coldplay

I think I'll spend my time in other sports on this site. I didn't know it was just parent's on here promoting their own kids. I'm in the wrong place.

WOW ! I thought this is where fans could talk about the sport. The topic is good sophomores. I gave my opinion. Are the only people posting here parent's who are promoting their kids? I am NOT related to the O'Conner girl. You have a problem if you don't like it when someone speaks well of a kid you never heard of or haven't seen play. The O'Conner girl batted over .800 in high school post season last year, occording to one of her coaches. Maybee it's just me, but I thought that was good. So, who is your kid? I don't have a child playing high school sports. Your post toward me was wrong!

yes, this topic is for the end of the season, not the beginning. Kids improve alot from year to year, but most coaches have it or they don't.

are some of the publics discouraging parents to help out? do these schools that are in bad shape have booster clubs?

sorry to ruffle your feathers tnspysoftball, but my comment was she's getting recognition. i didn't say she was actively being recruited. the topic is who are the top sophomores. O'Conner is at the Top of the list. The worst thing parents and friends and kids can put on these sites is name college teams and brag about specific recruitment. check with caksoftball, i think he's an assistant at cak if you need "specific" info on O'Conner. The topic is top sophomores. O'Conner is one. This post is an opinion only and is not intended to be considered as family or friend push to get attention. once again, sorry to ruffle your feathers tnspysoftball.

Do you know of any public schools who recruit? East Tennessee examples: Maryville in football; three state titles in a row - they have kids from all over. Gibbs in softball; kids move to that district in middle school to play for mitchell. Alcoa in football; pay a small fee and you can play on their team. Oak Ridge in all sports. If you have a good program, it recruits kids for your school. If your coaches have summer camps, it recruits girls for your school. If you have good facilities it recruits for your team. If you do the right things in your program, it recruits kids. If your field is terrible, your coach stinks, you have no tradition, kids move to others schools. STOP whining about recruiting. Publics and privates do it !!! They do it through having a good place for a kid to grow at what they are looking for. Some kids change schools for a Drama dept. Maybee for a math program. Those schools should stop recruiting, too. right? Because our kids won't be able to get jobs if math dept's. or science dept's are better than the ones at our school. Let's make everyone get rid of whatever their school does well and play down to the worst programs and the weaker kids so no one has an advantage. Then, and only then, will there be peace in the valley.

Chelsea O'Conner at CAK has been a great hitter and shortstop since she was an 8th grader. She is getting alot of recognition from top 20 college programs. As a sophomore, she's the real deal in high school and summer ball.

Coach Jones @ CAK turned a terrible program into a team that went to state the last three seasons. CAK had 10 wins in three seasons before he took over, and they have won 100 games in the last four seasons. He is stepping aside to be an assistant this year so he can spent more time watching his daughter play ball in Michigan. Coach Jones is working with Angela Brewer, an ex-Lady Vol, helping her learn the ropes as a high school head coach. They built a great new field his first season, and they currently building an indoor softball practice facility next to their high school field. That's alot of good work in softball in less than five years. It's a good foundation for an up and coming program.

In East Tennessee, most of the better publics and privates have a booster club. The money is donated to the schools booster club, and the booster club officers delegate the money to the sports as needed. Alot of schools have a seperate booster club for each sport. We have seen BIG donations to specific sports going to exactly what needs they have.

Both Fan and Coach23 have some truth to what they say. A majority of high school coaches are in it for the extra $ 2500 to $ 3000 and don't put the six days in during season, or summer workouts to improve the program. A BIG number of summer coaches are there to promote THEIR OWN kid, and mask the TEAM to further their own agenda that might not be eye to eye with their high school coach. The need is for summer programs to support the high school team, and for the high school coaches to look to summer programs to feed the school. There ARE some areas where this works well. Also, parents need to shut up or put up. If you don't like whats going on with your summer coach or your high school coach, pick up a whistle and put some time in, form your own team. For the summer coaches who complain about the high school coaches, volunteer as an assistant and establish a record with the tssaa. The state probably needs more good summer coaches to become high school coaches. Anyway, its about the KIDS. Not the coaches. and, the talk should not always be scholarships, scholarships, scholarships. Alot of the good players don't play in college or play only one year. Coaching a kid is teaching them about life, not just getting them a part-time job earning college money as a softball player. just an opinion, though.