wrsmith

I'm really sorry to learn about these injuries. Jake is a great kid and I wish him the best with his recovery. With a bit of sour grapes here, I'll say that Chester County had a very fast and athletic backup to Jake two years ago who was turned off of football by Jeff Cupples. The freshman QB during the 2002 season went to state in the high jump as a freshman (by the way, the only Chester County athlete to EVER go to Spring Fling) and knowledgeable football coaches will tell you that the greatest single measure of athleticism is vertical jump. He also ran a very fast 200 meters his freshman year. However, when Coach Cupples told him during the fall of 2002 that there was no way he would have a chance to beat out Jake in the future, he lost interest in football. Even though he might never have beaten Jake out (and Jake was certainly a better QB when he was a soph and the backup was a freshman), I couldn't imagine a coach making the sort of statement that would completely discourage a kid by telling him that he would never be good enough to take a starting position away from another player. I always thought coaches tried to encourage battles for starting positions in order to motivate both players. This former Eagle moved to Texas after that freshman year and no longer even plays football due to this unbelievable experience with the Chester County coach. If things had worked out differently, Chester County might have a very fast, quick and athletic QB that could have stepped in when Jake was injured and then led the team next year. By the way, Mason is also a great kid, very intelligent with a good arm, but the problem with speed and quickness showed up when he was the 8th grade QB. If he can work on improving his speed and quickness during the offseason, he should be able to have a good year next year since next year's senior class has some good athletes. Too bad he won't have the fastest kid in the school, Jerrin Wilson (probably misspelled his name), as one of his running backs. Coach Cupples alienated him also and turned him off to football with the favortism he showed toward another running back/defensive back. Wilson's speed could have taken a lot of pressure off of a QB and he's a great kid also. Well, best of luck to the Eagles against Camden and in 2005. Even though I think Coach Cupples has made several mistakes over his first three years based on immaturity and inexperience (e.g., the quote he gave the newspaper in the fall of 2002 in which he said there were good athletes at Chester County but he just needed to get them to come out for football, thus belittling the talents of those players who were on the team that year), I believe he can build a good program at Chester County.

I've been keeping up with CC long distance this year so am somewhat uninformed. I'm certainly delighted to see that they've already won 7 ballgames. I see a couple of things coming into play for this game. First, as has already been mentioned by others, CC's inability to mount an effective passing game has the potential of causing problems if Camden's defense puts 9 in the box and forces the pass. My recollection from last year is that CC's quarterback is somewhat slow afoot and also slow to make decisions in the passing game (e.g., getting rid of the ball when necessary). That results in sacks and other problems related to the passing game. The lack of a passing game will really be a problem if CC falls behind by a couple of TD's. Second, I think the watering down of the CC schedule may have an adverse impact here as the Eagles might not be as well prepared as they would have been after playing teams such as McNairy Central. While I understand the coach's decision to go for wins against poor quality 1A schools in order to build the confidence of a team unaccustomed to winning, I believe it may backfire at this stage of the season, especially since Camden seems to be peaking at the end of the season. My heart is with CC in this one but I think they have a very difficult task facing them playing an improving Camden team on their home turf. Good luck Eagles!

I hope you're right about Chester County doing well this year and they are certainly loaded with seniors. However, it's a group that has no experience with winning football and an inexperienced coach. Good luck to the Eagles.

I've looked on the TSSAA web site for the qualifiers for the state meets but there's nothing there. Does anyone know of a place I could find results for all of the sectionals. I'm especially interested in the boys high jump qualifiers in A-AA. Thanks for any help you can provide.

For high school, very few jumpers (male or female) jump higher than their height. However, if you look at older jumpers, they must jump significantly over their height to be competitive (the world record for men's high jump is over 8 feet and I believe the jumper was about 6'3"). Your daughter is in good shape now but will need to start thinking about jumping over her height as she progresses. Good luck and happy jumping!

First, let me thank everyone who has provided me with some input. As to a couple of questions that were raised, we are a church of Christ family and I would likely look first at C of C schools. With that said, however, I would look at other good private schools also. It seems from a distance that Franklin Road Academy has the best track program in the state. I have not been able to find their tuition rates on their web site and I fear that means that it will be very high. As you could see from my original post, I'm very concerned about academics and that will be a driving factor. Both of my boys are intelligent (if you can believe IQ tests) and make excellent grades. They also happen to be excellent athletes (my older boy and I just returned from the meet in Knoxville where he was disappointed in his high jump of 6'1" but he had just jumped two days earlier and it's difficult for a high jumper to jump in meets that close together). I just want them to be happy, learning (with me still having enough money to live on) and have access to good track and field facilities and coaching along with other sports they might be interested in (the 7th grader is 5'11" already and is high jumping 5'4"). As we drove back from Knoxville today, we stopped by the campus of Ezell-Harding and looked at their track facilities. We will likely be taking a family trip to Nashville soon to take a closer look so any additional information you can provide about quality and costs of Nashville area private schools is most appreciated. Again, thanks for everything you've provided to this point. It's been very helpful.

My family and I are considering moving from west Tennessee to the Nashville area for better academics and athletics. My older son will be a sophomore next year and his primary sport is track and field (already 6'2" high jump this season as a freshman and a good pole vaulter). However, he enjoys football and has played QB/DB/WR. We would like to find a place that has good academics, a good track and field facility and coach, and where he will have a good chance to be on the field in football and not on the bench waiting to be a senior. I was wondering what anyone on the board could tell me about Ezell-Harding, Goodpasture and David Lipscomb for academics, track and field, and what they have coming back at QB, wide receiver and defensive back. Any info you could provide would be most appreciated. [Edited by wrsmith on 4-18-03 12:58A]

BoredGuy, this is your old buddy from riding to the game at Trenton last year. I'd like to give you a little info "offline" if you'd send me your e-mail address. You can reach me at wrsmith@pepperdine.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kenwoodrun, I sure wish my son could come to your meet next week but I'll be out of town at a meeting and his school won't bring him. He just returned from a meet at University School of Jackson where he cleared 6'2" (just missed at 6'4"). We're going to Knoxville Saturday but it's tough for a jumper to do well in two meets that close together. You said in an earlier post that he might do that magical 7' mark someday and I'm starting to believe it with the kind of freshman year he's having. I still think he will do 6'4" this year if he stays healthy (maybe I'll dream of 6'5" or 6'6" since there's a freshman in Long Beach, California that's already done 6'6"). I just wish he had a place to practice. We're considering moving to the Nashville area so he can develop in the high jump and the pole vault (perhaps the decathlon also). We're looking at Ezell-Harding, Goodpasture and David Lipscomb at this point and I wondered if you had any insight into the track programs at those schools. Good luck with the upcoming Kenwood Relays. It sounds like it's shaping up to be a great event.

I wouldn't say that Chris Wilson has conceded that he isn't the best jumper in the state. He's cleared 6'9" and Bowman has cleared 6'10". There's also the matter of "pressure" jumping. Some people thrive on pressure (e.g., setting records, winning big meets, third attempts, etc.) while others don't handle it as well. While I don't know either of these gentlemen, I'd love to go to a competition where they were in head-to-head competition. Good luck to both of them as they go for 7 feet and hopefully higher.

Freshman (14 years old, not 16 like some) Derek Smith of Chester County has jumped 6 feet both indoors and outdoors already. He jumped 6' feet at the Jackson Central-Merry facility today (Saturday, March 29). This is the worst facility I've ever seen. It was dangerous for both track and field competitions. He had to jump from 6 steps instead of 10, on wet asphalt that was soaking wet with cracks and grass everywhere. If he stays healthy he might well go 6'4" or better as a freshman with a decent facility and weather. If he had a place to practice, he might really excel (and, yes, I'm biased because he's my son).

I'm trying to find out what, if any, discussion took place at any of the TSSAA regional rules meetings about lengthening the TSSAA sanctioned length of the track season. For example, starting the season in January rather than in March so that Tennessee athletes aren't penalized and prevented from competing in indoor meets that only allow athletes to participate who are "officially" representing their high schools. [Edited by wrsmith on 2-5-03 1:39A]

To my knowledge, the only way you can determine from the TSSAA web site if a school runs track is to look at each individual school's information and see if they list a track coach. If they don't list a coach, you can assume they don't field a team and vice-versa.

I've heard rumors that at some of the regional meetings there was some discussion of lengthening the season to allow Tennessee athletes to participate in indoor meets while officially representing their high schools. Can anyone tell me if they've been at a meeting where such a discussion took place and what sentiments were expressed by those in attendance? thanks for any information you can provide

How about any exciting new talent in the field?

If you have any influence with TSSAA and could discuss this situation with them, I would be most grateful. I'm not so concerned this year since my son is a freshman and probably won't jump higher than 6'4". However, next year (if he continues on course) he might jump in the 6'8" range and that will place highly at a lot of prominent meets. I just want him to be able to compete and I can assure you that the entry forms for meets held at The Armory in NYC and in other prominent meets will REQUIRE you to be competing with your official high school team. I know because I've tried.

I'm aware that athletes often compete with a club affiliation, or even unattached (my son has won national championships as an unattached athlete). I have my own AAU and USATF club that my son can compete on behalf of. The problem is that no matter what club you represent, you will NOT be allowed to compete in meets sanctioned by the National Federation. Check with the folks at the dominant indoor T&F venue, the Armory in New York. Tell them you want to enter an athlete in one of their high school meets but you need to enter them as a club athlete rather than as a representative of their high school. They will tell you very quickly, "No way!" It doesn't matter if you're the Knoxville Track Club or one from podunk like mine is. In terms of my son making track his life, I would say he does this to a far lesser extent than most high school basketball or football players. I'm wanting him to be able to compete in three to six major indoor track meets each season and he's not currently allowed to do that. If he stays healthy and motivated and continues to improve at the pace he has over the past several years, he certainly has D-I potential. Getting a D-I scholarship for my son isn't my motivation, however, since I'm a professor at a major univerisity and he can go there for free. I just want him to have every opportunity to succeed in T&F and I don't think it's fair to require him to leave his friends and school to go to a private school in order to be able to do this. Oh, well. I've vented enough and feel a bit better. This is, however, an injustice that needs to be addressed, whether through reasoned actions by TSSAA or through other means.

I'm looking for a very simple solution to a problem. The problem is that Tennessee high school athletes are not allowed to compete in any indoor meet that is sanctioned by the National Federation of High School Athletics (this may not be the exact name, but it's the association of state associations such as TSSAA belong to). I have numerous e-mails that I can show you from meets in New York City, Washington D.C area, LA, etc. in which I requested that my son be allowed to compete. The meet directors WILL NOT allow any athlete to compete in these meets if they are not OFFICIALLY representing their high school. This means that my nationally competitive son is penalized by the mere fact that he is a resident of Tennessee. This is GROSSLY UNFAIR and ridiculous. I don't care one bit whether this state adopts an indoor track season (even though those athletes who have no interest in basketball, etc. would benefit greatly from such a season). I only want my son to have the right to compete in any track meet he wants to compete in. Since many of the best meets won't allow an athlete to participate unless he/she is representing their school, my son is being discriminated against because of his state of residence. I bear ALL of the costs of his transportation, lodging, equipment, etc. I have even offerred to pay the coaching stipend of about one thousand dollars so that our high school can pay a coach to do nothing. I'm my son's coach, but if a school has a "track and field team," they must have an employee of the school as the "track coach." So be it (even though it's silly). I'll pony up the dough. Just let him compete wherever he wants to. A very simple solution is to provide a method of TSSAA allowing "exceptions" for track and field athletes to compete as representatives of their schools in indoor meets. You could even say the meets had to be outside of the state of Tennessee. Again, I DON'T CARE ABOUT CHANGING THE WORLD OR TSSAA, but I do care when a silly rule prevents from son from improving by competing against top flight competition. I welcome (and even beg you for) your suggestions on how to deal with this issue with TSSAA. I don't want to have to go the route of pursuing injunctive relief. I just want justice. HELP!!!!!!!! (I bet you can't tell that I'm frustrated)

What and where is Blackman? Is this a high school? In Tennessee? Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Being purely selfish, I'm delighted that Spring Fling will take place in the Memphis area since I live in west Tennessee. However, this wasn't a good choice. As other posters have stated, the logical choice is a central location such as Nashville or Murfreesboro. This type of foolishness is even worse if you're in AAU track and field. Most of those meets are held in Johnson City! If you think that's bad for the athletes from Memphis, what about those from Mobile, Alabama? A good central location for the Southeastern AAU Association meet would be Huntsville, Alabama. But who says we have to make these kinds of decisions on a rational and fair basis?

Thanks for the responses so far. I was certainly hoping to hear from Kenwoodrun. As far as an extended track season conflicting with basketball, yes, that would be true. I would want you to consider two things on that issue: (1) not many athletes would choose to participate in indoor meets, (2) this problem of conflicting schedules already exists with numerous sports, e.g., football/basketball, basketball/baseball, baseball/track, etc. A circumstance that's unique to my son's situation is that he's a jumper (high jump, pole vault, triple jump) and wouldn't have some of the concerns that runners would have with an extended season. As Kenwoodrun mentioned, the meets in the southeast already allow unattached athletes to compete (e.g., LSU, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc.). The problem arises when the athlete wants to compete in meets that try to attract a national group of athletes. These meets are going to be sanctioned by the National Federation and the Federation will not allow an athlete to compete unless s/he is officially representing their school. I'm not being critical of the meets that are held in the southeast but if an athlete has aspirations to compete on the national stage, he needs to be able to participate in these types of meets in order to get a feel for what it's like and the talent level that will be required to be competitive. Thanks for giving me things to think about. Keep it coming if you have other thoughts since I plan to try to generate some publicity on this issue with the press and it's always helpful to understand as many sides of the issue as possible.

I'm interested in getting thoughts (especially those of coaches) on the idea of making the season longer in Tennessee. As most of you know, some of our neighboring states (e.g., Kentucky and Alabama) have indoor seasons with indoor championships. I would like to see either an indoor season or simply see a lengthening of the current season. If adding an indoor season would create the need for a state championship and that would be costly to schools, perhaps there could just be an extension of track season without calling it an "indoor" sport. It wouldn't matter whether the meets were indoors or out. For example, for this coming season, track practice can begin February 10 and the first meet can be held March 10. If we pushed those dates back and said practice could begin December 1 and the first meet could be December 15, this would allow our Tennessee athletes to participate in the big-time indoor meets that only allow participants who are representing their high schools (and this includes almost all of the really big meets). I'm very frustrated by having a son who's a nationally competitive athlete and yet he can't compete in the meets in New York, LA, etc. because Tennessee's season starts so late. I'd like to know if coaches would support some sort of arrangement that would allow Tennesee's athletes to compete in meets in December, January and February. Your thoughts?

I don't know how they did in other games, but Haywood lost at Chester County 26 - 6. They had more and better athletes than CCHS but they didn't perform well that night.

I appreciate your concerns as a coach and understand where you're coming from. You obviously have things in perspective since you concluded the last post by emphasizing that whatever sport a kid plays, it should be fun. I agree that track, basketball, soccer, etc. can have overly long seasons. My son will jump in his first meet in January and will likely conclude the year in T&F in late July/early August, just as you stated. He doesn't work "full bore" on T&F during all of those seven months but he does work a lot. He will take the time to participate in spring football and will commit to be at every football practice except those that are on the days he is actually jumping at national meets in late July/early August. However, when you think about football, many coaches want it to be 12 months per year, just like the coaches do in other sports. I believe every parent needs to draw the line somewhere and my line is drawn when a coach tries to require my son to give up T&F for their sport, whatever it might be. My son is 14 (a young freshman) and high jumped 6' last year as an 8th grader. He also pole vaulted 11' last year. I believe if he stays healthy and motivated he will do 6'4" and 12'6" this year. He also plans to participate in the decathlon this year since he's now in high school. Good luck with getting your athletes to appropriately balance their time between the various sports, their academics, and their personal lives. I appreciate the commitment that all coaches make to the development of these young people as both athletes and people.

Early in the freshman season, Chester County lost in a well played game to Hardin County (Chester County is 2A and Hardin County is 4A). Just last week they lost to Lexington (3A) in what had to be the most bizarre ending to a football game that I've ever seen. With about two minutes left in the game and the ball at midfield, Chester County decided to punt to Lexington. Chester County led 7 - 6 and their defense had stuffed Lexington all night (Lexington's lone touchdown was on a blown pass coverage on a fourth down play). The snap to the punter went over his head and he raced back to pick the ball up. He could have fallen on it, picked it up and run as far upfield as he could, or even turned around and kicked it. He had plenty of time due to no serious rush from Lexington. However, he picked the ball up on about the 30 yard line and punted it back through his own endzone! This was a safety and made the score 8 to 7. I can't blame the kid, however, since he thought he was doing what he had been told to do. In the Hardin County game he lost a snap that was recovered for a touchdown. The coaches told him that he should have thrown, kicked, whatever to get the ball out of the endzone for a safety. When this happened at Lexington he thought he was supposed to do just that. The coaches hadn't told him that he should do this only when he was in the endzone (or very close to it) and certainly not in a situation that would lose the lead for your team late in the game. I can't really blame the coaches either since Chester County only has 5 coaches and they must devote their time and energy to the varsity team. In the worst possible case, if he had fallen on the ball, Lexington would have had to move the ball in from the 30 yard line (they didn't appear to have a kicker that could make a field goal) with less than two minutes to go. Since they hadn't moved the ball at all in the second half, I believe Chester County would have held on for the win (but if a frog had wings, ...). In short, Chester County's freshmen have played well against competition from 4A and 3A schools (as an earlier poster indicated, they also scrimmaged well against 5A JCM's freshman team early in the season). The future is bright for the Eagles if, as an earlier post stated, the coaching staff can figure out a way to keep the kids playing football. This will not be an easy task in a school where football is not viewed favorably by many people.