Fuel cost

Doomed! Doomed! We're all Doooomed!

Is it that far off to say the end may be near for interscholastic athletic competition? What some are talking about seems to be precursors to this.

Many public school systems started to require their students to wear uniforms. A move towards focusing on what the kids are really there to do in the first place. School is a place to become educated not to show off the latest "Jordans."

When it comes down to it, with the price of fuel as it is, and with no end in site for any kind of relief, only more increases, we may very well see the end of schools going to play other schools. With public education budgets already straining, it may eventually lead to a cost vs benefit analysis, which may lead to cost outweighing the benefit.

Certainly there may be alternatives to ending interscholastic play, however those alternatives themselves may be short lived and in the end fall prey to the cost vs benefit analysis.

We may see this end more quickly than we could imagine.



Sorry for the doom. Just woke up and I think I'll go back to bed.

 

One thing I'll think you'll see is out of conference games will be against teams closer to home. Last year we (Ragsdale) split the gate with Hopewell to help offset the cost of fuel. I'm betting for us to go to their place this year we will have to have money donated for the gas. Like anything else you'll see more car pooling among fans, and as 27 said, people will make sacrifices where possible for their children to continue.

 

Nice to hear from you. Been awhile.

 

Just busy and frustrated.

 

To be honest, I try to stay positive all of the time. However, as the gas prices appear to have no ceiling, what I'm concerned about has very little to do with what schools are going to do with their athletic programs. I'm more concerned about business profit margins shrinking at alarming rates forcing unheard numbers of "downsizing" in nearly every industry.

An enormous amount of hard working people are having to face decisions that thought they were immune from. I can't wait to hear from our leaders, "Okay folks, I know we are having to go through a period of sacrificing right now...but buck up....we're here to help. Oh and don't forget...Go State U!"

Sports will adjust to whatever the conditions warrant. It always has and always will.

 

Braves is correct. Every sector of the economy seems to be slowing. Layoffs are being announced more frequently. The last thing I am worried about is how fuel impacts sports. I'm trying to keep people employed and get throught this slowdown.

 

Same here. Guess we all need to have a stress breaker on the patio with plenty iced down.

 

I'm inclined to agree with Coach 27 with what he put. People will find a way but there will be some good kids who will slip through the cracks and not play because their parents can't / won't find a way. It's going to hurt but most people will find a way around it.

So if you guys have to drive an hour to a game that is rare? JV plays a seperate schedule than the varsity? I am going to be in for a culture shock if / when I end up in NC. In KY the closest game I had was 35 minutes and most of our games in our region were about 1 hr to 1hr 15 min away. Plus it was rare to find a date that did not have a JV game after the varsity game. When I took over as head coach 9 years ago I wanted to have a seperate JV schedule but I couldn't get very many people to go along with it so I dropped that idea.

Wish me luck - I got an interview at Dixon HS on Wednesday. Hopefully it will go well.

 

Perhaps...I just don't know if the school systems themselves will have
that flexability.