Something to Think About

I think this would only work if schools did drop certain sports. The rich wouldn;t get richer quite so easy if Meck did what our county did a few years back. We have an open transfer policy. If a kid transfers to another school in the county, he can. But if he participated in a varsity sport at the school he left, then he has to set out a year in that sport, unless his family moved in that school district.

 

Mudcat

Last year was " Open Season " in Charlotte

Now, our rules are the same as yours..must sit out a year unless parents move into that district

 

A couple of things come to mind here for me.

1) As a parent of a pretty good athlete, I want my kid to play with the best team against the best competition that he can, because that's what HE wants. It doesn't matter if it's a school team, summer team, or a showcase team. The important thing to me is that it's HIS decision. As long as I can afford it and the time is there for him to be 100% dedicated to that team.

It's only natural to me that the best players want to play in a winning program. So he wants to transfer to another school. Does it really matter as long as he gets his education? Is that not what HS is for?

2) The other thing is "commitment". Doesn't a player owe it to his teammates, coaches, school, and even his community to finish what he starts? I'm sorry but I'm pretty big on commitment. It's not only a sports lesson but a life lesson as well.

Maybe a compromise is in order. Let a kid go to which ever school he wants his freshman year but if he wants to transfer after that let him sit out a season. It works for the NCAA.

 

I have posted my feelings on this for two years on the old charlotte.com. The players are Garinger (and some of the other schools including Waddell) are to be commended. They practice as often as the other schools. They play as often as the other schools. Garinger (the last two years, cannot speak for this year) always had a group of young men who worked hard against very high odds to play baseball. Have they had the best coaching? No. Do they have the parental support of say a South Meck or Myers Park? No. Yet every game they are there, trying to win their first game. And they do it with sportsmanship. No elbows in the first baseman's back, no high spike slides, no head shots with a 4 seamer.

Braves, give me 6 months to get my life settled down and I will come be your assistant.

 

I'm going to take one more shot at this, and then I'm going to let it lie...and, I'd like to say up-front that I'm going to sound more like an advocate here of the position my friend was espousing than I really feel. Rather, I think it's something that everyone in a position of responsiblity involving scholastic baseball ought to think about.

Also, this has absolutely nothing to do with "School Choice." That's a completely separate and unrelated topic.

The concern behind this is that there a couple (several?) of Charlotte-area schools that are located in areas where feeder programs are virtually nonexistent or nonexistent, altogether.

As sentimentally attracted as I am to the notion that it's up to the "challenged" school's administration to find the next Mike Shildt or "Braves/Gonzo" duo to come in and inject sufficient energy into the program to revitalize it, I worry. My worry is that, while awaiting their arrival, a steady procession of a few kids per year who are genuinely interested in the game get chewed up and spit out because of the "challenged" school's environment.

As an alternative, why not consider giving the principal and athletic director the latitude to "rest" the baseball program? That school's players who were sufficiently interested to continue would be given the freedom to choose from the couple of programs maintained in their "Choice District;" and, once they'd made that choice, they'd be bound to the same transfer limitations imposed upon all other players.

This "resting" need not be permanent. As a "Mike Shildt-type" coach steps forward or changes in the nature of feeder programs take place, the sport could eventually be reinstated.

Meanwhile, we'd provide a quality high school baseball experience to some players who, in a few cases for many years, have been deprived of it.

 

There is no solution for this problem to be found on this board, because we don't have the power or authority to make changes. It is good for everyone to be aware of the situation.

For the scores in question.... please send them to me via Private Message and I will post the results as appropriate, showing courtesy to the players involved.

If a player from the team in question does well in your game against them, please submit that to me also via PM, so that he may receive appropriate public recognition for his efforts, without reflecting the score or the opponent.

I will do my best to make the posts as "delicate" as possible. Players who deserve to be recognized for effort or performance should have that privilege on this board also, regardless of school attended.

 

I like Gonzo'a idea best of all...:flipgrin:

 

I can't get too worked up about the good player who excels at his poor school but who gets to play from day one beginning his freshman year -- even if he is losing all the time. At least he's getting to play for his school and getting to test his skills against the best players.

I have a lot more sympathy for the pretty good player at a school with a lot of players trying out -- like South Meck, Providence, Myers Park, North Meck, etc., who gets cut from the team because he just didn't get noticed in the big numbers at tryouts, or because he had a bad day at the plate in tryouts, or because he just moved in to town and isn't known to the coaches, or because, even though he's a very good third baseman, there are 3 others a little better than him, or, worse yet, because he didn't have the right answer to the question "so where do you play your year round baseball?" when the coach asked him. Or the player riding the pine all the time who would start at many other schools.

I know several of those type players who considered transfering so they could play but decided they'd rather stay in school with their friends. Some of them are sitting on the bench, some are running track, others are playing lacrosse. You can certainly argue that they too should be allowed to go play baseball somewhere else if they wanted. In fact, I'd love to coach a team of the "cast-offs" cut from those programs -- I bet that team would compete and I bet it would be a team that would work hard to prove something.

At the end of the day, though, I believe that high school athletics should be about competing for one's school as part of a team, not about one's personal situation. In that "lab of life" our kids learn that life is not always fair, that they need to learn to make the best out of a tough situation, that "when life dishes out lemons they need to make lemonade", etc., etc. Hard lessons for kids, but valuable ones they will take with them. I only wish we parents would let them learn those lessons along the way in stead of trying to "fix" everything for them.

Those players interested in and talented enough for a career in baseball have lots of alternatives outside of and in addition to their school situation. They are not going to miss out on their future careers because they languished (playing, for goodness sakes) in a weak high school program.

 

Wow...very well said DodgerBlue. I believe I was just going to say the same thing

But, I still say that it is a correctable situation at the offending schools; however, your points are very compelling and true

 

Reminiscing part II