carlym

and you can't forget all of the players who made honorable mentions and best of preps teams! AND all the players who made the all state teams!

So its been a really really really long time since I have posted. and it feels good to be back!! this debate is definitely one of my favorites so lets get to it. 1. because of the division in social class, there is going to be a great difference in where people send their children to school. in east tennessee, our public school system is very lacking. so if a parent/parents can afford to send their child/children to private/magnet schools, it is a great investment. granted many private schools have top coaches, take into consideration the catholic schools. the catholic private schools are non-profit oraganizations and only charge the students as much tuition as it takes to keep the school going. that is independent of alumni donations and athletic fees though; for example, knox catholic has very giving alumni and so therefore they have a little more wiggle room when it comes to finances. these coaches are not getting paid top dollar to do what they love. they do it because they love it and they want to be involved with these kids' lives. i am a notre dame alumni and mr. schermerhorn has been the coach for years. i have gone to school and church with his family longer than he has been coaching at notre dame, so it is no surprise to me that notre dame chose a coach from the community. 2. many of the children in private schools have been going to school with one another since they were toddlers. for example, i still know many of the girls on notre dames team right now because i went to school with them before high school. granted the school i went to was a feeder school to notre dame, there is still no way to tell that these young children are going to be the athletes of tomorrow. notre dame also does not have the advantage of playing 8th graders. from what i understand, and from what i remember the rules being when i was in high school, a team could only field 8th graders if the middle school and high school were located on the same campus. 3. i agree with soccer being a mainly surburban sport. the families that do have enough money to pay for traveling, lessons, and training will do it because it is a worthy investment. these children are also ones whose parents can afford to buy them their first cars, pay for their gas, and insurance. but for those families who can not do it, the teenagers may have to pay for it themselves if they want a car, or if they want to play on a select team. so think of this: how many great athletes have to stop playing the sport that they love because they need to get a job and become a financial contributor of their family? to me this is a very possible situation considering the ecomonical problems that are troubling the middle and lower classes. 4. economically, i think having the divisions is very beneficial. for the cities that hold the state tournaments, just imagine how much the visitors contribute to the local economy of that city. i know chattanooga used gain at least $2 million by holding a softball world series in the summer. but that was back when i played, which was 5 years ago so things may have changed. in my opinion, it would be nice to have the state tournament in different locations every year so that different cities can benefit from the tourism that the state tournament brings. i am a big supporter of one champion though. as a player, i always wondered if the team that won state for their division would also be able to compete with the other teams that have won state in their division. so maybe a tournament of champions to see who would come out on top? that would also lengthen the season and impose upon the players who normally play other sports, so that may not be the best idea. conig, you have grown up so much since our high school years on this forum! you are very right about the point of athletics. it is good to win because in a way you are getting rewarded for all of the hard work that you put into it. but ultimately, athletics is very important in shaping the lives of these young people. whether you win or not, the teams have coaches and players that have sacrificed many things in order to get where they are. they are learning to think of their team, and not themselves. the greatest lessons that i have learned in life have come from playing sports, not making mistakes and learning from them. if a public school wants to compete and win state in their division, whether there are private schools present or not, they need to change their attitude. having the "well, we can't compete with private schools," mentality is toxic and will get those teams no where. it may be corny, but the notre dame saying was "play like a champion today." if some of you don't know, that it is every one of notre dame's locker rooms. even if you aren't a champion on paper or have the trophies to back it up, that doesn't mean you can't "play like a champion."

i am very proud to see my girls are still a force to be reckoned with actually extremely happy. a future prediction for their next game against one another, (probably in district, and then hopefully again in regionals) i would say an overtime game with notre dame coming out on top. no score prediction though.... last time notre went into overtime with CCS it came down to PKs.

eventually, notre dame is going to get over that semi final hurdle. even though i am in college, and i dont play soccer anymore, the things that i learned playing in high school are always going to stay with me. even though the seniors have played their last game, they have a lot to look forward to /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

it been awhile since i have been on here!! about this time every year i think about my senior season and think of all the girls, so i came to the best place to get an idea of what was going on. i am really hoping this year that notre dame can fight through these injuries and make the most out of the season. it always seems shimmy always has a way of loading the defense with great players and still keep the offense strong.

CCS and Notre Dame have been rivals since Notre Dame switched divisions. I like to see that there is still a rivalry because the CCS and Notre Dame games, whether it was post season or not, were always intense. The first year Notre Dame switched it was a battle of who had the best defense. After that year it seems like its more about who has the quicker offense because both CCS and Notre Dame have had solid defensive players year after year. With Leah in the goal for CCS and the various players like Caitlin Kelley and Shannon Kelly for Notre Dame, the action that happens in front of the goal is always intense. Always good games.

notre dame graduated 6 seniors last year. pitcher, catcher, second base, short stop, center field, and left field. and the pitcher is definately a big loss. she gave an advantage on the defensive and offensive sides.

i once saw a really old article about a franklin team from i think the late 80s; not positive but it was before my time. i am not sure if it was FRA or franklin but the team won some ridiculous amount of consecutive games. i amo not sure how many games but it was pretty high. somewhere around 50. maybe more, maybe less. anyways, it would be cool to post links of stories about teams from way back when. some of those stories are pretty inspiring.

notre dames jaimee cooper started for mtsu against etsu. she played very well as usual!

GPS's new coach used to coach the keepers at Mercer University. He also has privately coached some area keepers. He has a good reputation with those who know him.

today: notre dame 4 eastridge 3 -extra inning; notre dame scored in the bottom of the 8th sequatchie 4 marion 3 notre dame 4 sequatchie 2 ccs 4 hixson 3 tomorrow: hixson vs. notre dame and winner plays ccs for the championship.

notre dame did not forfeit to grundy. the game was rescheduled for today after some stubborness. notre dame won 1-0. notre dame scattered some hits here and there , scored the only run in the first inning, and grundy had 2 hits. from there, notre dame traveled to bledsoe and won 11-0. bledsoe had 1 or 2 hits and a few errors that cost some runs.

nope. i think the game was rescheduled.

game was either rescheduled or canceled on account of having games scheduled mon-thurs and having a tournment fri-sat. that game was never played.

yeah and what time