JD29

Girls 9AAA Standings 1. WCntrl 9-1 Gal, MJ, Port, SC left 2. SCamp 7-2 WC, Leb 2x, Gal, MJ left 3. Beech 6-4 MJ, Port, Leb, HHS left 4. MJ 6-4 Beech, HHS, SC, WC left 5. HHS 5-5 MJ, Beech, Gal, Port left 6. Leb. 4-5 SC 2x, Beech, Gal, Port left 7/8. Gal-Port 1-9

Wilson Central is way down compared to last year but still have the ability to score enough consistently to win in 9AAA. To me Station Camp is 2nd best team. Beech, MJ, Lebanon and Hville are all close together depending on what night they are playing anyone of them could beat the other - Portland is just a step behind and Gallatin has a ways to go to compete nightly. Beech has been a surprise so far with two big wins over Lebanon, who definitely outsized the Bucs, and MJ - MJ seems to want to run their offense thru the #52 in the post and if she is guarded well they don't really have an idea what they want to do - not a great outside shooting team - especially compared to the last few years.

Our date this year will be Saturday April 9 2016 We will again host this one day tourney - you'll get at least 4 games If interested email me at: john.decker@sumnerschools.org 2015 participating schools included - Mt. Juliet, West Wilson, Greenbrier, Springfield, Blackman, Stewarts Creek, Heritage (Williamson Co.), Spring Station We hope to have 12 teams - we have had 8-10 the last couple of years Format will be determined by number of teams entered, minimum 4 games @ Richland Park, Portland TN = great fields, great grounds crew in case of weather Entry fee - $165, hit your own ball

can't get the players they once got in and personally i think the location of the school is now a problem - thoughts?

We can still use some more teams for this tournament!! February 22, 2014 16 team maximum (4 teams per field) Will split teams for maximum competition as much as possible $85 entry fee 65 min drop dead/ 3 games 9am/10:15/11:30/12:45/2:00/3:15 $5 admission 3rd Annual Mid TN Championship Tourney April 12-13, 2014 Split Divisions - Sanctioned and Non Sanctioned 8 teams for each division preferably / 16 team max $7 daily/$10 Weekend Passes $125 entry fee If interested in playing in one or both of these events please let me know asap!! We will make contact again as a reminder after the new year begins! Thanks to all of you who played with us last year! John Decker/Beech High School STEM Science Teacher 615-480-5043

If your the head coach you determine the amount of time, when, where, schedule, etc - Before we had kids I didn't really care and was at the park all the time - I can remember being at the field at midnight moving a travelling sprinkler with my wife and newbord coming home from a night out after picking up the child at parents house. I look back now and there's no way I'd ever do that again. The problem is everyone's worried about other teams(schools) some of whom practice illegally during off season and worry what parents would think, etc. As long as you got the backing of your principal a coach is crazy to spend 11 months out of the year coaching while making $1000 or so.... The coaching profession has created a monster all in the name of improving the game and we have coaches getting out of coaching out of 10 years. Something is wrong with that picture. There is more to HS athletics than winning or getting scholarships - Too much importance on stuff that don't last.

Great points - coaches and atheltics in general today are about moms/dads wanting kids to get scholarships - I always said play to have fun and enjoy HS - PERIOD... I have 2 daughters, one plays Soccer only and the other is playing basketball and soccer.... I was hoping to have a softball player but thats the way it goes - to me I want my kids to have fun, enjoy playing the game(s) and if they are good enough and want to play at the next level then thats great. If not they go to college, get jobs and live life. We put so much effort and money into about 8 years of a kids life at best - most of the time they just play HS though... if we put that effort and financial backing into stuff that really mattered we be much better off as a society.

RESULTS, BOXES, ETC over at my site: http://www.tnbaseballreport.com - scroll down to the "news" section to see links - enjoy!

Dickey played after his freshman season in the local college league - they didn't travel much - then he played for Jeff Forehand in the local 17-18 league I believe they were called the "Sox" if memory served me correct. That was early 90's when the travel ball started to explode (everyone played it - which means teams weren't that good) you still had Shoetiques, Twitty City which were better teams and there were some Worth teams as well.

David Limbaugh has his finger on the pulse - another thing, kids feel pressure to play one sport - some as early as 6th or 7th grade for "fear" they will get behind others... its hogwash - sure kids get better playing one - but how much improvement can they make when they graduate if its all they've ever done - college coaches will tell you its hard to tell - they like guys who play more than one sport - I've seen it first hand in softball and baseball - every kid needs a break, even if they don't think they want one - they need to have other things to do - its not healthy to spend your time doing one thing - overuse injuries are exploding due to one sport specialization... if we placed as much emphasis on academics as we did athletics every kids would get enough academic scholarships they would make money going to school... in the mid to late 90's all these training places opened up... then you have the people running the tournemants all year round - why??? $$$$$$ and now everyone is brainwashed into training and playing year round.... just not healthy - there are 10 yr old kids playing more games than MLB players do in a year.... travel ball can be done right - but if everyone stayed in their park they could have the same competition and save a lot of money - I think travelling should start around 14 or 15 - when you start to get a little serious about playing - HS coaches are to blame for this stuff too however - It started with FB coaches telling kids to just play football (of course they used sneakier tactices like "you know, if you stayed in the weight room this offseason you could probably start as a sophomore next year" I can't tell you how many kids I've had want to come back to baseball as a senior tell me that... people get mad at TSSAA for the deads periods ,etc - what they ought to do is outlaw all offseason stuff - then if a kid wanted to train they could do it on their own time wherever they wanted -

Complete list of TN draftee's on my site - http://www.tnbaseballreport.com/MLBdraft2010-19.htm

Serrano can be beat - he has had a few rough outings here lately Sheffield seems to me at this point is pitching better. Of course as someone stated earlier - defense will play a big role - the freshman 3b has already tossed one in the cheap seats to allow 3 runs - so D will play a role Look for a low score 2-1, 3-2, 4-2 something like that, unless defensive miscues and walks allow more.

I'd Say #1 is Friendship #1A Silverdale, #2 Summertown and #3 Riverside (lack of pitching depth) IMHO

Being one of the 8 teams to make it applies more to AAA than to A and AA... reason being - and you can go back and look at scores from the past - most years if you get 4 good A teams out of 8 your lucky. At the AA level Region 8 basically is non existent - so no competition - to get here -

What does the schedule look like for tomorrow? Will you get everything finished up late Sat. night?

Is this tourney running as scheduled? scores? anyone see games?

We ended up a couple short of what we needed due to high volume of tourney's going on in our area. We are playing the tourney at Richland Park in Portland, TN - It is a middle school tourney with 7 unsanctioned teams for a fundraiser for our travel team. IF interested and qualified contact John Decker at 615-480-5043. I teach at Beech, but coach the middle school team. Saturday we start at 10am - 5 games 65 min drop dead 27.50 per game Sunday 1pm/2:30pm/4pm - 3 games 27.50 per game

We ended up a couple short of what we needed due to high volume of tourney's going on in our area. We are playing the tourney at Richland Park in Portland, TN - It is a middle school tourney with 7 unsanctioned teams for a fundraiser for our travel team. IF interested and qualified contact John Decker at 615-480-5043. I teach at Beech, but coach the middle school team. Saturday we start at 10am - 5 games 65 min drop dead 27.50 per game Sunday 1pm/2:30pm/4pm - 3 games 27.50 per game

add Portland Middle

add Nashville Catholic

We've got Hunter, Ellis, Charlotte and West Wilson right now - would like to have 2 more pools of 4 - This will be the second year for this tourney and the complex at Portland is second to none - great diamonds to play on!! Call John Decker at 615-480-5043 or email at john.decker@sumnerschools.org

Bumping this one - LIke to field 16 teams, we had 12 last year!!

Hunter MIddle School is hosting the 2nd annual Mid TN Middle School Championship the weekend of April 12-14, 2013. Last year we had 12 teams compete as Dickson MS defeated Hunter 5-3 for the title. Contact John Decker at john.decker@sumnerschools.org for more information on this tournament. We can take 16 teams max and would like to fill up those spots as soon as possible. Entry fee will be $150 per team - hit your own softballs - gate fee will be $10 for the entire weekend Format will be 4 pools of 4 with a single elimination bracket for each finish (#1's play #1's in the gold bracket, #2's play #2's in the silver bracket, etc)

Brother - you can end your career getting out of your car to walk in the house. My point exposed the myth you seem to want to propagate. Life changing?? RE diculous... hahahaha

Metal cleats are hands down better than plastic or rubber cleats - first of all - at the end of the season they aren't worn out - you can get a spring summer and fall out of a pair of cleats and if your foot isn't growing you can probably get two full seasons out of the shoes. Growing up from the age of 13 that's all we wore. From playing summer, HS and college ball the only injury I had was I got stepped on while sliding to break up a double play - tore my toe nail up pretty good but didn't miss any time. Girls are prone to knee injuries due to factors a little more complex than steel cleats - it could happen in tennis shoes and does quite frequently on the basketball court. Try digging into a batters box when its hard as a brick with rubber cleats... Try leveling a high spot around the mound or homeplate with rubber cleats - won't work... just because all most people know is rubber/plastic doesn't make that the best option - IMHO