champs1

Does anyone know if this is a violation for schools to pay for individual camps for their players?

I know it is illegal to pay for an individual to go to a camp. I am not sure about paying for the whole team.

As far as the Coach and his management...The starters were limited to less than 2 quarters, and typically the coach

does not and did not press after a 20 point lead. The roster had 14/15 girls (half 7th graders) and every girl played and nearly every girl scored. I know the coach personally and believe me, it could have been a lot worse.

....Now, how do you back off...and still compete in the Area? Tough to do!

 

...got what they deserved? If they would have got what they deserved, they would have advanced to the state sectional! Blountville works hard at building a solid program. Science Hill, Unicoi, and the likes of Blountville have coaches that go the extra mile to ensure that their programs are top shelf. Consider the team camps during the summer, consider the volunteers that help guide these girls through tough summer leagues and then you'll understand why they are successful. Blountville played better competition during the summer than they faced during the season in their conference. Now then consider Rogersville or Holston Valley either one...what did they do to prepare?

I didn't see the likes of those teams playing in Johnson City??? For the Blountville girls not making it to the State, I actually put some of the blame on the County schools that did very little to make themselves better and then in return, making the league better! Blountville should join the City League.

Furthermore, the TMSAA still placed Blountville in the LARGE school division when they should have been in the SMALL school division. Blountvilles' enrollment for the eight grade is around 140! I don't think they got what they deserved. For the boys team, I would have been very upset, because several small schools went to the Small School Area tourney...but not the Blountville boys. They played Holston within 6 points and Mary Hughes within 2!

Sorry guys...you don't get to go to an AREA tourney. TMSAA screwed up! Period.

 

Lastly, before I get off my soapbox, the county schools only field one team a piece...a boys and a girls...no 7th grade league, therefore, you better be a pretty good 7th grader, or you will sit until the easy games. Talk about a rebuilding process.

The city league has 7th and 8th grade teams. The 7th grade city teams have an entire schedule plus tourney.

ANY county school with small enrollment should be very proud to compete. Large County schools then ALWAYS go to a city venue and play in the Large School Area Tourney...This is not fair...it needs to be alternated or played at a neutral court. This year, the Middle 8 played at Sevier during the season, then in their Conference tournament, and then what the heck...the Area Tourney too...sad!!

I too know the coach at Blountville personally. You are correct. He is a GREAT coach and person.

Here are some of Blountville's Girls scores....

12/15 Blountville 46 Home Holston Valley 4

1/24 Blountville 43 Conf. Tourn. Rogersville 6

 

Seems like one of the "best" coaches should be able to manage a game better than this. I think Blountville got what they deserve. How can you beat someone that bad?

Sometimes that is easier said than done. In one of our games this year, we knew that the other team was really having a tough year, so we pulled up several 7th graders in hopes of keeping the score under control. We played everybody we had, did not play a starter after the 1st quarter, and played all 7th graders most of the second half. We played several kids out of position, trying to keep the score down. By the end of the game, we had a 5 playing the point in hopes that the other team would steal the ball. We sit down in a zone the whole game, did not press, and the whole second half we told the kids to shoot nothing but three pointers, in hopes that the lower percentage shots would not fall. We also told them that they had to make several passes before taking any shots. Now keep in mind that we had post players playing the perimeter.

We still beat the other team by 51 points. The other coach shook my hand and said that he realized that we had done all we could to help him out.

The only other thing we could have done to keep the score down is to come down and play keep-away. I have seen that done before and it is more detrimental to the other team than just making it hard for your team to score and hoping that they miss the shots.

It is a tough situation to be in. I don't think it is fair to blame a coach if his/her team is that much better than the other team.

Now if you are up by that much and still pressing, or have your starters in that is a different story.

As far as playing "in the same conference as their high school plays in", what about schools that have more than 1 feeder school? Enrollments would still be skewed. I understand the idea, just dont think it's as practical as it might sound.JMO

I agree. It would definitely be tough to work out. I think the first thing that would have to be done is to have large and small divisions, maybe even a middle division.

You did not step on any toes. I enjoy the discussion but you have me confused. If you are who you say, then you must coach a small division school. The area 1 large tourney only had 5 teams this year: North, Colonial Heights, T.A Dugger, Robinson, and Science Hill. Blountville was not involved. Holston just won the Small division and they and North both play in the same league with Blountville so obviously Blountville is not beating everybody by 20 and routinely winning conference championships. You just seem to think a lot of their coach and state you coach as well . It seems like you would know these things.

 

In principle I agree with everthing you said. If the county league teams are unhappy with their level of competition they need to get in the city league or focus hard on scheduling several non-conference games against those teams. Unicoi Co. is a great example of a team in the league that usually finishes last in middle school league play and develops and moves on after taking their lumps. When they get to high school, they don't play Science Hill, Dobyns Bennett, etc. And they win big time in their AA basketball league.

 

Colonial Heights made the move because they felt most years they could compete with Vance, Robinson,Sevier, and Science Hill. The feeling was it would help South compete against the city High Schools when the kids got there. I think that is your whole point.

 

Whether this would be good for Bluff City, Blountville, or Holston I don't know. Holston seems to enjoy winning that small division and I don't blame them. One other point would be Colonial Heights athletes have very succesful pee wee programs in football and basketball much more like these city teams. They may be more prepared for that level of play by middle school than the other county teams. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

My mistake. I thought I was posting on the girls sites.

I think we agree on the fact that you are only as good as who you play.

I have to ask: if Blountville was so good, why weren' they playing in the post-season? How did they fare in the Christmas tourney? And how would you structure a middle school conference of all feeder schools for the Big 9? I mean we're talking 9x2=18 teams. Talk about a super conference! That's 34 regular season games if you play everyone home and away. Have you really thought this out?

I am not sure how they did in the Christmas tournament, or even which Christmas tournament they played in. They did advance to the Area 1 tournament. They lost to Unicoi and T.A. Dugger.

It would be tough to do, but you could set up a conference from the Big 9 middle schools. Our baseball and softball teams have a conference which has too many teams to play everyone twice. They have the conference broken down into 2 divisions, east/west. They play everyone in their division twice, and everyone in the opposite division one time.

I was just using Blountville as an example. The same could be said of Holston, Bluff City, or anyone else for that matter. All I am saying is that in order for a team to reach their full potential, they have to play good teams. The Middle 8 consistantly has good teams. Colonial Heights figured this out. They will suffer more losses than they would have if they had stayed in the county conference. However, I think both Colonial Heights and South will continue to get stronger because of the move Colonial Heights made.

Anyway, it was just an idea. I did not mean to step on any toes.

I understand your point about developing a team according to the level of competition. My understanding is that either Sullivan Co. or TMSAA limits the number of games you can play in the regular season. If you are bound to a conference schedule, there are a very limited number of at -large games against better opponents that you could schedule to improve the level of your play. This is the primary reason Colonial Heights left the Sullivan Co. league ,even though they are a county school, and gained admission to the Little Big 7 made up of city schools. They wanted to compete at a higher level in regular season even if it meant fewer championships. They were winning the county league just about every season. Blountville probably cannot schedule but a few (2-3?) games against better opponents even if they agree with our assessment, given their restrictions.

TMSAA is the one who sets the limit on the number of games we can play. What I would like to see happen is for all of the schools to play in the same conference that their high school plays in. At first, this would hurt teams like Blountville and Holston. However, in the long run, it would help them to develop into better teams. That is the ultimate goal for the middle school programs. We are supposed to be developing players for the high school programs. This would also cut down on the amount of travel time for everyone.

The Coach at Blountville is one of the best middle school coaches in the area. However, as a coach, it is hard to make a team step up to the next level when they are already beating most of the other teams in their conference by 20.

Congratulations to the Lady Toppers! They played well all year. They definitely deserve it!

The largest of the Small Schools won the boys Championship (Holston).

 

The largest of the Large Schools won the boys Championship (Science Hill).

 

Now tell me numbers in enrollment doesn't matter.

Obviously numbers do help. However, I don't know how you could make a decision on where to make your cut-offs. If you make your cut-off at 75 for small school, 150 for medium school, and the rest are large school, the you still have schools with 155 students playing schools with 500 students.

I have coached for several years. Our teams have been to the state sectional for 3 of the last four years. I have beat schools with twice as many 8th graders as we have, and I have been beaten by schools with one third of the number of 8th graders as we have.

I don't think it has as much to do with the numbers as who you play during your regular season. A good example of this is Blountville Middle School. They always have a good team. They are almost always one of the top two teams in their conference. More often than not, they win their conference. However, when they move to tournament ball, they struggle. They have a VERY good coach! They usually have good talent. The difference is that they are very seldom pushed to play to their capability because their conference is weak.

I think that for a team to do well in post season, they have to play good teams during their regular season. You are only as good as who you play.

Any news on the Lady Vikings coaching search?? Who is being considered or who has applied?

Barry Wade is now the head coach for Tennessee High Girls. I am sure he will do an excellent job.

Seems like there is considerable interest in this position. Was told that there have been quite a few applicants and that a decision would be made by the end of April. Have not heard any names and if any of the applicants are truly qualified. Has anyone heard anything?

I don't know anything about this situation, but sadly enough it sounds like a situation here at one of our local high schools. 4 years ago the parents convinced the administration to let the football coach go. I have to admit that this guy did not have the best winning percentage, but as a parent of one of his players, I can say that without any doubt, he loved the kids and they knew it. As a coach at one of the opposing schools, I can say that he was fun to play and always showed good sportsmanship.

After this coach was let go, the next coach lasted a whopping 3 years before the parents turned on him and he was let go. This new guy, who has a tremendous backgruond, went 0-10 last year. After only one year, the parents now want his head on platter. He will be lucky if he makes it 2 more years.

To make a long story short, this school went from playing 500 ball on a regular basis towinning 2 games in the last 4 years. I have to say that 500 ball is not great but it sure beats the heck out of winning 2 out of 40 games. Especially when the 500 coach loves what he is doing and loves the kids.

Any news on the Lady Vikings coaching search?? Who is being considered or who has applied?

All I know is I have heard several names mentioned. All of which are great candidates. I am sure that who ever the administration at Tennessee High chooses, they will do a fine job.

One thing is for sure, the person who gets that position is going to have some big shoes to fill. Kim Bright did a great job with that program.

With one possible exception, they most likely weren't going to play college ball. And I know exactly how tough college coaches can be. Not the same thing. Personal attacks that have nothing to do with basketball or school.

 

It's no big deal. These girls were hard-core ball players, but if the fun is out of it, and there's no desire to play, than everybody's better off this way. The girls just didn't want to spend their last year of high school miserable. They actually seem relieved so far. There is an awful lot of pressure at Boone to live up to the history and tradition of the girls' team.

I totally agree. If they were not enjoying it, then there was no reason for them to continue. I have coached at several different levels and the one thing I always try to stress to my players is that if you don't have fun, you are not going to be the best you can be.

Be it elementary, middle school, or high school, we all need to remember that it is only a game and we play games to have fun.

I understand your point, but it wasn't the point here. Also, the two transfers you're referring to are long gone, and have nothing to do with the situation. Really not much infighting went on, to be totally honest. And the girls who were playing since, got along better than any team I've seen.

 

Coach Campbell IS one of the smartest coaches in this area. I believe that, and I don't think many will dispute that. I feel for Coach Campbell, because he has had a tough year personally. I'm afraid though, that maybe he let that spill over into other areas. I have coached a little, and have been around a lot of good coaches, and I expect a lot of yelling and screaming, throwing stuff, etc. That's part of basketball. If you're not hard on them, you're not going to get their best out of them. I think what wore on this team over the past year, was that the attacks became too personal. Yell and scream at us about basketball, make us work hard, make us do our best. But don't continually tell us we're worthless, the worst you've seen, don't attack our character, don't say things about our families that have nothing to do with basketball.

 

I'm sure Daniel Boone will be fine eventually. I'm glad some of the younger girls will get plenty of playing time. They are great young ladies. It's kinda sad that these girls gave up their last year of basketball. But they had started to hate it. That's what's really sad. It used to be what they lived for. I'm proud to say that they did learn the meaning of friends and of team, because they did stick together, and they did stand up for what they believed. So, whatever you go on to do girls, I'm rooting for you, and I know you'll end up winners.

I am not sure what happened at Boone with all of those seniors deciding to end their basketball careers. I hate to see them put in all that time and give up their last season. However, if they thought the coach was too harsh, which is what I am getting from your posting, then it is probably the best thing for them to do, especially if they had any hopes of playing college ball.

The reason I say this is I have 2 children playing college sports. In college the coaches get after the athletes VERY hard. So these players would probably have quit at that level. At least this way they have probably saved their parents some money.

Has anyone seen either of these two teams play? I am told it will be worth the drive up to Sevierville to see them square off. How do they match up?

Unicoi won today and by about 20 points from the report I got tonight. No one could remember the exact score. It was reported that Blountville was only down by 1 at the half.

The final score was Unicoi-43, Blountville-18.

Hey champs1,

 

If you know when the game between Seymour and Unicoi County (maybe Blountville) will be played, post it here.

Feb. 9 at 10:30.

Thanks Champs1. How does Unicoi handle pressure?

They can handle pressure.

Thanks for the info. Have they already played those games? I thought the championship was Thursday night and the consolation on Wednesday. I thought Blountville would play Unicoi County for 3rd.

Blountville does play Unicoi for third. Unicoi should win, but it is not out of the question that Blountville could upset them. Blountville is playing pretty good and Unicoi has already been upset by Colonial Heights. Either team is good and would represent Area 1 well.

Area 1 Large would be last years Eastern Sectional Champions the Colonial Heights Lady Chargers followed by Unicoi County, and then Vance last years runner-up. Unicoi is big and tall. Vance is skillful. Colonial Heights is fast and can run. Three very closely matched NET middle schools.

All 3 of these teams are pretty good. Unicoi is Big and very fundamentally sound at the half court game. Vance and Colonial Heights are both a little quicker and like to push the ball.