DEATH OF HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

The CMS is in a deep dark hole. Already there are groups advocating doing away with most HS sports. Anybody have an opinion on this? Or even better, anybody have an inside scoop on where this might land?
And how can we help?
worried,

 

The new budget axes middle school sports. They said that they are funded by private funds. Those funds are to be redirected to help keep hs sports afloat. It is a slippery slope as you may see hs sports begin to be cut or become pay to play if we don't soon have an economic turn around.

 

The more I see about this the more upset I get. So many states have lost a tremendous amount of revenue from loss of sales tax revenue. While government spending is story in itself, we as a state have lost immeasurable amounts of money to out of state vendors selling to North Carolina residents and businesses. Few, if any are charging sales tax.
While we all love the internet, and quite a few make their living by it, our state as a whole suffers from the loss of this necessary income. I know there are many other factors, but this one hits close to home.

So much of our CMS budget is based on state funding. If those funds are not available, then the budget must be cut to manage. I grew up with CMS and all my kids have played sports in Middle School and High School.
It will be a huge loss for so many of our kids. I think it is so important for many of our youth to keep them involved in these extra curricular activities. KEep in mind, that once we let these sports get cut from the budget, you will not get them back- ever.

I would like to hear from some of the other counties in North Carolina, where these sports have been dropped, and or reduced to pay for play. What are the success stories, and some of the draw backs?
I believe that Wake County did away with Middles School sports some time ago. Any feedback?

 

Curious

CMS, CMS, CMS.....is it my imagination or do we not hear of these severe troubles at Cabarrus County Schools, Union County Schools, York County Schools, Lincoln County Schools, Iredell County County Schools, Gaston County Schools, etc?

 

metro tax needed?

 

Wake County has middle school sports

Wake County has and continues to have middle school sports offering football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball and track. Baseball had a problem in that most schools do not have fields

Back in 97, we started a club team at West Millbrook and the club program has grown although not sure in the best way (not a big advocate of 6th graders playing on big field).

Here is the deal - I believe a middle school gets around $2.5k to operate all the sports (equipment, field items, officials, etc). When my kids were at middle school, we started a booster club to raise funds beyond the PTA token.

Based on my time with local school boosters, problem with urban schools is getting companies to help to level they are capable. I do see their problem in that there are so many schools so if donate to one -> donate to all.

This is not a concern in small communities and rural areas where the school is the only game in town

 

The decline in middle school and high school baseball will eventually lead to the MLB being comprised of all Latin, Japanese etc. players.
Our kids can not compete if they are not offered the opportunity learn, play and compete.
The option of boosters clubs paying for baseball would be great, but face it at most boosters clubs the majority of the money goes to football.
One solution would be for the middle school teams to be ran as club teams. I know that some kids would not be able to pay to play, that is where the boosters club would chip in. The teams would play the same teams as in the past. The coach would probably have to volunteer their time and parents would have to arrange travel.
Another solution is to have a club of baseball supporters only to help pay for baseball. We do that at our high school with seperate fund raising etc. and it has helped.
We are starting down a slippery slope, if schools lose baseball or any sport it will be extremely difficult to get it back.

 

Personally I think HS baseball is very important. The thrill of playing school rivals, playing for your community and playing for championships can't be duplicated anywhere else. Having said that, if HS baseball was ever changed due to economics, there are many enterprising men waiting for this to happen and to roll out their vision of "what's next."......but I'm not one of them.

Showcase baseball has taken a lot of shots through the years based on "pay to play", but my only problem with it is my belief it has taken away the true rivalries that once existed. I mean the "heated" feelings towards rival players, their families and their dogs. So many players are summer teammates and have developed friendships that the 'heated" has been taken out and replaced with "competitive" games. I long for the days of the old SM-Providence rivalry where the coaches, players and families didn't like each other and you could feel the intensity of the matchups in the parking lot. You would have over 1000 screaming fans where every pitch was contested...and you would leave the games drained. Anybody else remember those days?

 

CMS has been ran by the same type thinking people for the last 40 years. Some of the people change, but the philosophy never does. It has not been about the students for a long time. I'm a proud graduate of West Charlotte HS, but when I had children, I moved. I got out of the school system. It is my belief that the school system has plenty of money to do anything it wants. The problem is the leadership doesn't want one "anything", it wants everything. Bus a child from south Charlotte to Davidson for a magnet program...no problem. CMS leadership (or lack there of) is a joke. Now that the NC Assembly has changed and the voting districts will be realigned, possibly some of these folks will be removed from the school boards and we'll get a different set of priorities in place. But I'll get off my soapbox now....

In Union County, my understanding is that Basketball is the only school sport. Football, Baseball, Lacrosse, and So....(I don't want to spell it, much less watch it) are ran by Booster Clubs. Although independent of the school, they play under it's name...Sun Valley, Porter Ridge, ect. Our middle school plays at a rec association due to a lack of field at the middle school. The players on the team pay to play. This fee covers all of the expenses to play, plus the rental of the field from the rec association. Coaches are volunteers. If a family cannot pay, there is some monies available to assist.

I do not see Union County cutting back on Baseball (or any other sport) at the high school level.

 

I'm with you. Showcase has it's place, but I love a good grudge between two good teams. The highs and lows of wins and losses that you have to live with until next year when the chance for a rematch awaits. With Showcase you play the same guys many times over a summer. With School ball....you get one, maybe two chances to beat your rival in any given year. There's only one Conference Championship per year. There's only one State Championship per year. The taste of a loss to a rival just seems to linger a lot longer in High School ball.

How much longer till the season starts?...49 days or so. I'm looking forward to it.