East Short on Talent?

This is an issue

all you really have to do is be able to run to play them

No question this is part of it. I'm seeing LAX goals in the front yards in my upper-middle class neighborhood. This statement is particularly true for soccer. A kid can have horrible skills but if she can run up and down few people will really notice. Not like our game where failure is very noticeable. Soccer is the 'kinder, gentler' sport. LAX is a bit different but, like anything new, it's attractive and seen as 'cool'. Your observation that softball is seen as a 'rural' game certainly holds true in Greenville. The program at the 'city school' that my DD attended was not able to field a JV team this season. Ten years ago her older sister was cut from JV team that 40 kids were trying to make. Meanwhile, the program at our rural neighbor con't to thrive.

 

soccer and womens lacrosse.

My youngest DD tried soccer and did not like it. But put her on football size field with a stick and chasing a little ball with a helmet on. I don't know what she would do. But the first time she got run over or tripped up or hit in the chest in lacrosse it would be over for her. I know that softball has the same type of dangers. But I just know my DD.

 

Scratching My Head

I've never understood why a bunch of girls wanted to chase each other around with a stick that had a net on it, and beat the crap out of each other. My buddy set me down and made me watch Lacrosse, I thought to myself they aren't playing a game they're trying to see whose arm/ leg they can break !! I mean there is more hitting each other than swatting at the ball... Go Figure how this is fun !! Now I would like to get a few of you out there and swat at...LOL !!!

 

Let's take the 4A group just for example. I don't really know the answer to this question, but that's why i'm asking. How many 4a high schools are in Alexander County? Davidson County? I'm definetly not ripping at any of these schools, they have great programs as was proven at Walnut Creek.

But in Wake County, there are 20 4A high schools. so imho the talent is very spread out. I am pretty sure that if I could take the best from Wake, that would be one really good team that could be as good if not better than the teams from the east. Please don't take this as a slam against any of those teams. They have great players and coaches. I was at Walnut Creek and what I saw was not dominately better than anybody else. I think depth has as much to do with it as anything. I counted at least 20 players on each of the west teams. The two teams from the east only carried 12. I also think that if a team does not have at least 2 good pitchers they won't take a championship.

 

LAX

Yep.... A legal way to beat the crap out of some one you do not like, all in the name of sport. OH ..excuse me I was trying to throw the ball and hit you right between the eyes. Hope you feel better soon. There may be a few umps that we would like to get out there also.

Also take the top 15 or so from Meck county and make a good team also. Isn't that called the state games???? We'll see then.

 

In wake co when my DD was younger the problem was that they didn't offer fast pitch for girls. Fuquay has always had it but the Cary area and Apex areas did not offer it. They tried modified a couple years but didn't have many takers. I've always said this was half the problem in this area. 7th grade was the first time some of these girls ever played. I really hope it has changed in the years since.

 

JV not depth

I am fairly certain both ND and AC brought their JV players or several of them with them so they could participate in the experience. I have seen them both play earlier in the year and they did not have that many players.

Can anyone from AC or ND confirm?

 

It's not so much what is or isn't offered, it's the lack of coaching and fundemental development. Phreak is right about this. He hit the nail on the head. Somtimes a coach can fool a parent or DD. Once the DD gets some good coaching and figures it out, it's easy to identify a fake. And once that happens the system breaks down. But you can not tell anyone that. So......maybe you can fool some of the kids some of the time, but you can not fool all of the kids all of the time. Once people begin to realize that and do something about it things will get better. I'm not a coach, but I've seen enough to know. So, if the east is to compete they need to have a system in place that will develop talent and not discourage it. When a DD leaves a team practice or a game, it's up to the coaches to make ALL the players feel like champions. JMHO.

 

I think they had their jv with them. Good thing the ticket takers didn't know.

There's a point there, though. Neither Fuquay or New Bern did it. Opportunity missed for their jv. I'd be willing to guess that AC and ND are totally involved with their jv teams.

AC didn't use but one pitcher the whole tournament. Seems like ND used more than one. Central Davidson didn't need but one, either. CD's Chelsea Leonard is awesome!

I believe the West teams are usually stronger because of their pitchers. That is probably the area needing the most attention in the East.

 

State Games?

You could call it State Games but those are teams comprised of regions and Seniors from one half of the state and the other. That's a much larger area to pull from. My point is that when you have the concentration of schools that we have, there is only so much talent to go aound. That's why I say if Wake Central was the only 4A school in the county, you have that huge pool of talent to pick from. If the county were the only ones that offered Rec. leagues, then you have a super feeder program, The JV program would be really strong also. I do think that teams like AC and ND are probably stronger top to bottom than most teams in the East. They do not have the weaknesses through out the line-up that many of the teams around here do.

I for one like the concept of summer high school leagues much like Baseball has here. Play a couple times a week and does not conflict with TB. That gives the HS program a chance to see what is coming up and gives those players a chance to compete and play with one another during the summer.