New TSSAA rules?

[warmachine7954]

Baseball is not on the baskburner here. There are facilities that allow kids to hit and pitch all year round wit hinstruction from a coach or professional. People spend big $$$'s and time on baseball. Many kids travel alot during the summer for baseball. Not many facilities where kids can go shoot or dribble with instruction. I wish I knew of one in West TN. No athletes are not the only ones worth saving. How many kids would show up to an open school during the summer? Not many. The ones that would show would be the ones that don't really need it. Then the schools would be getting critized for making the school year to long. Outside of team camp summer practice can be voluntary, just let the kids that want ot be coached have the opportunity.

[Grace Golden Eagles]

Baseball is not on the baskburner here. There are facilities that allow kids to hit and pitch all year round wit hinstruction from a coach or professional. People spend big $$$'s and time on baseball. Many kids travel alot during the summer for baseball. Not many facilities where kids can go shoot or dribble with instruction. I wish I knew of one in West TN. No athletes are not the only ones worth saving. How many kids would show up to an open school during the summer? Not many. The ones that would show would be the ones that don't really need it. Then the schools would be getting critized for making the school year to long. Outside of team camp summer practice can be voluntary, just let the kids that want ot be coached have the opportunity.

 

Do they not have basketball courts in West TN???

[ksgovols]

To me, basketball is the easiest sport there is for a kid to work on by himself. Shooting and dribbling are one man drills. Each kid can improve by themselves if they so desire. For small schools, it's also the easiest team to field. 5 guys at a time is all that can play. It's double that for baseball or football.

 

Summertime is in season for baseball. It's just not school sanctioned baseball. I mean, there's no baseball camps in the winter time that the high school coaches can take their teams that I'm aware of. Certainly no AAU for baseball out of season. I think you'll see some cooperative effort between schools to make Fall Ball work again with the 50/50 rule, but it's not here now. What's easy for a school coach to do is disregard the summer in season sport because it's not school functioned. Typically we're talking about a baseball/basketball conflict though there are some football conflicts in the summertime as well. Heck, there's some scenarios where there's baseball/baseball conflicts if the summer team isn't made up of players from the same high school. As I said, a lot of masters to serve. Sometimes the burn out is not just from the same sport, but from the pulling in different directions by the different sports.

 

I think the basketball coaches could have had open gym all summer long if they hadn't screwed it up. Same for the 7 on 7 football passing leagues. More and more time was demanded of the kids during the summer and something had to give. The 15 days are actually a compromise. What summer is for most coaches is a time when school work isn't a restriction or a distraction and I don't mind that. I just wish there would be some consideration for the multi-sport guys instead of forcing their hand.

[JWhumboldt]

ksgovols,

It sounds like to me that you had some type bad expierence with one of your coaches.

[Slube]

The tssaa has made it to where kids can't be coached/taught(not just in basketball but in life). The kids here need a role model, and their coach is the only one they have in many situations. When tssaa limits these kids communication with their coach(es), it removes their role model for that period of time. This can potentially be very detrimental to the decisions that child makes. Many of the kids don't have the best home lives, and the coach(es) are able to help the kids out and make a difference in the things they do and the decisions they make. They are not just coached in basketball, but in decisions they make that can/will change their lives!

 

 

 

ksgovols,

It sounds like to me that you had some type bad expierence with one of your coaches.

 

 

 

I??™ve kept quite, but I??™d like to weigh in on a couple of things.

 

First of all, I've known ksgovols for years and you are off base on your assumption JW.

 

Secondly, thank you CoachT for providing this forum. Also, if you guys are not Plus Members, please cough up the $12. Best bang for your buck on the internet.

 

I??™ve always been one to fight the system. I feel that sometimes there are too many rules. I tend to fight less now that I??™m approaching 40. I also think that having been a parent of two for the past 19 years has changed the way I see things, well of course it has.

 

One thing I??™ve learned is that when it comes to children, our nation??™s youth, if there??™s a rule, it??™s USUALLY in place to prevent something from happening AGAIN. I do say USUALLY because I know that there are exceptions.

 

My son played football and some basketball in high school. There was a lot of juggling when it came to scheduling up until he started driving, for my wife and I that is. By the time he was driving, he handled his schedule very well. Sports has taught him quite a few life lessons, both good and bad. He??™s a better man for playing sports. I have always felt that way.

 

I can tell you now from having lived it and watched it, and I pay close attention to what goes on at our school on a daily basis, that these kids need some time away.

 

I can??™t argue whether or not the new rules require too much time off or not. I know when we were doing it (2003-2007), we only had 2 weeks in the calendar year that we could take a family vacation without interfering with one sport or another. Yes, we had more time off from school than we did from school sports.

 

I can tell you that when you really think about that, some additional time off is really not going to hurt the ???sport-specific??? skills development. I would argue that there comes a point of diminishing returns without this much time off.

 

We are a fortunate community, I guess. We have goals and a blacktop behind the elementary school which is a 20 minute or so walk from my house. A bike ride is much quicker. We have two goals behind the middle school that myself and some other parents either donated monies to purchase the goals or donated their time to install them. My son spent many an hour playing pickup games after school in the gym or at one of the many goals open to the public.

 

There??™s a church within walking distance, about 8 minutes with a blacktop and goal.

 

Maybe the rules are biased towards rural areas. I doubt it though. I have traveled across the state watching and participating in some fashion in basketball and have seen the time and money put into it by parents and AAU fundraising. I see the dedication that high school coaches approach their jobs with. I know school coaches and AAU coaches work together keeping the kids playing ball when they can??™t be in the gym with the coach. There's usually aid for a child that can't pay their fees.

 

Coaches are not allowed to coach the kids during the dead periods; however, this does not mean they cannot have contact as a teacher or administrator. Being a role model involves more than just teaching these kids how to dribble with their weak hand and how to break the press.

 

For the past 4 years, the only time my son didn??™t have some type of contact with a coach was during that 2-week dead period at the end of June/first of July. Hopefully he either got to sit on the beach somewhere or spend some non-hectic time with family. That??™s the type of ???dead time??? they need.

 

There are kids that need extra attention, kids who don??™t have good home situations. I have seen coaches bend over backwards keeping them involved, trying to be a mentor and parent figure. I have seen them glowing with pride when a student/player takes the pen to sign a Letter of Intent, and I have seen them shaking their head saying, ???I don??™t know what else I could have done, he just doesn??™t get it.???

 

I have also seen those coaches saying those same things about kids who have never wanted for anything and their parents have never missed a game.

 

I guess I??™m saying I support the new rules. Sorry so long winded, but had to comment on some things.

 

ksgovols, I believe Lipscomb offers some baseball camps in the December timeframe.

[thug dadi]

Everyone one is talking like these kids need the time to practice so that they can get a scholarship. Well, that would be nice. I'd be tickled pink to set beside my kid as he or she signed with a college to play ball somewhere. But, for me, sports for my kids has been about more then hoping for a scholarship. First of all, it has been what my kids have wanted to do. I admit it. I spoil my kids. But then we all try to as much as we can. Thankfully, I have been fortunate enough to be able to afford the cost and time of my kids playing on some travel teams. One is eat up with it, and one will go if there's nothing else to do. Second, I no longer farm, raise cattle, cut fire wood, mend fences, haul hay, or have chores for the kids to do to keep them busy and out of trouble, so sports have filled their time and kept them focused on a goal. Third, the work/rewards in sports has given them a work ethic that I believe will translate to what ever path they choose. And forth, the desire to be on a team motivates them to keep their grades up so that they can. There has been lots of money, time, blood and tears involved in sports. One ACL. Two Bi-lateral Tibia radi (I think that was what the orthopedic called it) Countless skinned knees and hurt feelings. But, countless hours as a family travelling, working, living, and growing together. My time for all this is just about over, and in a few short years I'll be setting alone remembering the good times that we had as a family. THIS is the reason that I would hate to see the TSSAA limit what we can do or who we can do it with. And while they haven't banned it yet. That seems to be the direction that they are heading.

[ksgovols]

ksgovols,

It sounds like to me that you had some type bad expierence with one of your coaches.

 

 

 

On the contrary. I've got a 3 sport kid though and it's tough to honor all of the commitments. I have a good relationship with all 4 of his coaches and we communicate on a regular basis. I keep the stats for these guys. I'd do the same for my individual team if I were in their shoes. I'd work them as much as the rules would allow and expect the kids to be there. The sanctioning body is the one that has to decide what is enough and what is too much. We can debate the limits if you want, but there has to be some limitations.

 

That being said, I don't think more dead time is a bad thing. Particularly in the summer. Most parents aren't as hard headed as I am. Their kid chooses a sport in 5th grade and then the die is cast. They either excel or fall off and are out of sports. Who knows what an 11 year old is going to become when he's in high school. The year round mentality at the younger age groups is where I have the biggest problem. That's not typically sanctioned by the high school coaches, but there is a trickle down effect. There shouldn't even be AAU or travel baseball teams playing 80 games a summer before the kids are teenagers imo.

[Grace Golden Eagles]

Everyone one is talking like these kids need the time to practice so that they can get a scholarship. Well, that would be nice. I'd be tickled pink to set beside my kid as he or she signed with a college to play ball somewhere. But, for me, sports for my kids has been about more then hoping for a scholarship. First of all, it has been what my kids have wanted to do. I admit it. I spoil my kids. But then we all try to as much as we can. Thankfully, I have been fortunate enough to be able to afford the cost and time of my kids playing on some travel teams. One is eat up with it, and one will go if there's nothing else to do. Second, I no longer farm, raise cattle, cut fire wood, mend fences, haul hay, or have chores for the kids to do to keep them busy and out of trouble, so sports have filled their time and kept them focused on a goal. Third, the work/rewards in sports has given them a work ethic that I believe will translate to what ever path they choose. And forth, the desire to be on a team motivates them to keep their grades up so that they can. There has been lots of money, time, blood and tears involved in sports. One ACL. Two Bi-lateral Tibia radi (I think that was what the orthopedic called it) Countless skinned knees and hurt feelings. But, countless hours as a family travelling, working, living, and growing together. My time for all this is just about over, and in a few short years I'll be setting alone remembering the good times that we had as a family. THIS is the reason that I would hate to see the TSSAA limit what we can do or who we can do it with. And while they haven't banned it yet. That seems to be the direction that they are heading.

 

Ditto. Word to your mother.