Private Schools At Spring Fling

[hoops]

Has anyone noticed the large number of private schools playing for A and AA state championships (especially in baseball). Is it always this way?

[sportsguy1]

There are no private AA schools playing in baseball this year. There are 3 private schools in A this year but the last few years it has been usually 2 privates and 2 publics. In A softball you have the lowest number of private schools in years with Boyd, Ezell, and Goodpasture not returning. If anything I think that the privates are down this year.

[catsbackr]

So, 3 out of the 4 teams in Class A, playing for the state championship in the public school division are private. No one sees this as a problem? Private schools have their own division. Can public schools opt to play in the private school division?

[sportsguy1]

Why is this a problem? Would you hear privates complaining if it were 3 out of 4 publics in the state? No. And Division II is not a "private" division. It is for schools that can afford to give financial aid, and most of the time that aid is not athletically related. Private schools in DI DO NOT give financial aid. If they did they would be in DII and most private schools in DI couldn't give aid even if they wanted too. Most of these private schools aren't as well off as people like to think.

[buck59]

hhscats it is not the public school division. The divisions are Division I and Division II. It never was the intent of TSSAA to seperate the schools public/private. Their intent was to seperate the school by giving finacial aid to athletes and not giving finacial aid to athletes. The privatle schools that compete in Division I do not give any financial aid the the students that participate in athletics. These athletes parents pay the full tuition bill for these students to go the that school.

[BushLeague]

There should be three leagues: one for schools that give financial aid, one for private schools that don't give financial aid, and one for good ole public schools. It is a joke that small community public single A schools like Sale Creek and Whitwell have to compete against Chattanooga Christian and Boyd Buchanan who can pull kids from all over the Chattanooga area and North Georgia. What a joke! They want to talk and brag about their beating on these small community based schools. Get in the league with McCallie, Baylor, and Notre Dame; private schools just like you that recruit just like you. Win that league and start talking smack. Do you think it is any coincidence that CCS and Boyd started to really improve in the "team sports" when the Chattanooga City schools and the Hamilton County Schools consolidated in the mid 90's? It was like "white flight" out of the county schools. All those who couldn't afford to go to McCallie or Baylor ended up at CCS or Boyd. Both are great schools with recently good athletic traditions ... however, they get so much credit for beating these small community schools that they SHOULD WAX 100% OF THE TIME!

[sportsguy1]

As much as you would like to wish they do, Boyd-Buchanan doesn't recruit. And as far as I know neither does CCS. Boyd's sports teams were winning long before the Hamilton County School consolidation. Sure the football team has gotten better but that is due to a great coach and getting 40-50 guys out for the team instead of 19 like they used to have. You can't win with that small amount. Anyway Boyd has always had a winning tradition. And at schools like Boyd and CCS a students tution doesn't even cover the cost of them going there. The schools rely on donors and alumni to make up the difference. These schools couldn't give out athletic scholorships if they wanted too. And sorry to say even if Boyd or CCS wasn't around Whitwell and Sale Creek wouldn't be winning much of anything.

[BushLeague]

You miss the point sports guy. The players for these schools don't come from one area (town, county, community, or even one state). It is unfair to public single A schools restricted to a school zone to compete against schools pulling players from all over the place. Maybe Sale Creek and Whitwell were bad examples. What about Lookout Valley? They've won plenty over the years in baseball. They haven't fared as well over the last few years against Boyd and Christian. Not knocking Boyd and Christian, both are fine schools that win alot ... they should be in a league with other schools that don't have school zones, whether they give financial aid or recruit or not.

[sportsguy1]

I understand what you are saying but just because they can get students from a larger area doesn't mean that good athletes happen to or do come to the school. Magnet schools like CSAS and Tyner can do the same thing. Are they going to be forced out too??? We all know plenty of stories about public school parents moving so their kids could be zoned to a different school for athletic reasons. It happens all the time. I know that it is hard for small schools in general to be good at athletics. LV, Whitwell, and Sale Creek all have enrollments under 200, I believe. With that small of a number it is hard to win. I really think it comes down to one simple thing. If you notice the public city schools usually have no problem competing with the private schools. I think that it is more of a rural/urban issue than public/private. In the cities these athletes have the chance to be members of AAU teams and to play in leagues that develop their ability year round. On the whole you don't see that in rural areas.

[catsbackr]

Please don't misunderstand me or read anything into what I said about the private schools being in the Class A state. I know kids in our area that attend CCS, Boyd as well as Baylor and McCallie. My question maybe should have been instead of seeing this as a problem, does anyone see this as a trend? Is it because the kids at the private schools in this division just work harder, or are they just better or better coached? I don't believe this is the case at all. But, this trend is beginning to repeat itself year after year in this division.

Sportsguy, I do believe that because you are able to pull students, and in many cases better students, that you do pull athletes, and in many cases better athletes, because of the larger pool that private schools enjoy. Their pool in truth can be the entire city and beyond.

This is not their (the private school's) fault and no blame should be laid to them. These are just the facts as they exist now.

Best of luck to all of the Chattanooga area teams in this year's Spring Fling!

[TheEgoHasLanded]

This raises an interesting question...

 

We know that single A public schools like Cosby do not give scholarships, and then people get mad that public schools in D1 are able to get kids from wherever they are from, even without giving financial aide...and people are mad...what about private schools that don't give financial aide but are still in D2...like Knoxville Catholic...or how about schools that give barely any financial aide...st benedict gave 1 for a 1000 dollars, should they be punished and have to play against McCallie and Baylor who give over 500,000 dollars? They are only giving one scholarship? The point is, its never going to be fair, one could argue that a single A school shouldnt have to play another single A school because their facilities aren't as good, or they live in a bigger city, the point is, there is always a variable or an exponent that is going to differentiate between schools and programs, thats what makes it fun and challenging at the same time.

[Indian]

I don't think a player living in another state-such as the one that helped/led Temple win A basketball-should be competing against Tennesee public school teams in district/region play or in the postseason. I don't care if his family paid his tuition, if he goes there free, if he was recruited or if his parents just liked the school, or if he entered in 1st grade or 11th grade. That being said, there's no reason he should not be able to play varsity sports for his school, but he and his school should be playing others with similar inter-county/state enrollments.

[Edited by Indian on 5/22/02 8:06P]