17SoccerFan

I would be interested in seeing a study on what it would look like if there was no multiplier at all and the Private schools had to play at the highest classification in all sports. My guess is that a number of private schools would then decide to go DII and you would have a bigger DII pool of teams (large and small). I think your district numbers in soccer would be fewer in A/AA. Districts of only 8 unlike some districts that have 12 or 13. There may be fewer A/AA schools but I think your overall competition would be better. For example, I looked up CAK's boys schedule from last year versus their district opponents. They scored 100 goals in 12 games against district opponents and allowed only 1. That is astonishing to me. How in the world can they say that playing in A/AA gives them any competition. Also, if many of the private schools play AAA schools during the regular season, what would be the difference come playoff time. Why not petition TSSAA for a rule change for the chance to play better competition during the playoffs? There is no easy answer but based on what I have read from states such as Georgia, Texas, Kentucky and Ohio, there is a growing trend to seperate the public and private classifications.

Do not limit a private school's "zoning" to just Knox County. There are athletes from Blount, Roane, Anderson, Loudon, and even Monroe County that have chosen to attend CAK. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with private schools saying that they do not have an advantage in the pool of players that they have to choose from. Public schools, most of which are not open zoned (and yes, I know Alcoa and Maryville are), have a pool of players that are zoned into that school. If someone lives in Knoxville, they can not just decide to go play a sport in Anderson County (legally that is). Also, club soccer does affect the quality of teams. However, I would propose that if you look at the cost of club soccer now, it is very difficult for rural schools to have players that are on club teams. If families like mine who have the money to send our children to private schools, we probably have the funds to play for FC Alliance, Crush, Blount United, etc. Many others in Monroe, Roane, Cumberland, Loudon, etc. do not. My feeling is that if a private school does not want to play DII, then they should be required to play in the highest classification for that particular sport. So in soccer, if a private wants to play in public classification then they should play in AAA. Same goes for tennis, football (6A of course), golf, basketball, etc. Just think of all the great competition and great games that we all want to witness in AAA with the privates playing with Farragut, Bearden, Houston, Brentwood, Franklin, etc. I think I saw where 12 out of 16 A/AA girls championships have been won by private schools, and 15 out 18 boys A/AA championships. Just my two cents worth.