Spring Football -v- Academics

[TDArtist]

Spring football should not even be a consideration if the kid is still on the track team. That is the real problem here. Of course the kid is having academic problems if he is on the track team and then having to to go to preseason practice for football.

 

You need to see the principal and the BOE to get this joke of a coach ran out of town. His behavior and attitude are pathetic.

[gatorbillmsu]

I got a few answers yesterday. Turns out that the HC was in on the end of the conversation. But it came down to academics -v- sports. The way they work things is that if the kid is at football, he does not have to attend track practice. And if they are at a track MEET it excuses them from football practice. But they still run practices very late, and do not leave a lot of time for academics along with it.

 

But the lack of communication, and the attitude that football comes before academics has ultimately cost this kid a year of football. Unfortunately, he will be a senior next year and this was his LAST chance at football.

 

He would have been a starter on one side of the ball or another, possibly both. It is unfortunate for the kid.

 

 

 

Thanks for the information guys. It is much appreciated.

[DearOldDad]

Spring football should not even be a consideration if the kid is still on the track team. That is the real problem here. Of course the kid is having academic problems if he is on the track team and then having to to go to preseason practice for football.

 

You need to see the principal and the BOE to get this joke of a coach ran out of town. His behavior and attitude are pathetic.

 

What? Did you read the previous posts from poindexter at all?

[Guest Termite]

Thanks warrior and rhea co. Here is what I am dealing with, and this is not my kid, but a kid that I know very well. (lets just put it that way)

 

Strength and Conditioning has been going on all off season. The kid has been attending, and has not missed a session. Kid is also running track, so there are days where workouts are doubled.

 

Spring ball is going. Kid is participating in both track and spring ball. Football practices go from 3pm-6:30, sometimes 7pm. The kid has been diligent. He is likeable. He is hardworking. I am not in those practices, but other kids who are have told me that this kid has been working his tail off and is a great teammate.

 

The kid went to his coach (assist coach has been running spring ball) and told him that he is having some trouble with classes, asked if there was a way he could get a break to get his grades up. Coach went all "toughguy" with the kid (I have 2 independent witnesses) and it came down to "practice or quit". The kid quit. It was the right thing to do, because grades are more important than sports, but I do not understand how it comes to this.

 

I have played a lot of football. I have coached a lot of football. I coached at a school where football was life. It was everything. But grades always came first.

 

I dont get it. Is this team so desperate to prove that it isnt a failure that they are willing to sacrafice kids futures in the process?

 

I will be in contact with the schools principal later today. I just wanted to check to see if I was that far out from reality on this one.

 

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

Do you honestly think he will use the 3-6:30 time to study??

Has his grades fallen since spring practice started??

Is this his 1st spring practice. Did he not know what to expect??

Has this been an issue before....does he have history??

Without knowing all the facts.....I would tend to lean towards the coach. Any coach worth his salt knows all the questions I just asked. Football is the ONE sport where if you aren't committed to it......you don't need to be playing. Dearolddad is right his grades should have been in order before spring ball got here. This would either be the 1st or 2nd week (of 2 weeks) of practice....a total of 10 days.........everything gatorbill said may be true.....but we're talking 2 whole weeks.

[bratt22]

Read the post greasers. If the kid is struggling with his grades it didn't happen overnight. He should have gotten that stuff taken care of early in the semester instead of waiting to use it as an excuse to get out of spring ball. Hey, maybe the kid just wants to quit football and needed an excuse. You guys can use that "get my grades up"crap on somebody who will listen, and evidently his coach ain't one of them. And yes, I do think football is the king and should take priority. I don't condone quitting a sport in the middle of the season so you can go to spring practice but thats not what this is about anyway. This is about a kid who ran track with bad grades then decided to lay out of spring practice to get his grades up. /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" Oh, yea...congratulations on getting messages to all the proper authorities poindexter. I'm sure that will fix it.

 

You do condone quiting as long as it's not football, you said it yourself in a previous post that I highlighted. Spring practice is overrated anyway, but not conditioning or weight lifting. All sport's season's are getting bigger every year and someone is going to have to say enough, a couple of dead periods a year is not enough.

[ucfootballfan]

A few years ago i was in the same position the young man you are referring to is in the time between my junior year and senior year. I was able to maintain a beta club level gpa attend soccer practice and spring practice for football. When we had a game i was excused from practice. My coaches never made spring practice mandatory but i had the oppurtunity to start in football and that was most important so i made it work. I was able to keep my grades up during the whole period to. I agree with DearOldDad and Termite on this. The coaches shouldn't have made him choose but the point is this two week period shouldnt have been the determing factor on his grades they should have already been in line. It comes down to the young man and his commitment to football.

[Guest Termite]

I also want to add.....(correct me if I'm wrong Gaterbill)...that the place he is speaking of is Upperman.

Upperman has a new Head Coach. This is his (probably not the assistant's) first Spring practice with these kids..........Football has been way down the list at Baxter. Baseball is 1st, Basketball (boys & girls) is 2nd and football may, just may come in 3rd.

I would suspect that the new coach is attempting to change some of the attitude towards his program. Upperman's attitude towards football, some years ago, is how Smith Co. ended up with Coach Jimmy Maynord.

The kid in question may have been a victim of an untimely attempt to adjust the attitude and dedication of all the players. Get in or get out. I don't know....just another thought.

[66in74]

I got a few answers yesterday. Turns out that the HC was in on the end of the conversation. But it came down to academics -v- sports. The way they work things is that if the kid is at football, he does not have to attend track practice. And if they are at a track MEET it excuses them from football practice. But they still run practices very late, and do not leave a lot of time for academics along with it.

 

But the lack of communication, and the attitude that football comes before academics has ultimately cost this kid a year of football. Unfortunately, he will be a senior next year and this was his LAST chance at football.

 

He would have been a starter on one side of the ball or another, possibly both. It is unfortunate for the kid.

 

 

 

Thanks for the information guys. It is much appreciated.

 

 

I wanted to watch this post til some of the facts came out that you just gave until I posted.

 

Since he wasn't required to do both (track/football) on the same day (as you originially indicated), is an important point to me.

Running practices in football til 6:30 on the 10 days they have is not that unusual.

He was probably home by 7.

If he hit the sack at 10-10:30, then that gave him a good 2-3 hrs. each night to study.

 

If his academics weren't as they should be, then that is not the Coach's fault IMHO.

[gatorbillmsu]

I also want to add.....(correct me if I'm wrong Gaterbill)...that the place he is speaking of is Upperman.

Upperman has a new Head Coach. This is his (probably not the assistant's) first Spring practice with these kids..........Football has been way down the list at Baxter. Baseball is 1st, Basketball (boys & girls) is 2nd and football may, just may come in 3rd.

I would suspect that the new coach is attempting to change some of the attitude towards his program. Upperman's attitude towards football, some years ago, is how Smith Co. ended up with Coach Jimmy Maynord.

The kid in question may have been a victim of an untimely attempt to adjust the attitude and dedication of all the players. Get in or get out. I don't know....just another thought.

 

 

 

This kid is not at upperman, but it is a very similar situation. (not even in the same district) I work with his grandmother who now has custody of him. We talk often. I have foster kids, my neighbors have foster kids, I can feel for this kids situation. In fact, my neighbors foster kid is in a very similar situation at Upperman. But this is not about him, Im staying out of the local politics this time!!! hahaha. have been burned too many times!!!

 

anyways.

 

I am not a fan of quitting ANYTHING for ANY REASON. I think kids need to be tougher these days, and in general they tend to want to be lazy, and get out of the hard work to make life easier.

 

I think your "untimely attitude adjustment" theory may what what hurt this kid.

 

The kid comes from a bad situation, a horrible home life. I know him very well. I trust what he says. I also have some pretty good connections to his coach, and one of his teachers. The kid was just trying to get spring ball off, and then pick back up with strength and conditioning. I believe, from what I am getting from both him and the coach, that the coach felt he just wanted to skip out til fall. That is not the case.

 

I think we will get this worked out. But no, the kid had never dealt with athletics before. He is juggling a lot of things he has never had to juggle before. It is an adjustment.

 

As I said, I am not a fan of quitting ANYTHING. Once you start, you follow it through til the end. But if the kid sees that he is having some problems in class, he should have a chance to try to avoid a collossial failure. Sports will not be what defines this kid in life. But he should not be shown the door just because he doesnt want to fail a class or two.

 

But thanks to all of you for the info/advice/opinion. Very much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to watch this post til some of the facts came out that you just gave until I posted.

 

Since he wasn't required to do both (track/football) on the same day (as you originially indicated), is an important point to me.

Running practices in football til 6:30 on the 10 days they have is not that unusual.

He was probably home by 7.

If he hit the sack at 10-10:30, then that gave him a good 2-3 hrs. each night to study.

 

If his academics weren't as they should be, then that is not the Coach's fault IMHO.

 

 

 

 

A kids grades are ultimately no ones fault but his own. But is just seems a bit out of line to tell a kid that if he needs time off to keep his grades in line that he is off the team.

[gatorbillmsu]

I also want to add.....(correct me if I'm wrong Gaterbill)...that the place he is speaking of is Upperman.

Upperman has a new Head Coach. This is his (probably not the assistant's) first Spring practice with these kids..........Football has been way down the list at Baxter. Baseball is 1st, Basketball (boys & girls) is 2nd and football may, just may come in 3rd.

I would suspect that the new coach is attempting to change some of the attitude towards his program. Upperman's attitude towards football, some years ago, is how Smith Co. ended up with Coach Jimmy Maynord.

The kid in question may have been a victim of an untimely attempt to adjust the attitude and dedication of all the players. Get in or get out. I don't know....just another thought.

 

oh, and back to Baxter. The new coach is from the old staff. So he should be very familiar. But it seems he is having a bunch of kids walk away from the team. I think that most of these kids are just not cut out for the hard work. And that does indeed explain the efforts of the team on the field the past few years.

 

If the kids do not want to work, they will not win. My theory since I have been watching Upperman football, "If there is time left on the clock, there is time left to lose". They have been very poorly conditioned the last couple years. Not certain that the coaches can do anything about that. You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink!!! I think they just dont care that much about football. And that is sad. I wish the new coach there the best of luck, he will surely need it.

[gatorbillmsu]

Do you honestly think he will use the 3-6:30 time to study??

Has his grades fallen since spring practice started??

Is this his 1st spring practice. Did he not know what to expect??

Has this been an issue before....does he have history??

Without knowing all the facts.....I would tend to lean towards the coach. Any coach worth his salt knows all the questions I just asked. Football is the ONE sport where if you aren't committed to it......you don't need to be playing. Dearolddad is right his grades should have been in order before spring ball got here. This would either be the 1st or 2nd week (of 2 weeks) of practice....a total of 10 days.........everything gatorbill said may be true.....but we're talking 2 whole weeks.

 

 

 

 

oh, yes I think he would use that time to study. He is trying hard, he is just behind the 8ball a little bit. Not only is this his first spring practice, it is his first practice of any kind. he was not allowed to play up until this year. Cannot really tell the whole story, because Im sure the good folks in his hometown read this place too, but it is a sad situation.

 

Good kid. Hard working fella. Just has not exactly had the best life up to this point.

[Guest Termite]

oh, and back to Baxter. The new coach is from the old staff. So he should be very familiar. But it seems he is having a bunch of kids walk away from the team. I think that most of these kids are just not cut out for the hard work. And that does indeed explain the efforts of the team on the field the past few years.

 

If the kids do not want to work, they will not win. My theory since I have been watching Upperman football, "If there is time left on the clock, there is time left to lose". They have been very poorly conditioned the last couple years. Not certain that the coaches can do anything about that. You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink!!! I think they just dont care that much about football. And that is sad. I wish the new coach there the best of luck, he will surely need it.

 

 

I wish the kid the best of luck gatorbill. Support him all you can. AND you have gained some respect in my book by keeping foster kids.

As far as Baxter football goes, every school has their priorities. Some are basketball,football,baseball or baseball,basketbal then football. Here in the County of Smith, I believe both schools(Smith Co. and Gordonsville) are football,first and foremost. Then basketball and baseball last. Football fans and parents love that. Baseball and basketball parents and fans hate that, but that's how it is, always has been and probably always will be. Probably the same way at Upperman.Whatever has been their number 1 will continue to be #1. Baxter may not consistanly be a force with that oblong ball,.but nobody looks foward to playing them in any type of sport with a round ball, of any sorts.

Smith County has 1 baseball field that is used by both high schools and a rec.league. That's how high baseball rates around here.

Anyway.....maybe the kid will get a chance....and that advantage of it. Education is the most important without any question, but if he is willing to work, IMO, football teaches more life lessons, and brings more lifetime friends than any other high school function.