Big 8 Region I AAA Conference Offseason

[SSReb]

The Rebels seem to have a pretty good feeder system. I've been around the Sullivan County league the last couple years. I heard that there was a lot of contriversy (can't spell can I?) at first about this but I think it's great that the Colonial Heights area actually has two teams (Colonial Heights and Fordtown) in the league. quote]

 

Well, guess what, Fordtown has folded. No problem with the format of 2 teams, but everyone here at the time knew why Fordtown was founded. 1. Daddy could not buy playing time at CH. 2. Another daddy could not adhere to the discipline that the CH coaches expected of the players. 3. CH would not let Daddy coach ---then 4. for the rest of the unknowing participants--the fordtown concept was marketed well and looked good. Everyone knew Fordtown would live 5-6 years until the core kids moved to Middle School. They have moved and the money has dried up. I hear that Fordtown Ruritan was mislead as well and promises were not kept. I have, never did, have problem with a 2 team concept---just the drivers and reason behind its existance. I hope Gray takes a close look at it and keep it under one umbrella and run it under one organization. That would be the best if they decide to make two teams.

 

No doubt CH Optimist was and is rife with daddy ball and the concerns of the Fordtown people were legitimate. Time and again I watched players with huge potential sit without even sniffing the field. That being said, the CH Chargers helped build South's success as of late. In fact, they were a HUGE part of South's success.

 

This new travel league, at first glance, seems to be a slap in the face of those who helped shape the young men we read about on Saturday mornings. The travel league website lists most of the area coaches as sponsors or something(?) including Stacey Carter. If not for the CH Chargers, I don't believe Carter or Haynie for that matter, would have been given their fancy new positions. Here's hoping the CH Chargers continue to be as strong as ever, continue to send athletes up the line ready to compete and that their coaches get the thanks they deserve.

[formerblazer]

The Rebels seem to have a pretty good feeder system. I've been around the Sullivan County league the last couple years. I heard that there was a lot of contriversy (can't spell can I?) at first about this but I think it's great that the Colonial Heights area actually has two teams (Colonial Heights and Fordtown) in the league. quote]

 

Well, guess what, Fordtown has folded. No problem with the format of 2 teams, but everyone here at the time knew why Fordtown was founded. 1. Daddy could not buy playing time at CH. 2. Another daddy could not adhere to the discipline that the CH coaches expected of the players. 3. CH would not let Daddy coach ---then 4. for the rest of the unknowing participants--the fordtown concept was marketed well and looked good. Everyone knew Fordtown would live 5-6 years until the core kids moved to Middle School. They have moved and the money has dried up. I hear that Fordtown Ruritan was mislead as well and promises were not kept. I have, never did, have problem with a 2 team concept---just the drivers and reason behind its existance. I hope Gray takes a close look at it and keep it under one umbrella and run it under one organization. That would be the best if they decide to make two teams.

 

No doubt CH Optimist was and is rife with daddy ball and the concerns of the Fordtown people were legitimate. Time and again I watched players with huge potential sit without even sniffing the field. That being said, the CH Chargers helped build South's success as of late. In fact, they were a HUGE part of South's success.

 

This new travel league, at first glance, seems to be a slap in the face of those who helped shape the young men we read about on Saturday mornings. The travel league website lists most of the area coaches as sponsors or something(?) including Stacey Carter. If not for the CH Chargers, I don't believe Carter or Haynie for that matter, would have been given their fancy new positions. Here's hoping the CH Chargers continue to be as strong as ever, continue to send athletes up the line ready to compete and that their coaches get the thanks they deserve.

 

And an invitation to all the players: If you don't like South, you can always have a home at Daniel Boone.... what, players from Gray were doing it for years by going to South I have to say that that league, though, really does show how strong a high school is going to be. Right now Boone is seeing the first crop of kids to go through the Junior Trailblazer program...makes a huge difference in the quality of players than come into the school.

[bwm]

As someone who has been involved with Fordtown the last year or so, I would like to make a couple statements.

 

• First; Fordtown didn't fold because of money issues. I wish that had been the reason as I would have attempted to make sure that wasn't the case.

 

• Second; while I don't doubt the reasons stated for the initial start-up of Fordtown (I wasn't around) that was no longer true. Most parents were there due simply to the amount of playing time to be had for their son. Not to say some wouldn't have been able to contribute at CH, but this was an opportunity for more development than would have been had if there had been 50-60 kids on one team.

 

• Third; the "traveling team" isn't planning on doing any traveling. They're simply going to a different (albeit weaker) league than the Sullivan County League. Which should ensure their success as counted in wins and losses. For the most part it is still the Fordtown coaches from last year running the show. No doubt some will be new and some of the previous ones will be gone but for the most part it will be the same staff.

o This new league (the Boys Clubs of Johnson City and Greenville) doesn't restrict where players live so they intend to recruit from the entire Sullivan County League and all the Tri-Cities.

 

• Fourth; I can't swear to it but I don't think Haney has endorsed this project to the extent that some think. I'm pretty sure he will give more support to the Chargers than the new team.

 

 

I don't think the Chargers will be affected by this "new" team very much. Initially there may be some interest but overall I can't see this being a death knell for CH.

[compusatman]

Well I guess the best thing I can do is to make sure I understand this league extremely well before I go bashing it. But on the surface I don't like what I see. However, some pretty important people are currently involved with it. And these people would not waste their time on something that was counterproductive. But my current point of view is that it is counterproductive. OK, their is a bit of politics in everything. But politics is one thing...altering the kids futures is another.

[crawdad]

I am playing catch up on the situation with Sullivan South youth contact football opportunities. I am understanding Colonial Heights and Sullivan still offer teams for kids 4th thru 7th grades but Fordtown has now closed shop? Delta Force is "endorsed" by several of our area high school coaches and will give all kids in the greater tri-cities a chance to play contact football beginning at 7y/o thru 12y/o or the 2nd thru 6th grades? Then there is the Lynn Garden summer league for 1st thru 6th grades plus the Kpt. Boys Club league. Now we have another team beginning play in Colonial Heights that can play teams from Johnson City and Greeneville Boys Clubs? Seems like a lot of opportunities for football players or maybe a lot more football crazy men who want to coach and be in control. Is this a pretty accurate picture of the football opportunities for youth in Colonial Heights now?

[formerblazer]

I am playing catch up on the situation with Sullivan South youth contact football opportunities. I am understanding Colonial Heights and Sullivan still offer teams for kids 4th thru 7th grades but Fordtown has now closed shop? Delta Force is "endorsed" by several of our area high school coaches and will give all kids in the greater tri-cities a chance to play contact football beginning at 7y/o thru 12y/o or the 2nd thru 6th grades? Then there is the Lynn Garden summer league for 1st thru 6th grades plus the Kpt. Boys Club league. Now we have another team beginning play in Colonial Heights that can play teams from Johnson City and Greeneville Boys Clubs? Seems like a lot of opportunities for football players or maybe a lot more football crazy men who want to coach and be in control. Is this a pretty accurate picture of the football opportunities for youth in Colonial Heights now?

 

I would have to wonder what it is going to be like in the North, South, and DB area based on the article this morning. The word in the timesnews is a lot of teachers in the area are worried what will happen to them and interested in jumping ship to Central or East. I'd say, for the most part, the coaching staff will be ok...but what will Kingsport have to say about who is in charge when they take over here in about 10 years. Gotta say I am not a CH and Kingsport guy, but it even worries me just looking from the outside what is going to happen to this area. Stronger, weaker...who knows. As far as I know about football and the young ins' I know there is also the option in Gray that has been building for years that they can be playing flag at 5 or 6 I think, as far as contact 7 yrs old and up. I also do not like the idea of a league just coming in and seperating some things up....I think it weakens the smaller areas and it makes kids want to go to different schools where as they should be going to schools in their areas....

[83SouthRebel]

I am playing catch up on the situation with Sullivan South youth contact football opportunities. I am understanding Colonial Heights and Sullivan still offer teams for kids 4th thru 7th grades but Fordtown has now closed shop? Delta Force is "endorsed" by several of our area high school coaches and will give all kids in the greater tri-cities a chance to play contact football beginning at 7y/o thru 12y/o or the 2nd thru 6th grades? Then there is the Lynn Garden summer league for 1st thru 6th grades plus the Kpt. Boys Club league. Now we have another team beginning play in Colonial Heights that can play teams from Johnson City and Greeneville Boys Clubs? Seems like a lot of opportunities for football players or maybe a lot more football crazy men who want to coach and be in control. Is this a pretty accurate picture of the football opportunities for youth in Colonial Heights now?

 

I would have to wonder what it is going to be like in the North, South, and DB area based on the article this morning. The word in the timesnews is a lot of teachers in the area are worried what will happen to them and interested in jumping ship to Central or East. I'd say, for the most part, the coaching staff will be ok...but what will Kingsport have to say about who is in charge when they take over here in about 10 years. Gotta say I am not a CH and Kingsport guy, but it even worries me just looking from the outside what is going to happen to this area. Stronger, weaker...who knows. As far as I know about football and the young ins' I know there is also the option in Gray that has been building for years that they can be playing flag at 5 or 6 I think, as far as contact 7 yrs old and up. I also do not like the idea of a league just coming in and seperating some things up....I think it weakens the smaller areas and it makes kids want to go to different schools where as they should be going to schools in their areas....

 

Alot of things going on that's for sure. I can see both sides of concern on the different leagues. Hope they can both produce. Most people are not accepting of change, however change is a comin' whether we like it or not. I was born and raised in Rock Springs and didn't like the area being incorporated into the city, however the law is on the side of the cities and like it or not Colonial Heights among other areas is going to become part of the city. In my opinion the only way South High survives this transition and remains a high school is for the city to take control and keep it a high school. Now after that, I agree with FormerBlazer what happens to the sports teams. I can only hope that after the dust settles from all the annexations that South continues to field competetive teams. If the city, which I am sure they will, completes all the annexations they intend to complete both D-B and South will have very large student bodies. People think that game is a big rivalry now. I am very loyal to my Alma Mater and support it any way I can and I hope they keep South a high school. Wouldn't be the same on Friday nites!

[formerblazer]

Alot of things going on that's for sure. I can see both sides of concern on the different leagues. Hope they can both produce. Most people are not accepting of change, however change is a comin' whether we like it or not. I was born and raised in Rock Springs and didn't like the area being incorporated into the city, however the law is on the side of the cities and like it or not Colonial Heights among other areas is going to become part of the city. In my opinion the only way South High survives this transition and remains a high school is for the city to take control and keep it a high school. Now after that, I agree with FormerBlazer what happens to the sports teams. I can only hope that after the dust settles from all the annexations that South continues to field competetive teams. If the city, which I am sure they will, completes all the annexations they intend to complete both D-B and South will have very large student bodies. People think that game is a big rivalry now. I am very loyal to my Alma Mater and support it any way I can and I hope they keep South a high school. Wouldn't be the same on Friday nites!

 

Well I say I feel for you guys in CH. I like things the way they are but looking at the big picture in the city, what are they left with to do? I know North has some room and last time I was down there, pretty good facilities. South has been around for a while and I have never been in the school, but I think they would have a little bit of room as well. What I see, in the future, is whereever they split the area, you are going to see Central sitting on top as a lot of the kids will end up going back there if they aren't in the city. Where will the split be in the city though? Downtown and some stone drive of the area and right around the mall will probably be DB, but then everywhere else is South? How will that affect the sports teams?

 

Daniel Boone could POSSIBLY be in that scenario, but I doubt that JC will want to annex any more of Gray. They stopped their annexation on the main strip, so while you still have a street you consider Gray on Suncrest, a large portion of it is owned by Johnson City. Johnson City will either have to build a larger middle school to break up some kids or they will be building a new high school in the next 10 years, as JC has stopped taking tuition students from the county. As for the county, rumors are that either a new high school will be build, about the same size as Boone and Crockett, or a large one. There is simply not enough room at either of the schools anymore, and Gray is getting bigger. When they build two middle schools two years ago...it was dumb. A high school needed to be built and the additions simply won't suffice for Washington County anymore. It looks like we are all living in an interesting times when things will get shook up.

[compusatman]

Well, maybe I will run for the board. I don't think I could mess things up. I've said this before but The Heights missed their chance in the 70's when incorporation was the big talk. No one wanted incorporation then thinking that it was some demonic process invented by the then "Royalty" of The Heights to get even richer. In reality, it would have made a boom town. It would have made The Heights into the Emerald City...a true "Rebel Nation". Aaahh yes, we would be sitting pretty about now...with I-81 running straight through the middle of our "un-annexable gold mine". I was just out of high school but even then I argued that it might be a good thing. C'est la vie! Now we stand to be raped and pillaged by the city. Kingsport City can't manage their own boundaries much less Colonial Heights. Kingsport City is fully 20 years behind Johnson City. So now that we are destined for destruction we get an Olive Garden. We're in the big time now! Heck, Fort Henry Mall might even get a new store. Oh wait, I forgot...all the money and power is in Kingsport. Well, I guess that explains everything. 1975...push for incorporation...2010...push for castration...and Stacy high tails it to Johnson City....

[jhilts]

Well, maybe I will run for the board. I don't think I could mess things up. I've said this before but The Heights missed their chance in the 70's when incorporation was the big talk. No one wanted incorporation then thinking that it was some demonic process invented by the then "Royalty" of The Heights to get even richer. In reality, it would have made a boom town. It would have made The Heights into the Emerald City...a true "Rebel Nation". Aaahh yes, we would be sitting pretty about now...with I-81 running straight through the middle of our "un-annexable gold mine". I was just out of high school but even then I argued that it might be a good thing. C'est la vie! Now we stand to be raped and pillaged by the city. Kingsport City can't manage their own boundaries much less Colonial Heights. Kingsport City is fully 20 years behind Johnson City. So now that we are destined for destruction we get an Olive Garden. We're in the big time now! Heck, Fort Henry Mall might even get a new store. Oh wait, I forgot...all the money and power is in Kingsport. Well, I guess that explains everything. 1975...push for incorporation...2010...push for castration...and Stacy high tails it to Johnson City....

 

Just wait a day or so for the next big news. It is straight out of Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals".

 

Divide, Demonize and capitalize on the resulting crisis.

[WaCoJaCo]

Well, maybe I will run for the board. I don't think I could mess things up. I've said this before but The Heights missed their chance in the 70's when incorporation was the big talk. No one wanted incorporation then thinking that it was some demonic process invented by the then "Royalty" of The Heights to get even richer. In reality, it would have made a boom town. It would have made The Heights into the Emerald City...a true "Rebel Nation". Aaahh yes, we would be sitting pretty about now...with I-81 running straight through the middle of our "un-annexable gold mine". I was just out of high school but even then I argued that it might be a good thing. C'est la vie! Now we stand to be raped and pillaged by the city. Kingsport City can't manage their own boundaries much less Colonial Heights. Kingsport City is fully 20 years behind Johnson City. So now that we are destined for destruction we get an Olive Garden. We're in the big time now! Heck, Fort Henry Mall might even get a new store. Oh wait, I forgot...all the money and power is in Kingsport. Well, I guess that explains everything. 1975...push for incorporation...2010...push for castration...and Stacy high tails it to Johnson City....

 

Emerald City? You folks have been fighting each other from day one. It wouldn't be any different if you had "incorporated". You would have to have your board meetings with each person in a caged cubical. And Johnson City? Give me a break.

[WaCoJaCo]

Well, maybe I will run for the board. I don't think I could mess things up. I've said this before but The Heights missed their chance in the 70's when incorporation was the big talk. No one wanted incorporation then thinking that it was some demonic process invented by the then "Royalty" of The Heights to get even richer. In reality, it would have made a boom town. It would have made The Heights into the Emerald City...a true "Rebel Nation". Aaahh yes, we would be sitting pretty about now...with I-81 running straight through the middle of our "un-annexable gold mine". I was just out of high school but even then I argued that it might be a good thing. C'est la vie! Now we stand to be raped and pillaged by the city. Kingsport City can't manage their own boundaries much less Colonial Heights. Kingsport City is fully 20 years behind Johnson City. So now that we are destined for destruction we get an Olive Garden. We're in the big time now! Heck, Fort Henry Mall might even get a new store. Oh wait, I forgot...all the money and power is in Kingsport. Well, I guess that explains everything. 1975...push for incorporation...2010...push for castration...and Stacy high tails it to Johnson City....

 

Just wait a day or so for the next big news. It is straight out of Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals".

 

Divide, Demonize and capitalize on the resulting crisis.

 

Hey I just figured out why you Southers go so nutty four months before playing DB. Its Alinsky's book. You've got the Divide & Demonize down pat but you've never figured out the "Capitalize" part.