Red Boling Springs

[VolunteerGeneral]

ELA...you are right..no coach can win without talent or at the least it would be very difficult. But a coach can lose with talent. I`ve seen enough 1A coaches here in West TN to know that a good coach is what it takes to be really succesful. Lake County used to be a really great team. If you could see them now, you`d see that they have no motivation whatsoever. Being on the sidelines for several years with the opportunity to just watch and listen to what the players and coaches say and the things they do and how they interact with each other has shown me the difference a coach can make. It`s so different from team to team. I hear what players say to each other when the coaches aren`t in earshot. The little whispers to each other that demonstrate they didn`t enjoy football. I don`t think the talent level at Lake County is much different than it was a few years ago. Of course I have no way to prove that, but they still get their players from the same area. Their players now have no motivation. I have seen teams that come to play and you could tell from watching and listening to them that if their coach told them to jump in front of a moving bus, they would do it. That`s the kind of motivation that I talk about when I say that it`s coaching that makes a difference. It`s kids who will lay it on the line no matter how good they are. Who knows how many kids from Lake County didn`t even play football because of the coach? I know this, that program has really gone way down in just a few years. I just think it is because of coaching not because they don`t have talent at the school.

[RealGoEagles]

ELA,

if what you are saying is true about RBS, athletes not wanting to get hurt bc of other sports, this that and the other, playing other sports, not coming to workouts over the summer, that's more attitude and work ethic than not having the same athletes as the privates. I've decided I want a split. I'm tired of all the bickering but don't you think that you've argued yourself out of your original argument?

[ELA]

GoRealEagles... unfortunately, this is the state of football in many small rural school programs. I am lucky to have 90% of my team in weight training this week, but many schools are way down in numbers and having lots of problems with their programs! I wish it were not true, but it is! I don't want to see small schools like RBS lose football because they could have a good team with the right people and support!

[TheEgoHasLanded]

why can't you make lifting mandatory? That's what Harding and Briarcrest do...two teams that have combined for 6 semi final appearances in 4 years.

[VolunteerGeneral]

So let`s see here...a person works out to become a better athlete. Small rural schools have problems getting kids to workout in the offseason. Private schools can get kids to workout on a regular basis. Could it be that private schools don`t necessarily have all the great athletes, but they just develope them better? Now that sounds like sour grapes to me. RealGoEagles I agree with your post, except for the split part.

It`s funny to hear people talk about how RBS could be much better if they could get some of their good kids ie..basketball and baseball players to play football and to hear how they can`t get kids to workout like they should and then get upset when private schools have kids that play multiple sports and workout year round and play really well. Then when you mention that they should work harder, they want to punch you in the nose. From what I`ve read, RBS should work harder. This private/public thing sounds too much like blaming someone for your own troubles to me.

[TheEgoHasLanded]

VG...also remember

 

Private school kids do not necessarily live in the area of the school...so they must commute back and forth during the school year as well as the summer to attend practices, games, and lifting dates.

 

So I would go lift in the morning for football, so my dad took me at 740, I lifted till about 10...so he picked me up.

 

I went to practice at 330 (if I wasnt having basketball camp) and my dad took me to school and then picked me up.

 

Thats 40 minutes that my dad drove every day, he worked a job, and most of the time had to wait for me to get done lifting or get done with practice (in the real world you never quit finish at the desired time).

 

OH YEAH that was mandatory, the only excuses were death in the family...VACATION during the summer was not an option, much less an excuse (for two years we didn't even have the dead week).

If you were injured, you simply lifted with the arm that wasnt broke, or did upper body without using the turned ankle, and you NEVER ever missed a practice.

[ELA]

EGO... it is against the TSSAA RULES! No weight training sessions or summer workouts can be mandatory until the start of the official season! Any coach who makes it mandatory is breaking the rules. The NCAA has the same rules for all of their sports, and every state has some rules about mandatory or guided practice in the off-season! IN Texas, the football coaches aren't allowed to observe their own player in the weight room in the summer!

[TheEgoHasLanded]

So you can not punish a kid for not attending...is that what you are saying? The kid should want to go on his own behalf, especially if his friends are...and if his rivals are.

[nonews]

ELA: Where does it say that coaches can't have mandatory workouts? BTW, if other coaches are, you better!

 

VG: I was referring to your apalling ignorance regarding Macon CO.'s classification; also I very much appeciate having your permission to continue to post here, I wasn't aware that you had been granted excupatory powers during your brief tenure here...

[ELA]

Vol Gen... no one is saying athletes shouldn't work harder, but there are "systemic" walls that are created in some schools. These walls can't be breached unless the administration supports the coaching staff! It's real easy for all of you to talk about a system that you don't know about, rather than being on the ground floor in a small rural school like RBS! I've been trying to tell you that coaching at a private school is different from coaching at a public school! EGO has already proved to us by his statements that summer workouts are "mandatory" in his private school; even though the TSSAA rules forbid this! You guys understand some of "the game" but coaching is a different matter all together. In the real world of rural public schools, you must "play the hand that is dealt to you." Sometimes you can overcome some obsticles, but for the most part, you find yourself stuck for a time! Some programs have a "wealth" of talent and can overcome certain "systemic" disadvtages, whereas others (like RBS) continue to float in mediocrity no matter who owns the title of "head coach." These are not excuses, just facts that are hard to comprehend.

 

EGO, I don't have anything to do with RBS football, in fact, they are a major rival of the school where I work... I just know a little of what they are going through and I don't think a person from a private school can really comprehend all of these problems.

 

By the way... EGO, when I said private schools should just "work a little harder" I was being sarcastic, because that is what you guys have told us for two years!

[ELA]

TSSAA HANDBOOK - SENIOR DIVISION BYLAWS - Article III

 

Open Facilities: A school may open its facilities to all students in their school and coaches may serve in a supervisory capacity only. No practice schedules may be followed, the facilities must be open to everyone in the school, and coaches may serve in a supervisory capacity only.

 

 

 

Definitions

 

 

 

1. Practice -- Coach and player(s) together with instruction, teaching, coaching, etc. going on.

 

 

 

2. Open facilities -- Coach serves in supervisory capacity only. There is no teaching, no instructions, no coaching, etc.

 

 

 

3. Tournament -- A competition of three or more teams and three or more games, matches, etc., where there is advancement to determine a champion. It is held on successive days with no regular season games being played during the tournament.

 

 

 

4. Dead Period -- No coaching, observing, or contact between coach and players. All indoor facilities of schools must be closed unless approved in writing by the Executive Director.

 

 

 

5. Weight Training/Conditioning Program -- Permitted at all times except during the dead period. During the off-season, it must be open to all students, cannot be required, and must be a program that would benefit all students (not sport specific).

[ELA]

Some kids are driven to better themselves. That drive comes from seeing others lead the way before them, or through watching their parents or other role models do the same. Others simply don't have the drive, but... may in fact, be great physical athletes none-the-less. Not everyone is driven by the same desires! I've seen hundreds of great athletes who hated the weight room and yet excelled (to a point) without it; whereas, I know of other athletes who worked their "buns off" for years to just earn a starting spot on the team. SELF MOTIVATION is one of the greatest things in life, but very few teenagers have it! I wish the rules weren't set up this way, but they are! We must all learn to play by the rules.