Sequoyah Football

[dumdum]

Thats right. A school of SQHS's size in students shouldn't have to beg for football players. We have almost enough students to go to a 4A region. Which is what Cleveland, and Maryville both are in. I still like to go back to when we made the third round of the playoffs there was 77 players lifting weights and after Meadows left the number went down to 25. So he had the interest up around here. So football can come up in popularity it has been done before. It is going to take winning and not be changing coaches every 2 or 3 years.

 

I agree, and we are on the right path, something horrible happened a few years back, maybe a AD who did everything he could to bring football down and we are taking the correct steps to fix it and thats my point whatever happened really did a number on football in this area. Meadows did a great job here AND HE DID IT WITHOUT A MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM, so this is another point that Middle school football is not that important, dont get me wrong it would be nice but NOT the problem. Just like Sequoyah is doing (starting over), so may be needed in the little leagues. For Sequoyah winning is around the corner and should be for a few years, the smallest class will be the incoming freshmen next season, may be a hiccup there. Go Chiefs!!!

[warchief]

Not sure if thats a good example, I mean Maryville has a great program and they have been winning for a long time, when this happens you really dont have a problem getting players to play. In my opinion, (MY OPINION), what I see alot of around here is the problem has filtered all the way down into the youth groups, you have athletes not playing simply because all the programs just do not win. There has to be a point in which you gotta start over (which Sequoyah has done) and they may still have a ways to go. Alot of these kids have never been a part of a winning program, they just dont know what its like to win game after game. I understand that both LL are considering changing conferences, and there are a few against it and few for it and everyone seems to have good reasons why they should or shouldn't go/stay. They play in a conference (may be one of toughest youth conference around here) and to my knowledge have never won a championship in the conference they are in, and seems the trend is less and less wins evry year. Some say part of the problem is they can not get kids to play, sometimes having to beg kids to play to have enough players. Maybe the thinking is if they can start to win a few more games against a weaker conference (a conference in which Meigs County dominates every year), maybe more kids will want to be part of it. Now some argue that it is a weaker conference and the you play weaker teams and its not going to help but its the same league in which Meigs County is in and Meigs seems to be doing ok at the high school level, now is it because they do so well in their LL games and it just carries over that hey are winners. Like I said before, I understand both sides of the arguments, Just like the high school did (they started over with coach Summey), maybe the LL's are trying to "start over". Loved to hear what you guys think.

Here is a example you should know a little about dumdum. Midway! wonder what their High school coach thinks about having a middle school team. I will say this may or may not happen. I don't know, but if it does'nt i think changing conference's would be a bad idea. I can't speak for Vonore, but as far as Madisonville goes when have we ever had to beg kids to play just to have enough. We usually allways have fairly good numbers. Out of the 11 towns in this conference Madisonville is one of the largest. So if we are not able to compete maybe we need to step back and ask ourselves why? Instead of just moving to a conference that we just think is weaker. I don't buy into the idea that kids are not playing because we are losing. How could that be at the cricket & hopper levels? These are the first years of football for these kids. It ain't like they are use to losing, heck they are just getting started playing.

[warchief]

I agree, and we are on the right path, something horrible happened a few years back, maybe a AD who did everything he could to bring football down and we are taking the correct steps to fix it and thats my point whatever happened really did a number on football in this area. Meadows did a great job here AND HE DID IT WITHOUT A MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM, so this is another point that Middle school football is not that important, dont get me wrong it would be nice but NOT the problem. Just like Sequoyah is doing (starting over), so may be needed in the little leagues. For Sequoyah winning is around the corner and should be for a few years, the smallest class will be the incoming freshmen next season, may be a hiccup there. Go Chiefs!!!

 

The first person i ever heard bring up the middle school Idea was coach meadows. I heard the man say it himself. That if we ever want to see this program get to the level we want, one of the things that needed to happen was a middle school program.

[BlueQB12]

The first person i ever heard bring up the middle school Idea was coach meadows. I heard the man say it himself. That if we ever want to see this program get to the level we want, one of the things that needed to happen was a middle school program.

 

You're right,warchief. This idea is nothing new. Several folks have talked about it for years,almost as long as Sequoyah has existed. I'm curious about the region 4 teams,if they have a program like this? I believe if we are to take the next step to being competitive,this is a must. The positives of combining the 7th and 8th graders on the field far outweigh the negatives,if the support could somehow be found in middle school as it is in high school. Like Bill49 said,egos would have to stay at the house.

[warchief]

You're right,warchief. This idea is nothing new. Several folks have talked about it for years,almost as long as Sequoyah has existed. I'm curious about the region 4 teams,if they have a program like this? I believe if we are to take the next step to being competitive,this is a must. The positives of combining the 7th and 8th graders on the field far outweigh the negatives,if the support could somehow be found in middle school as it is in high school. Like Bill49 said,egos would have to stay at the house.

 

The region 4 teams all have middle school football. Here's the thing take a look at region 3-3a. Hardly none of our teams have middle school football. I am not sue about Norte dame, but i don't think anyone else in the region does. Now if you look at the regions around us in any of the classifacations, alot of them have middle school football. Now how does our region fair when we step out of region and play these teams? Region 4 has pretty much been showing us how we stack up against them have'nt they! Not saying this would solve all are problems, it's just another step in the right direction.

[vonore12]

One thing that people are not mentioning is the importance of a quality freshman team. Maryville, William Blount, and others have a freshman team. I think an incoming freshman would benefit from that more, than 2 years in a middle school program. Heck, I played at Vonore and I know that most of our guys played different positions in high school than they did their 7th and 8th grade years. I was one of them. Again, good idea but logistics is a problem. It's going to be tough to have 1 team with players from two schools. A new high school in vonore is more likely than a new central middle school for vonore and madisonville. I think coach Summey is doing great and will do greater with or without a middle school team. Furtermore, if it is going to be succesful I think a coaching staff hand-picked by Coach Summey is the only way to go.One thing that people are not mentioning is the importance of a quality freshman team. Maryville, William Blount, and others have a freshman team. I think an incoming freshman would benefit from that more, than 2 years in a middle school program. Heck, I played at Vonore and I know that most of our guys played different positions in high school than they did their 7th and 8th grade years. I was one of them. Again, good idea but logistics is a problem. It's going to be tough to have 1 team with players from two schools. A new high school in vonore is more likely than a new central middle school for vonore and madisonville. I think coach Summey is doing great and will do greater with or without a middle school team. Furtermore, if it is going to be succesful I think a coaching staff hand-picked by Coach Summey is the only way to go.

[warchief]

One thing that people are not mentioning is the importance of a quality freshman team. Maryville, William Blount, and others have a freshman team. I think an incoming freshman would benefit from that more, than 2 years in a middle school program. Heck, I played at Vonore and I know that most of our guys played different positions in high school than they did their 7th and 8th grade years. I was one of them. Again, good idea but logistics is a problem. It's going to be tough to have 1 team with players from two schools. A new high school in vonore is more likely than a new central middle school for vonore and madisonville. I think coach Summey is doing great and will do greater with or without a middle school team. Furtermore, if it is going to be succesful I think a coaching staff hand-picked by Coach Summey is the only way to go.One thing that people are not mentioning is the importance of a quality freshman team. Maryville, William Blount, and others have a freshman team. I think an incoming freshman would benefit from that more, than 2 years in a middle school program. Heck, I played at Vonore and I know that most of our guys played different positions in high school than they did their 7th and 8th grade years. I was one of them. Again, good idea but logistics is a problem. It's going to be tough to have 1 team with players from two schools. A new high school in vonore is more likely than a new central middle school for vonore and madisonville. I think coach Summey is doing great and will do greater with or without a middle school team. Furtermore, if it is going to be succesful I think a coaching staff hand-picked by Coach Summey is the only way to go.

 

I agree would like to see a freshman team. Be nice to see the #'s there every year for one. Your right we won't see a centralized middle school built, But we don't have too to have a middle school team. Practice & play at the high school. The thing is coach Summey is one who wants to see this done. And for it to be done it will take the high school coaches being the ones that see's that it happens.

[slobber knocker]

If rivalry is a concern, then split the two little leagues up now. Have one team play in one league and one play in the other. Make it tp where they do not play each other. That is one problem that can be a quick fix. Eliminate the rivalry, it is us the parents that teach it to them anyway.

 

Does anyone know how many showed up to workouts today?

[dumdum]

OK, how do we make this happen? I am all for a middle scholl team, but if this happens then all the teams have to be combine, its the only way it will work. And we cant forget all those girls who cheer, they will have to combine also. Been waiting for years for madisonville and vonore to drop their ego's and make this happen.

[slobber knocker]

OK, how do we make this happen? I am all for a middle scholl team, but if this happens then all the teams have to be combine, its the only way it will work. And we cant forget all those girls who cheer, they will have to combine also. Been waiting for years for madisonville and vonore to drop their ego's and make this happen.

 

 

Let's just say the teams combined what if 40 kids came out for a team what would happen then. If you split them up then you would be right back where we started at. If you left them together then how many parents would want to drive to all these games when your kid might not get a chance to play. And if they were seperated who would make sure that the teams were seperated fairly. Because putting the better players on one team would go over real well I am sure.

[dumdum]

Let's just say the teams combined what if 40 kids came out for a team what would happen then. If you split them up then you would be right back where we started at. If you left them together then how many parents would want to drive to all these games when your kid might not get a chance to play. And if they were seperated who would make sure that the teams were seperated fairly. Because putting the better players on one team would go over real well I am sure.

 

Not sure if anybody is thinking of splitting the teams up, just for the record I am for the combining of both programs and I am not for just combining of the juniors, it would hurt both programs in the conference they are in, so thats why I say combine all four teams and keep them in the Sequoyah Conference. If this happened the Juniors could always be under the direction of the high school coaches, then while in the Sequoyah Conference they could always schedule other games with other middle school programs. Hey Warchief, Midway has always had a middle school program ever since I can remember, but they had to have one because they did not use to have a feeder program. Midway, like Maryville has always had a winning tradition, so still not a good example but dont get me wrong, I'm all for it, lol. Region 4 football is tough and yes they all have good feeder programs, not just middle school programs. For the comment about kids notting wanting to play for losing programs, I agree kids dont know at such a young age that its not a winning program, I have always thought that its the parents who do not want there kids getting beat so they go and play fall baseball. Maybe we should have some kind of spring practice in the LL's and try to lure out some more kids, maybe some type of passing league for them, just some ideas to kick around.

[red_nation]

You know i look for middle school football to happen sooner or later.But it could be in 1 year or ten.Until it does,there are some things we can work on.And forgive me if i misspell,i was never in a spelling b.One thing ,i think that would be a good idea with the juniors,is to bring both teams to the high school one day a week and practice together.And i mean fundamentals .The high school coach"s i'm sure would love to be part of that.Fundamentals are the most important part of the game.That way the kids are together and the L.L.coachs also can see what the high school coachs want taught.See 1 problem is the L.L. coachs work why were at practice so its hard for them to get there while were with are kids.Most of the time L.L.don't practice till 6 o'clock,thats about the time we get done.So i think if we could do this once a week it would be great.That way the kids get to know each other and the coach"s all get to know each other.You can even let them have fun by spliting them up for 30 minutes or so ,like a game.But what i mean by this is kids from Vonore and kids from Madisonville would be on the same team,and kids from Madisonville and kids from Vonore would be on the other team.That way they are working together and getting to know each other.I think the kids would love it.But thats just a few ideas,i'm sure you guys could come up with alot more.And at the end try to put them together for a bowl game.When we did this that 1 year,it was 1 of the best years for me as a L.L. coach that i ever had.Now you kinda have to see how the playoffs go.but if nither 1 makes it,it can be done.And still can be done if 1 or both make i think.Just at a later date.There is alot things we can do has coach's and parents to make this work.But we have to step forward and do it.We need all the coach's from both L.L.'S and the high school to be on the same page,working for the same goal.Just like to see what your thoughts are on this.