LadyMustangsCoach

In Dayton, Roy Pankey's Org, TN Force, is a well run program. Good instruction. All AAU programs have their shortcomings. Seems that most issues revolve around egos and those crazy parents, and I have seen this from every program in TN. The funny thing to me is that these organization push the college scholarship angle so much. WE GET GIRLS TO COLLEGE! Really??? I feel so bad for these girls and their parents that spend every dollar they can spare chasing this dream. You either have the athletic ability to play in college, or you don't. Fact is that if they saved the money they spend on tournaments, hotels, etc they could pay for the college themselves. I am not knocking AAU ball. It can be a lot of fun and very rewarding if you keep the right perspective. And being a good high school bballer is a great memory to have.

Actually, in Chattanooga they could have played all of the games at one complex on great fields where you could have walked from game to game with ease. TSSAA is only interested in one thing. Sad to say.

Notre Dame will be fun to watch. I sure hope they can keep all the knees bending properly and casts off of arms. They will be small and will need to scrap for boards, this will be there weakness. Defense will be key, but can they score in the paint in a close game. Time will tell. Signal has two very strong guards, quick athletes that play hard. Whitmire & Sanders will make some noise the next two years. New coach should change things up a bit. We will see if they can score consistently. CCS is a one man show again. Great coach, but not sure if they have enough tools to win against balanced teams.

Here are my WAGS at this seasons local Districts rankings: 1-Bledsoe 2-Signal 3-ND 4-Sequatchie 5-CCS 6-Grundy 1-Silverdale 2-Boyd 3-CSAS 4-Grace 5-Copper 1-Brainerd 2-Central 3-Hixson 4-Tyner 5-ER 6-Red Bank 1-Van Buren 2-Whitwell 3-LV 4-Sale Creek 5-So Pitt 6-Richard Hardy 7-Marion 1-WV 2-Bradley 3-McMinn 4-Cleveland 5-Ooltewah 6-Soddy 7-East Hamilton

Couple of reasons girls bball is weak in Chattanooga. First, it is a softball city. Many of the good athletes play serious travel softball which takes them out of any non-school bball. Amazing how many softball scholarships are earned by Chattanooga HS girls. The other reason is the poor coaching in the middle schools, and many high schools. The programs are not run seriously, often with disinterested coaches. In Cleveland they have a serious middle school program where they play twice as many games (season is twice as long) and most of the school teams stay together and play together in AAU programs building chemistry. Just go watch a few of the middle school games and you will quickly see the difference between Cleveland and Chattanooga schools.

Who will the top teams be out of the Chattanooga area this year? Bradley graduated some serious talent. Rhea County should be pretty strong this year, or next. Bledsoe graduated some talent. Baylor should be very strong, but did not show well with a super Sophomore Class last year, maybe this is their year. Notre Dame and Signal should post some wins this year and compete for their District with Bledsoe. What say you?

No one predicted EH would come out of that District....no wait, someone did....For a team starting 5 freshman, that is a pretty good showing against an obviously strong group of seniors. EH will be the team to beat for the next two years (no I do not have a child attending EH). I wonder if McMinn came in overconfident.......

From the minor leagues, Grace travels to McMinn Central tonight to play in their miniature box, which is a huge advantage for the home team. Silverdale plays at Boyd in a rematch of a Boyd won 1-0 game from a few weeks back. Most likely Boyd will take on Grace at Boyd on Thursday for District Title. These teams played a 3-2 game mid season won by Boyd in part based upon a botched PK ruling by the zebras. Neither of these teams can compete with the area elites where soccer is taken just a tad more seriously.

We are talking women's soccer, not college football. Scholarship dollars have a lot to do with school selection, and not just athletic scholarships. NCAA rules are much different than NAIA rules. The most money goes to DIII players in the NCAA through "academic grant loopholes". NAIA has far fewer restrictions than NCAA and some schools are much better funded at NAIA level than NCAA. Many good players would rather go to a smaller school, not get the beatdown from D1 coaches, actually get to play as an underclassman, and actually enjoy playing the game, and oh yes, get a diploma. So when it comes to what level is better, the answer is obvious but not universal. And poor UTC only funds about half of their allowed scholarships. A set up to failure sadly. Lee is off to a good start in DII! Yelton has done a good job pulling in talent to Cleveland TN.

How many teams from Chatty make it to State this year? I say 3 for sure, maybe 4. The top 3 of the list should get through, the question is will 4 - 6, get through??? ND with Higgins back in stride should be peaking at the right time.

Hamilton County rules allow "school coach" to coach his players outside of school season, however, he CAN NOT have more than 50% of his school players (or future school players) play on his non-school team. So for soccer, the school coach is good to coach a select team with his school players as long has he has no more than 5 playing on his select team. You can find the rules for HC on their website in the Constitution. In my opinion the worry about MS kids is a joke, and there should be no restrictions. The only reason that HC voted in these rules is the "ego" of the middle school coaches who server on the Board. They are so worried about winning in the 6th, 7th & 8th grade they forget about what is best for the kids. Let the kids play for good coaches! And yes, most school coaches, Middle and High School are not on level with the typical select coach. Just go watch some of the school games and you see these coaches complaining about calls when they do not even know the rules of the game. Soccer is the worst since so many people do not know off-sides or what a foul looks like. Drives me crazy.

Couple you may want to add to the bottom of the top 10: Grace beat Soddy head up and they are getting over some injuries so on any given night they could beat the likes of SM, SEQ, Baylor (do they even have enough healthy bodies to fill out a roster?). And even though I am not a fan of this particular school Boyd has run the table so far in their District beating Grace 3-2. Neither can compete with WV, GPS, McMinn Co, or EHHS, but are worth a mention. Almost District Playoff time so expect someone to suffer a bad beat!

I do not have kids playing for EH, but my daughter has played with many of the EH girls or we know them through Redoubt/CFCA. EH seriously has nine girls that can really play. Their best forward (who missed last year with a knee) put two in the net in the first minute of a scrimmage against CSAS (which I know is not so good). I am not sure how much Millard's departure will affect the girls. I also know most of the Irish girls from club ball. This should be a good match up for both squads. Emma H. for ND is a stud athlete and can really score. Sad I am going to miss this matchup.

Meigs did lose a lot to graduation. Swafford (spelling) was a once a decade player for a program like Meigs. They do have some scrappy players coming up, but they will struggle to come close to last year's record. Their coach got lucky with that group. Proves the old saying that good talent will make anybody a good coach.

My mistake. In that case, McMinn County will be third team out. East Hamilton and Cleveland were young the last two years and should have no problem taking care of MM Co.

I agree. Grace Baptist will be a tough out in the District. Grace lost their stud GK, but will have a healthy Liz Mouw who missed most of last year with an ACL. Liz was probably the second best player in the District two years ago before her injury. Boyd and Silverdale are young, but could steal a game. Either way McMinn is a really strong team, that barring a miracle, will advance to Regionals. The McMinn girls benefit from a large group that play Select Soccer, which is not a luxury most teams have.

I did not know Meigs would want to be included in the classification of the Chattanooga "area". Must be a Meigs fan, always defensive and showing those great social skills.

As for college coach presence, the games I watched had only parents watching the games. The games were in Virginia, so families flew across the country to be there. I did not see any identifiable coaches or a coaches area (other than away from the fields) where coaches could easily be identified. Not saying there were not coaches at the tournament (sure there were many), but I have seen more coaches at a typical showcase tournament. I was coming at the ECNL from an area where there are no ECNL clubs. Players from our area that want to play with a ECNL team have to incur the additional costs of driving to two-three hours to participate. Like most things, the kids from the bigger cities are going to have better access. You are correct on the quality of the tournaments. Some do it much better than others. My point was more from a "value perspective". Why spend additional monies to travel to play on a ECNL club team? Yes, my kid got a scholarship worth $40,000, but in 8 years of club soccer, private lessons, forgoing other sports, travel (avg tournament costs a family $250 in travel), etc., etc. you end up spending more than the scholarship. And the facts are most kids get burned out, and even with a scholarship a large percentage don't play more than 2 years in college. Parents just need to go in with eyes wide open. We are all proud when our kid makes the top team, is a starter, etc., but think it through before you push your kid to make 3 four hour roundtrip commutes a week to another city just to be on "that team". Is it really worth it? Is it necessary? Again, just one soccer persons perspective.....

Clarkrange is the best team. Obviously they have to play the games to prove it. I know Chattanooga area teams are the weak area of the state, outside of Bradley Central, but Silverdale, CSAS and Boyd are all much stronger than in years past. Van Buren will have to play well to get out of this Region. VB would have lost last year in the Region Semi's if Silverdale's best shooter had hit a free throw at the end of regulation, and VB had a tough game against CSAS to win the Region. Both Silverdale and CSAS only graduated one player, so this should be more interesting than some would think.

Just my observation from ECNL attendance at U15 national championships....I saw teams from CA and TX play. I was not overly impressed with the talent level of the players. Sure there were a few players that clearly were gifted, but on the whole it was not overwhelming. The top team from TX was not any better than some of the top U15 teams in TN. The CFCA U15 girls that took second in the nation earlier this month would have faired well playing this top club team from TX. Just like AAU basketball has been hi-jacked by money making exploiters ("exposure this and exposure that"), it appears this is where soccer is headed. If a kid is a D1 athlete, works hard, and attends ID Camps of schools they would like to play for, they will get noticed. They will get scholarships. Spending tens of thousands of dollars to play on an out of town ECNL team is hard to justify. Parents will end up spending more than any scholarship they will ever receive. Just one soccer parents opinion.

Lakelyn is a very good HS player. Best in 3A, but you are getting a bit carried away. She WOULD NOT START on any HS team in the state. You obviously have not seen all of the teams. Don't get me wrong I would draft her on my team any day, but her athletic talent is not up to that of the top players in the state. Basketball wise she is as smart as they come, but just not the genes to be a DIV 1 player. 5'7'' with limited speed is at best a D2 player. As far as Silverdale, you better check your facts. They won all AA games they played, CCS twice, Polk Co, and Signal Mtn. Signal and CCS won 18+ games and advanced to Regional play. Hard to have a good strength of schedule when your District is weak - Copper Basin, Grace & Boyd. CSAS has been playing much better of late, and easily should have beat VB last game. Player should not have even attempted layup, but ran the clock out and forced fouls. VB only had 3 team fouls at the time and 30 seconds on the clock. Coaching mistake caused that loss more than player. But lets see how the games go tonight, and someone will be right, and someone will be wrong. I am calling for SBA win 52-46 over VB, and Whitwell 44-42 over CSAS, and then SBA will beat Whitwell by 10 in the Region Finals.

Whoever wins Van Buren Silverdale game will win Region. CSAS has been playing better, but they will struggle to beat Whitwell and are not consistent. CSAS can only win if refs let the game get physical, that is their style. It would be huge upset for either 3a teams to beat a JC or CR. No size at all in 3a and no one who can defend Coe. But that is why they play the games.

Megan Lewis (Silverdale Baptist Academy) has hit over 80 three pointers this season and should have over 100 made by the time their tournament run ends. She is a 40% shooter, better under pressure. Just a sophomore.

The fact that a Van Buren team played within 7 & 5 pts of Jackson County with a total sophomore starting lineup can attest to the uncertainty of the Sub-States upcoming. While it will be a long shot, Van Buren and little old Silverdale (23-1) whose starting soph post is only 5'9'', will have the opportunity to face off against CR & JC to see who goes to the Murph. And before the JC folks get up in arms and say NO CHANCE, keep in mind that I said these are long shots. I can tell you that the talent in the Chattanooga area is up and coming. There are very few seniors on any of the top teams in the area, with most teams starting 3-4 Fresh/Soph this season. 2015 & 2016 teams will be much stronger than the present class and the previous couple of years. If 90% of the 6'0'' girls in the area were not solely focused on volleyball, that would also help.

You have to love 4 seniors from Meigs, but size will be their problem. Rebounding will be huge advantage for a school like CR. But on any given night, where shots are falling and calls go one way...