CCS tied A/AA Signal Mtn, lost 2-1 to East Hamilton, A/AA, both public and urban this season. Kingsbury has dominated A/AA in Memphis the past couple of years, while Dyersburg has come on strong, dominating its district, both public. CCS lost to Alcoa 3 years ago at state, Knoxville public,faced Kingsbury, Memphis public, in finals last year. Urban-rural issue.
Another factor in density discussion. 18 high schools serve Hamilton County, and if surrounding schools in North Georgia and Cleveland are considered, the number increases. Schools like CCS and Notre Dame do not have a monopoly on the player pool.
This is fundamentally a development issue. 1)Urban centers maintain quality rec and club level programs. It is the root of East Hamilton's success as well as most of your programs in the DOD, along with CAK and Alcoa at A-AA level. Hume Fogg, MLK, and Page in Nashville region, along with Brentwood Ravenwood, Hendersonville, and other AAA programs. 2) Some schools offset club factor by developing a coherent middle and high school program that develops players. This has been key for the CCS program. Its roster is not populated with lots of club players. This is assumption. Team camps, rigourous off season strength and conditioning, quality preseason open field/conditioning, all play vital roles. These are not the sole perogative of private schools. Akula21 proved this at Alcoa. I imagine one would find high levels of commitment at E. Hamilton, Hume Fogg, and other traditionally strong public programs. Success varies by sport. Rural teams often do well in other sports, likely because the childrens' sports programs in the rural areas serve those sports.
Competition has been key for CCS. The same is true for ND. Bearden, Farragut, Maryville, Dalton and SE Whitfield out of N. Georgia, Hume Fogg, White House, CPA, McCallie, Baylor, Cleveland, and so forth.
Would a performance plan take into account graduation? CCS has 12 seniors, 8 last year, only a handful of rising seniors and juniors, or would we ask a young team to pay a hefty price at AAA level for previous team's success? Physical safety is issue when a coach has to put multiple freshmen and sophs on the field against the likes of Farragut, Bearden, Brentwood, and Ravenwood. I believe ND is at 9 in terms of seniors. The word rebuilding comes to mind. CCS has HS population of 450. They do not "reload" each year like large AAA schools.
Region issue is not a school issue. Urban schools do not mandate region teams. TSSAA designed. Schools like CCS, CAK, ND, East Hamilton, Kingsbury, MLK, and Hume Fogg do not make a plan to "bully" rural programs, but to compete with the best A-AA schools, public or private. In soccer, that generally means Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Memphis, and increasingly the Tri-Cities region with Greenville (public).
