What effect will this have on NC sports?

Same schedule as Varsity. Home vs Away....with both boys and girls travelling together on the same activity bus. Only need two busses instead of 4, and the kids would get more or equal the amount of games if AD's can schedule a couple tournament type Saturdays in for Non conference games. JMHO.

 

I don't buy it Cheeze. I don't think people are putting the kids first here. There are PLENTY of parents who could come on (and some already do) who would be more than qualified to coach 1st base in a varsity game while the assistant coach was coaching JV. That's BS. There is NO reason why the boys and girls teams could not travel together. It's not like they'll be making out in the back of the bus. As far as the pitching issue...Maybe. I've seen plenty of girls pitch two games in a row in travel ball with no problems. If your pitching is that weak than you do have some problems play one game, much less two. It's time people stopped kicking the can around and trying to maintain the status quo and start doing something instead of making excuses why not to do it. Way too many chiefs and not enough Indians in my opinion. The system doesn't need a complete overhaul, just a little maintenance. People and their power trips please give us a break. Let add something while I'm thinking about it.....Parents, whether coaches like to admit it or not, are the biggest youth athletic supporters (no pun intended) there are. I know the economy stinks, but they still pay for lessons and camps and equipment, etc. But I see so many comments on threads about coaches who want the parents out of the way. They are quick to forget that if it wasn't for parents...you coaches would have NO teams. I think we deserve a little more than that. We are the one's PAYING for it. I know there is a fine line here, but I just don't see a maximum effort being put forth here. AS far as cutting other sports. before you cut a game or a program...ask the parents first. Give them the opportunity to pay MORE for it through team registration before you cut it out completely. Then you know for sure. JMHO.

 

In my original post...

I did not have TB in mind at all and our high school (2A) has never been able to field a JV team (too much competition from soccer and track), so I didn't account for JV games...that would present another problem.

Our school does share buses with softball and baseball, but one of our conference schools is an hour and 45 minutes one way and they always want to play at 5:00 so that the teams can get home at a decent hour on a school night. Over the past two years we have been able to convince the conference to allow us to play on Friday nights, but the other coach will not agree to a double header...no matter what. All of our conference schools, with the exception of 1, is over a 30 minute drive...that is why I think Double Headers on Saturday would benefit our particular situation.

At our school the only reason the football games are revenue makers is because of the marching band, color guard and cheerleaders...their parents come to see them perform and after half time our section is like a ghost town. So is "football" the real money maker? We average 75 - 100 fans at softball games, if they would make the band, cheerleaders and color guard perform at our games we would make more money than football!

 

The issue still remains....

that there are expenses beyond equipment, uniforms, etc. We have to consider everything...no matter how dedicated and involved parents are, I bet when you show them the electricity bill for the lights for one night game there would be a change of heart. Not to mention the tractors, mowers, seeders, fertilizer spreaders, sprayers, chalk and paint, irrigation costs, etc. etc. that it takes to have a nice complex.

In our county, the school / Booster Club is responsible for raising all of the money for athletics and if it weren't for the area businesses things would be pitiful. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of parents that are willing to take the time to work and make sure that "all" of the teams are taken care of. In a perfect world everyone would pull their weight, but it just doesn't happen.

 

We play in a 1A conference with 7 teams and all but 1 team had at least 2 pitchers. In some cases the girls were about equal and in all cases they were at least adequate. I believe if there was a need for more pitching then more girls would do it and stick with it. Dominate pitchers are a different subject. How many HS baseball teams have dominate pitchers? I wouild bet that most do not. East Surry won about 4 1-0 ball games enroute to a 1A championship in softball and I would not call the pitching they faced "dominate". I quess what I am saying is you do not have to have a Chelsea Leonard to be competitive. A pitcher that can hit spots and change speeds can be very effective at the high school level. Don't get me wrong...I'll take a Leonard or a dominate pitcher anytime!

 

I love Saturday games! The best day to encourage attendance, but it will never become a fixture. Do you know why? Because it's mandatory that the home team AD must be there....and they ain't going to give up many of their Saturday's to be away from their families...especially for a so called non-revenue producing sport.

and when you start talking about saving a sport by going to parents to help support it financially: unless it's a club sport, school officials won't allow that. One school may afford it, but another conference school doesn't get the same support.

Listen to this: There is a school in Charlotte that has a very active booster club. They raised enough money to install $100,000 worth of field improvements. CMS will not let them do so, unless they shared that money equally between all conference schools.....ouch!

 

Well.....I hear your pain. We all hear it. I still think it can be done. I really like the DH idea and Saturday games. Would it cost some schools? Maybe. But the reality is at HS everyone it as the mercy of the players that walk through the door anyway. So if you don't have a pitcher or catcher, you don't have a team regardless of what day a game is on. And I think to the best way to develop talent is MORE games, not less. The biggest thing killing softball development and in general is daddy ball and the lack of fundementals being taught from 8U and up, but that's another issue. I really do think that HS should adopt a more travel ball like schedule on weekends. Not every weekend but a few early tournaments like you see at Spring Break to add some NON conference games, and some DH's. Just think about it. Hang in there....

 

Obama Way

Share the wealth even if you work harder, are creative, seek help, get volunteers and some one else sits back and watches, that is Mecklenburg county, been here for 13 years and nothing changes. Give me your hard earned funds cause I deserve it, I earned it cause I breathe!

 

I don't recall having to share between schools in conference but I know of at least one school where they have to share between various sports at the school. While that has some merit there are times when it holds a team back. Bu, to be fair, there are times when one sport is allowed to make improvements while another may have to wait.

Maybe we could encourage HS alumni to give back to their HS instead of their universities when they grow old and wealthy!