beachboy

Is there a conflict of interest when the owner of K2 is the head coach at Webb? Just a thought. Seems like the same thing to me.

Farragut will bounce back. Too talented. Sometimes a loss is a wakeup especially after winning so many in a row. Bearden is improving so out under achieving during regular seasin is irrelevant. Be your best in October i.e. San Francisco Giants

Would rather not try guessing. Maybe we need less incription all the way around. I am not that smart. How bout Bearden defeating Farragut. That's the reason we play the games on the court and not on CoachT. Too much fun!

KCHSVB4 thanks for letting us know but you are confusing me with what you are saying. Could you be a little more straight forward. Confused about boosters and institution comment. Too bad Coach Garland is leaving if that is true. Is this an official thing?

Just heard this from a close friend of mine at Catholic High School. It seems as if they only had 2 players selected to the 4AA All-District team and one of them was also named MVP. But here's the kicker, neither one of them played club this past season. They played have played club in the past but not this past season. Hmmmm, just sayin!!

Philly, I think you are right on all of your points. It is ALWAYS up to the parents and the player to make their own decisions. My problem comes from any coach whether club or high school trying to pressure the player/parents into playing only on their team/club. And that happens all over the country. There should not be pressure from clubs either directly or indirectly to influence players in their decisions.

I am not so sure about the baseball player angle. Around here ALL of the top pitchers I know of all played for their high schools. And we have had some very good ones go to D1 schools as well as get drafted by MLB. If there is an elite pitcher that did not play for their high school I do not know of it, and if I am wrong then my bad. Hope the weekend is kind to everyone. Go Vols!

Wow lots of good ideas floating around out there. I agree with Bratman, that the high school program his daughter went to was the catalyst to her success in high school and college. And they are considered a part of Knoxville volleyball, which I think they will agree about. I have one question for K2Ruth though. If the argument that players get burned out by playing high school is true, then It seems that the year long intense training neccessary to get to D1 at a club facility could also cause burnout. And if the coaches at the high school level are not that good, then high school might be considered sort of a break. Just one approach to the burnout issue. I personally think that players get burned out more from club than they do from high school. One of the coaches at a club here told me that after a three day tournament on the road, the elite teams came to the gym that week 3 nights for 4 hours at a time. If that is true, then that is traveling the burnout road. Just sayin. Oh, and I still have not gotten the numbers I asked for about how many kids from the clubs here in Knoxville have been developed into D1 players. Still interested in that stat. It would go a long ways to proving the point that club is better than high school and more relevant to the elite player. Good luck to all of the teams in a couple of weeks when the district tournaments start. Seems like we just began the season.

BBV well said. Sometimes priorities need to be readjusted. I have seen too many situations where people looked back and said wow.

I whole heartedly agree with you BBV. No matter what the detractors say about his coaching, they cannot take that bond away from father and daughter. Priceless..... Oh there are some things on this earth more important in life than getting a scholarship for volleyball, hmmmmm just sayin'

BBV thanks for taking the time to answer my inquiry, I appreciate it very much. I do agree with Knoxdoyles on what he/she is saying. If all club coaches are better than any of the high school coaches then that should include coaches of the 2 and 3 teams (sorry, I digressed to the other thread, my bad). Oh, and a very nice article in the Knoxnews today on the Bearden coach and his daughter. Nice place to be when you have your teenage daughter loving and respecting you at the same time. Teenagers can be tough sometimes. So that man is a lucky one.

So the Bearden coach was acually a trained coach for Chris Hames for at least 4 years. That sounds as if he qualifies as a "trained" coach to me. Good for him.

K2Ruth, I think I understand what you have been saying on this thread. Now correct me if I am wrong, but in your opinion except for Webb all of the coaches in the Knoxville area are not good enough to coach an “elite†athlete, correct? So the elite players need to not waste their time at the high school level. I agree there are some coaches who are not top flight coaches in high school, but you will find that anywhere in the country. However, I do not think all of the coaches at K2 are elite coaches either. At least what I would consider top level coaches. To me a coach is more than a coach, they are teachers. They are teachers of their sport and more importantly whether you are going to college to play a sport or not, coaches are teachers of life. And regardless of your point of view, I do not think that is debatable. Most high school coaches (not all) teach at the school they coach at and see their player’s everyday during the school year. They can have a huge influence as these kids are growing up and trying to find their way to becoming adults. So try and give them some credit. Good coaches can teach team and individual skills. They can see what is being done and be able to make corrections where they need to be made. Too many coaches just spit out drills with no thought as to the why and the purpose of the drill. They just know the drill because someone showed them, or they saw it at a clinic. Good coaches have purpose to everything they do each day. Those coaches are very rare and hard to find. Is the coach at Webb the only person in Knoxville that has that ability? And one more thought before I go back to work; are any of the players at Webb only training this fall with K2 or are they all playing for their high school? Since that coach is the owner of K2 and if her players are not training at K2, I would find that very curious. Or does she not have any elite college level players on her high school team. Is there a conflict of interest here? Just an observation. Before I go, and I hope this is an ok thing to do, one of my good friends sent this link to me on being an athlete. Have fun with it, it is too funny! www.careerathletes.com/mobile/news_detail.php?id=169

And I go back to one of my original thoughts and that is I think we are losing the real reason to play the wonderful sport of volleyball, because it is so much fun! Now, just curious here, out of ALL the players that have gone through K2 since it opened how many players have actually signed to go on to D1 schools on a scholarship? How many at top 25 D1 schools? How many have go to a school because they were offered a scholarship, but did not like the school and left without finishing? What is the percentage of those kids at K2 as opposed to the percentage that did not receive any offers at all? Chris Hames at Webb has had alot of success there since being hired (state champions last year, cannot beat that), but how many of "her" players have received offers and signed with big D1 schools? I am really curious about these numbers. If you could give me a rough idea I would appreciate it. Thanks

Again, I agree with the fact that it is up to the parents and individual players to make their own choices. That is what this great country is about, freedom of choice. I do have a thought though about the club involvement. How much is the club involved when they set up opportunities for players not in high school to spend the fall training instead of playing high school? And I am all for more opportunities for female athletes to improve their skills and athleticism in all sports. Another point I would like to make is, are the clubs "actively" encouraging their elite and other club players to play for their high school or being luke warm and saying they can offer a better environment if you train with us during the high school season. If that is the case, then in my opinion they are inserting themselves into the decision making process. Club is great. I always loved my time as a club coach, and I still have relationships with many of the girls and parents that I coached. Sometimes I think I made a difference. One advantage that high school has over clubs is the fact that the girls play with friends that the often grew up with in middle school or even earlier and they see them everyday in classes. When you are playing for your school your classmates are always asking what is going on with the team. Alot of school pride and recognition goes along with that. Priceless..... On the flipside, I think several of our local club teams went to nationals this past summer and I don't think anyone knew about it except for the people directly involved. So essentially no one in the community knew about it or really cared for that matter. When you have entire school communities rooting for their own friends, that is soooo much fun, and when high school is over that will never be there again. There are advantages to playing in high school that the clubs cannot duplicate.

Ebther, you are absolutely right about it being up to the player and/or parents to follow their hearts and make their own decisions. Sometimes I think there is pressure, albeit directly or indirectly for a player to choose only one direction. And this can come from high school coaches as well as the club level. There is not just one side playing that game. One of the advantages of playing different sports is decreasing the chances of debilitating injuries. When you use different muscles and different types of moves, you are not over using the same areas over and over. Nice to mix it up a bit for your body. I have seen too many really good players have quick endings to careers because of over-training by doing the same thing for too long.

Amen to tarp. Each of us only goes through high school once.

This has been an interesting thread to read. I have spoken with quite a few high school coaches as well as club coaches concerning this matter. And it really got me thinking (surprise there) about the current state of middle/high school age volleyball. It seems to me that there is a growing push especially for the clubs to play volleyball for the scholarship you “might†earn. Guess I am old school but what happened to playing this wonderful sport for the love and joy of it? Is that getting lost? If it is, that is a shame because a lot of players both male and female are going to be missing out on what this sport is really about. As a former volleyball coach at various levels, I think this is a sad thing to see. Maybe this is what the evolution of a growing sport needs to go through! But I for one, hope not. One quick thought on not playing high school ball because of poor coaching or risk of injury; what is to keep an elite player from being a leader on their high school team and helping other players develop into better players; as well as helping their coach be a better coach. Bet college coaches would see that as a very positive thing to add to their programs, an unselfish student/athlete who is actually a real leader by example. As far as injury goes, that can be another topic for later discussion.

Congratulations to Coach Dearing and her team. They have been a force to be reconded with the past three years. To go undefeated at any level is an amazing accomplishment. And they did this while playing many of the best teams in Tennessee. Again, a great year and run for those girls and their coach.

I hope all of you have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, what a crazy thread. Sounds like BruinBabe has some experience worth listening too. And I agree completely with HardAngle on the perception of club volleyball and how it has changed the sport. The next few days should be interesting. And as HardAngle said, Happy Thanksgiving to all and safe travels. Lets all be thankful for the wonderful families we have. Never take them for granted.

OrCat, wish I had a good answer for your question. I think one of the hardest coaching positions to fill is a qualfied varsity volleyball coach. It is hard to find someone that is a true teacher of the game as well as a person that will teach the girls to do things "the right way". There is so much more to coaching than just the game itself. Volleyball as with other sports should be a vehicle through which our kids learn how to work hard, achieve their goals and make them better people for later in life. Sometimes that gets lost with all of the egos involved. We forget the real reasons for being coaches. And I agree with Clubonlyforus, Coach Cantrell will NEVER leave AC. They will probably have to bury him under the net on the main court. Bet that is in his contract.

So Orcat, who do you think will be the other high schools that will be changing coaches? I have not heard of any around Knoxville. Coach Williams took me by surprise for sure. Which schools do you think should make changes? Are there any coaches in the area not coaching that would be quality varsity high school coaches?

ChristieS, I am sure that Coach Williams appreciates your support very much. Coaches are often times piled on by individuals who don't always know the real truth. Most coaches do not coach for the money, so when they hear the kind of appreciation you have shared, I am sure that does their heart good. Keep up the positive thoughts. I am sure your daughter will be successful at whatever she does, it sounds like she has come from a good home.

Kudos for Carrie McGinnis to have her dad's back in such a strong way. Despite what others may think of Coach Dave, it seems to me that no matter how many matches Bearden wins, or if KVA is successful or not, he has already won one of the biggest matches of his career- the undying love of his daughter!! I'll bet many of us wish we had that win under our belts.