pagefan

I don't mean to be vague or critical. I don't blame the club coaches or the facilities at all, because they are for profit enities. I am concerned about the school system, and the school officials. There needs to be a distict separation from the high school athletic experience, and participation in club. The State of Tennessee, and Williamson County, provide each child with a free and appropriate education with our sales and property tax dollars. That allows our children to go to a public school, and take benefit from participating in extracurricular activities like band; sports; clubs etc. The TSSAA is to regulate athletic participation and try and keep a level playing field for all. They does this by classifications; the setting of districts and the formulating of rules. Williamson County is the wealthiest county in the state, by far. We have 7 great high schools. Several years ago Brentwood volleyball saw the success being had by the "private" schools in Louisville, and changed the way that volleyball operated. 1)They started plaing in an out-of-state tournament every weekend 2)They played over 70 plus matches a year 3)They helped form a volleyball club that allowed the athlete to play year round 4)They brought in experienced coaches to run the club and then used them as "unofficial" coaches of the team 5)They had the club provide extra training and lessons 6)They took advantage of the open transfer rule and identified talented players in middle school, hooked them up with the club, and had them transfer. This is not healthy for the athlete, and the TSSAA stepped in and added some rules that help, but different problems arise. Now we have new problems, because the money has gotten so big. Clubs invested in building gyms, and paying high salaries to coaches. The only way to pay these is to "strongly suggest" ie "require" participation in order to play on the school team. Booster clubs now pay high school coaches and asst extra money. The schools looked the other way as the clubs and parents put in club coaches in every school. Now the coach requires the student to play club and pay for extra lessons at these facilities. They use the open transfer rule to build teams, and no one says anything. I don't think the rules require any sponser from the schools. Thus no one is atching the money. I don't think the rules allow booster clubs to pay extra coach supplements or for lessons. There are students who do not participate on their high school team because they don't play club. Now that these gyms are buiilt, the clubs have to fill them, and this is how. I would suggest that the school administration or the TSSAA look at what is happening. These are 14 and 15 year old kids being asked to work harder than most college kids. This is wrong.

Does anyone know whether the ties to club-coaching-and facilities are being investigated in Williamson County?

You are right. When we went through the first time it was just Impact. I suppose what is the hardest is that nothing is being done to address the problem. On this forum the biggest offenders usually get bragged about the most. I have an in law that lived through the same thing with basketball in Jackson/Shelbyville. This is high school. Everybody should have the same chance. The TSSAA just makes it easier. The Open Enrollment rule needs to change. I also think that if you are going to coach club, and work for these companies that run these for profit facilities, you should not be allowed to run a high school program.

The root of this situation is money, nothing else. A-Game Sportsplex and the USBA Ultimate Sports Academy are for profit companies that make their money off of the families of high school and middle school athletes. Jay Golsteyn (father of Impact VB and former Franklin High School Coach) is the head VB person at A-Game. He makes money off of people using the facility and or taking his classes. Nothing wrong with that, it is a fair business, and he does a good job. His right hand guy at Impact for many years was the Brentwood coach Jeff Frazier (technically an asst., but was gererally understood to be the VB guy behind the program) and a main person in utilizing the benefits of the Williamson County "open transfer" rule to build Brentwood High School into a volleyball dynasty. Jess Endale is the Father Ryan asst coach, and the number 2 behind Golsteyn at A-Game. Tracye Berry, longtime Page coach now at Ravenwood is the head of realitively new Williamson County Select which is the biggest customer of Unapproved Website Academy. Another USBA folk is Kim Miller who is now at Franklin and Shawn Robinson at BGA. The problem is how this affects the high school experience. Club is great, and definately helps the player. But, just like in AAU basketball lines can be crossed. These multimillion dollar athletic facilities can only exist with Club and AAU participation. This is totally okay, and great to have these facilities. Just like with everything else, the envelope gets pushed. The "open transfer" rule which is essentially unique to Williamson County lets the athletes pick where they want to play. The volunteer coach rule lets the high schools hire non-school people to coach. The Clubs, ie Williamson and Impact can pay these coaches to increase club participation and to use their facilities. While everything starts out as noble, when big money gets involved, the sports suffers. Facility needs players to make profit. Clubs provide players. Club Coaches invade high school ranks to get players. Club/High School coaches basically require club participation to play high school ball. High Schools like winning state championships and look the other way. High School athlete plays club and thus funds Facility. I am not trying to 'Start" anything but this is happening. Could Brentwood; Franklin: Page; Father Ryan etc really be as competitive without these favorable transfer rules and without the year round play and instruction that club provides? I think we need to look at what is occuring. Volleyball is not football. Principals and school systems don't scrutinize it as closely. The clubs, through the parents, are picking the high school coaches, who then provide the money pipeline to these facilities. Coach Helton seems to be a great guy. But it is hypocritical to say this isn't going on. There is no "secret" to the success of Williamson County Volleyball. The "secret" is sadly what it always is when money and business gets involved in youth sports.

Williamson County is the wealthiest county in the state of Tennessee. It has 7 high schools including Brentwood; Centennial; Fairview; Franklin; Independence; Page and Ravenwood. It also has a unique local rule that allows for Open Enrollement based on athletics. What that means is that it does not matter where you live, you can attend and play sports for any of the schools. It is the only county in the state that allows for this to occur. Brentwood and Page were the first 2 schools to figure out how this could help their volleyball programs. But now all of the schools have learned how to best use the system. Impact is the state's biggest volleyball club, which generates hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Impact works with the high schools, and essentially runs the top programs. Impact places its coaches in the high schools, who then "coach" the teams. This gives these programs a HUGE advantage over other schools. Impact reaps a HUGE financial advantage. What this means is that the high school team essentially gets year round play. I would offer that this is not healthy for the high school sport, or for volleyball in general. This topic is never allowed to be discussed but look at where the Impact coaches, and the people that make the most money, go. Brentwood; Page, Ravenwood and Franklin. As a parent, there is a tremendous amount of pressure to play for club, or go "off the island" as it relates to playing for you high school. It upsets me that this "suggestion" gets slammed as sour grapes whenever it is raised. Everyone can't afford to play club. I loved my daughters time at Page, and most of the parents, but the pressure is there. As we get ready to do it again I think it needs to be more out in the open. Has anyone ever looked into the Impact situation, and how the rules allow for such close interaction?