad but true. Girls softball, basketball, and soccer have become more popular the past few years, and if U watch volleyball much, U can see the talent it takes to play that game. The girls are getting better and better as more play but teams get diluted due to so many teams, HS splitting off and new ones forming, etc. Tough to have quality teams year after year at any level.

 

Yup I agree about girls sports at High School.

If you think about it. Football (maybe wrestling too) in High School is the only venue for football at that age. Where almost every other sport (baseketball, baseball, soccer, softball, volleyball, golf, swimming, etc...) has its own external channel for the sport. The only sport that is relevant(relative to moving up to the next level) in High School is Football. College recruiting is done in the other channels for all the other sports.

High School sports for girls, while fun to participate in and watch, is really irrelevant to the next level. Unfortunately, it is treated that way by school administration too. It may be that the growth of the external channels is due to this treatment... however, I'm not sure that I am disappointed in how it has all worked out.