Jump to content

TSSAA Legislative Council Board of Control 8th Grade Eligibility Request


cobracoach
 Share

Recommended Posts

TO:                 TSSAA Legislative Council and Board of Controls

FROM:            Jay Lowery, Huntingdon High School

DATE:             September 21, 2015

SUBJECT:         8th Grade eligibility

 

This proposal is in regards to 8th graders being eligible to play at the High School level when they are housed in the same building.  Numerous 1A (Single A) schools throughout the state are located in one small town with a middle school at a different location, but in the same town.  Their student population may be the same as those that are in the same building, however, they are not eligible under the current stipulations for eligibility.

This is giving some students 5 years of valuable experience at the high school level.  As we all know experience is a very valuable component for athletes.  Some sports are affected differently as to when their middle school season is over only allowing a portion (4 1/2 years) of the high school season.  However, Spring sports does give athletes a full five years of eligibility.

We are seeing parents, players, friends, etc. encouraging (recruiting) players to enroll in their school, which is all under one building, in order to have more eligibility.  We are also seeing middle school girls attending summer camps with the high school team at a high school only camp. 

Our proposal is to allow schools located in one town with only one middle school within one school district to be eligible to move up to the high school sports once their middle school (8th grade) season is complete.

Therefore these are the items for consideration within this proposal.

  • Students enrolled in a school district with one middle school and one high school be allowed to play high school sports once their middle school season is over. 
  • By setting the ruling with a student population for a certain number or less be allowed to play high school sports once their middle school season is over.
  • Eliminate 8th graders the ability to move up at all.

I would be happy to discuss this further with you and express the ramifications this would have for Tennessee athletes should this proposal be considered.  

The following signatures are supporting this proposal.

 

If you are a high school coach and you support this proposal please contact Coach Jay Lowery at [email protected] and let him know!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recent Posts

    • Way late on this post, but I do believe that I want to at least weight in so to speak lol. I wrestled NAIA competed against some of the best wrestler over all a crossed the divisions and felt great about my college wrestling experience. I think people make the mistake in believe that wrestling some how gets easier as a sport at the smaller college divisions it doesn't the training is mostly the same. I have that on good authority from a coach who was a D1 all-American. it's more the commitment level of the competitors that is different. There is talented wrestlers that can go D1 at any level in the smaller division. sub in Sammy Shires for one he would have done fine on a DI team. He chose a work life ratio that suited him. It's not about talent it's commitment are you going to make training and studying the sport the center of your world cause that's what it takes: NO MATTER HOW TALATENTED BEFORE HAND YOU ARE.  If so then D1 is for you and striving for success at that level is for you like Mr. Palmer said it's what your willing to put in. Now coaches if you have a successful wrestler who fits that bill then by all means D1 is a great option they will see some success no matter how small, but if they are not that committed along with being talented and a killer and you know it then your doing them wrong.  You don't have to tell athletes that you don't think they are D1 tell them to keep their options open to take all their visits to consider all the divisions regardless of their goals. college recruiting visits have you most times wrestle against their current wrestlers coaches and athletes  will find out real quick it's not easy no matter where you go. That way when they make their decision it's a sound one that's based on well rounded experiences.     BobCorker, and oceansize42 I believe what you are thinking is correct but for different reasons. TN wrestler's have the talent... it's a commitment level change. TN wrestlers aren't used to having to put themselves through the level of commitment required and kills them on the D1 level.    WrestlingGod, I agree you should push kids to pursue their dreams, but not at the cost of common sense period... we have to much of that going around this country already. Dreams can turn to poison when these wrestler are not educated on what it truly takes. In TN  a kid who understands wrestling to a high level can be successful with small amounts of hard work. They think their definition of hard work is enough for D1 that is the mistake not the "talent/understanding".  Over-all though we do not celebrate NAIA,D2,D3, or Juco success in this state like other states do. GA/AL celebrates all it's college wrestlers success a crossed the  board no matter the division. Why? because it's hard... I have gone to all the divisions National championships let me tell you to be a all-American at any is impressive especially D2 or NAIA. those guys can scrap and not one of those AA's are an easy match. all of them were state placers or champs multiple times in their high school careers. does that at all sound easy to place at? TN does not give those guys enough credit or shout outs period. it's an over sight because of this D1 or it's less than meaningless   mentality on this site and in this state. GA/AL is better then us on the highest stage because they send guys to D2,NAIA,D3 ect. they come back understanding the sport better then their pervious coaches, and give back and that cycles to athletes readiness to go D1 with clearer understanding of what it takes to be competitive day 1 freshman year.             My post isn't to support one way or the other but to just consider that both sides have merit and that both work when the system in TN. by system I mean coaches are the better educated on preparing athletes for each level they want and should pursue.        
    • If you think McKenzie could've beat Riverside I have a bridge you might like to buy. 
    • Hate to hear Ricky is heading to the old folk's home!
    • By recruiting, I mean members of a coaching staff are talking to, meeting with, giving tours, to students, and their guardians, that are not zoned for their school.    there’s no way that many non Bearden kids just showed up all at once without being recruited. It can’t be a coincidence that all those kids also went through the middle school all star game your boss puts on every year. 
    • Not sure how I would put it as recruiting perhaps kids trying to better their career by going to a head coach and coaching staff with connections all over college football that gets them the opportunity to go play college football and be coached by a coach with a pretty good track record.
×
  • Create New...