westtnman

And drive the tuition out the roof for the tuition paying non athletes, which would cause a mass exodus to Trinity and Jackson Christian. Financially, it does not make sense, but thanks for your concern and input.

You might as well go ahead and mark off USJ girls basketball for next couple years as being a "dominant force" in all probability. Just heard from friend that goes to USJ that Adrian Sanders, who is the franchise, is not coming back next year due to financial reasons. Think there is a little "recruiting" going on between Jackson North Side and Madison Academic to get her to come to their "public - non recruiting, non-multiplied" schools. A big loss for USJ. Just a thought---if there is as much under the table things going on, don't you think they could have come up with someone to pay her tuition? Or maybe, just maybe, this private school is trying to play everything above the table regardless of the cost to the program ? I wish her well and know USJ is sorry to see her go, but just hope this gives something for the private haters to chew on. (I hear she is applying for hardship to be able to play next year which I hope is granted, but will be interesting to see if private to public is granted for financials reasons when the Williams girl who transferred from NorthSide to Trinity, public to private, who was not comfortable for safety reasons after cops were called to school multiple times in first week, was denied hardship)

....and then if you still win, we can start a new thread so that everyone can say that you still have an unfair advantage and your votes should not even be counted with the others...............thanks for the laugh !

Peabody is the team that beat USJ for the State Championship in 2005 in Single A. Since then, USJ has been in double A and not gotten out of district. Peabody football destroyed USJ this year (as did almost every one else) so your kids should be happy. It looks like to me that you need to be more worried about Bradford girls (oh, that's right they are public too with 7 State Championships under their belt) or Gleason girls (oh, that's right, they are public too) than you do about private schools in Jackson. Maybe your "driving force" is only 12 miles to the East of you in the Doodle Soup Capital???????????????

My child started attending private school at the age of 4 and now plays sports. Um, no at the age of 4 I was not interested in the sports aspect at all. Only trying to find a decent school for them to attend without 1) moving to Medina as half of Jackson has done or 2) having to put up with the politics/disorganization or the Jackson school system. We get no aid, both parents work 50 hour weeks, pay our full tuition while paying taxes for this school system so I can have the "priviledge" of driving to Covington and Ripley to pay district games and playing schools twice our size, and while there being threatened and having snide remarks about us thinking we are "better than everyone else." Seems fair to me ????

I don't see a problem with it and am actually at this point all for it. I had much rather play schools our own size than to keep trying to play schools that are 2 and sometimes 3 times larger than we are, or just pull completely out of TSSAA. It's no longer about the kids when you are having to travel 50-60 miles to a district game to play kids chosen from an enrollment of 3 times yours, or when that same team comes to your school brings 27 fans (actual number, I counted). I miss the old public school days in the county when gyms were packed with every one in town and you were playing the next town over, 5 miles away with the same size enrollment as you, and thinking of moving back even though it would be a long drive for both of us to work. There is not that option in Jackson as there are no community schools any longer, only "zoned" ones across town.

Correction on the D1 private schools.........USJ has not made the playoffs in football since the multiplier rule took effect. Boys basketball was something like 13-2 out of district this year playing similar size schools, and did not win a game in district (of course enrollment of approx 400 playing schools with 900 enrollment will do that) Girls basketball has not made it out of district since multiplier.......Athletes in these sports that have been there since Pre-K (no, they were not recruited at that point) are leaving to play at other single A schools because tired of getting beat up every Friday night. Now if TSSAA can figure out a way to kill the spring sports, maybe they will have their mission accomplished.

And sometimes a VERY talented family will be at a school (Renfro's @ Trinity) that can turn a program around. Think Henson sisters in Basketball at Bradford and 3 State Championships in a row (Public, by the way). Oh and sometimes, occasionally, it comes down to hard work and how much a group of kids are willing to work for something. I don't know the Renfros but hear that they go year round to clinics and work their tails off to get better. I do know the Henson's and know that any spare time was spent with a basketball in their hand.

You should be happy now. USJ lost in baseball and tennis today and Jackson Christian getting beat last report. Now we can prepared to get slaughtered on the football field by lineman that have 50 lbs on us every night due to multiplier and all shall be well in your world.

What about "public" magnet schools? Check the state championships for last 3 or 4 years. How many have been magnet schools that get their pick of the best jr. high players in the city? Guess they have just been lucky that all of the athletes numbers come up in the lottery picks for the school??????? May be a coincidence, but seems guy athletes go to one magnet, and girl athletes to to the other. Guess luck of the draw ?

You would be correct, 51 miles to Somerville is not any worse than the trip to Ripley and Covington now.

Private school we are in with enrollment of 315 kids played schools with 960 kids. Of the 8 kids on our team that play, 6 of them have been in our school since 1st grade, some in pre-K, so they were definitely not recruited. Football team won may 2 games all year, both basketball teams out 1st round of district. AA teams we are playing from Memphis area bringing 30-40 people to each game, which really helps gate and concession but more than that, kills the atmosphere. Boys getting beat by 40 every night tends to lead to less attendance. But for this, they get to lick their wounds and go home and study for 2 - 3 hours. Yep, TSSAA, you've helped our kids. And for the record, I grew up in public school (it's in tournament this week) which I loved and if still lived there, would be more than happy for kids to be there. No way, academically or safety wise, would I put my kids in public school here. I don't know what the answer is and am beginning to lean toward a complete split of public-private, but the multiplier and trying to play schools with 3 times your enrollment is not the answer.

Why is it you get on here and say you don't want to "diminish Middleton's accomplishment in any way" and then go on to bash them. And how do you know neither team will have a chance against C'range or Jackson County? Have they played yet? That's the reason we have this tournament and as posted before 8 out of last 12 state championships have come back to not only West Tennessee but to District 14-A. I think your time and effort would be better served cheering for your own team (they might just need it), than coming on here and trying to bash others. And, looks like Milan did a pretty good job this afternoon also. Good luck to Gibson County tomorrow.

Think maybe, they are trying to keep the Gold Ball out of West Tennessee? Just check records back to 1996. Last 8 out of 12 years, Gold Ball has been brought home by someone from District 14-A (Bradford 4, Gleason 2, and Peabody 2). With that much tradition, games are going to be tough all year so anyone lucky enough to come out of Region 7A has a legitimate chance of doing well in Murfreesboro. Here's hoping we can make it 9 - 13 !

Way to go Bradford Lady Red Devils !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Glad they did not read this message board where they were buried before they ever left town ! ) Congratulations, Middleton on a great year. Only 8 end their season in the boro and you were one.

Thanks 95.1 for carrying this game............Live almost 100 miles away from Dresden so was not able to attend, but could pick up your station clearly on car radio. Diet coke/blanket sitting in car listening to Bradford Lady Devils making their way to State Tournament.....it don't get much better than that ! Thanks for letting me feel that I was there.

I can't root for a team/coach who has a 30 point lead, 4 minutes to go in the game, his starters still in, and is using a full court press. ??????????Correct me if I am wrong. Bradford played all 19 players. If you are playing your starters against 3rd and 4th string and that 3rd string is pressing, so what? They need the experience of a sub state game and deserve to be able to play all out. I agree with Pirate. At this point in the season, we should be doing everything we can to get better. Pressing is Bradford's game and will have to be played a full 32 minutes to win from now on. If you can't root for a team that pressing the entire game, then you can't root for Gibson County either, and probably 80% of the teams that will be playing this week. Good luck, Lady Devils............Bradford in a dog fight---3 points.

I have always thought a point system calculated on the time you entered the school (public or private) would make sense. For instance, my daughter has been at public schools 10 years now (2 Pre K, K, and 1-7) is in the 7th grade, but obviously was not recruited when she was 4 years old. She should count -0- points, wheras if a kid comes to a school in the 9th grade for the first time and is an athelete, X number of points should be accessed to the school. The sticking point would be the magnet schools that are recruiting from every Jr. High team in town. I think the specific jr. high school zoned for the magnet school would be -0- points, but others would count as much as if magnet was a private school. (Amazing how in the Jackson school system, the athletes seem to get to go to their school of choice regardless of where they land in the lottery). Enough rambling, but we have a group of 7th graders at our private school that have been together since Kindergarden, and seem to be a pretty good group that are not going to be able to compete with schools that are 3 times our enrollment. Last week our high school with enrollment of little over 300 played a district game with a school of enrollment over 890 and over an hours drive away from here. They had 43 people on their side of the gym. The Bradford/Peabody game had 43 Grandmommas on each side...I miss those days.

It's great to see Bradford girls basketball being talked about again. It's been a long time since there has been this big of a game in Bradford. Good luck lady Devils !