Memphis Central

[PHargis]

The possibility of a Hawaii trip again in future seasons is also a draw for entering freshmen.

That is right and with as much open zoning in Memphis, it is a recruiting tool in competition with other memphis schools. gotcha How do all of these good freshman go to one school? By chance????

Edited September 23, 2010 by PHargis

[westtnbballer]

If you are a parent, have a choice where to send your child to play, where you want them to go, a school that the coach works as hard as Coach Bray does. It is a GREAT recruiting tool, where would anyone's daughter rather go, a team that is playing in Hawaii or Phoenix, or going to play just across town in a tournament.

[HoopMD]

That is right and with as much open zoning in Memphis, it is a recruiting tool in competition with other memphis schools. gotcha How do all of these good freshman go to one school? By chance????

 

If you cannot make the playday on Nov. 13th at Riverdale... Set your calendar for Jan. 22nd. Looks like MC will be coming back to the 'Boro at least one more time this year. Schedule on this website has them playing Riverdale.

[PHargis]

If you cannot make the playday on Nov. 13th at Riverdale... Set your calendar for Jan. 22nd. Looks like MC will be coming back to the 'Boro at least one more time this year. Schedule on this website has them playing Riverdale.

How many gyms are they playing in?

[Dragonmaster]

If you are a parent, have a choice where to send your child to play, where you want them to go, a school that the coach works as hard as Coach Bray does. It is a GREAT recruiting tool, where would anyone's daughter rather go, a team that is playing in Hawaii or Phoenix, or going to play just across town in a tournament.

 

 

I am not naive, but recruiting I believe is illegal. I know all the open enrollment BS that allows it to happen, but I have no respect for those that don't play with what walks through their own doors without outside influence. To mention recruiting tool on the high school level is repulsive to me as a professional educator and administrator. Will I ever win a basketball state championship no. Probably because I don't do everything right, but in the end I played with the kids that belong at my school.

[westtnbballer]

I am not naive, but recruiting I believe is illegal. I know all the open enrollment BS that allows it to happen, but I have no respect for those that don't play with what walks through their own doors without outside influence. To mention recruiting tool on the high school level is repulsive to me as a professional educator and administrator. Will I ever win a basketball state championship no. Probably because I don't do everything right, but in the end I played with the kids that belong at my school.

 

The word recruiting used in my statement had absolutely nothing to do with a coach improperly going to parents homes, making phone calls or whatever else to get a player to come to their school to play. I know full well your issue here, and it will be left at that. But the fact of a team going to Hawaii to play makes a lot of people interested in wanting to play for that particular school. Sometimes we need to realize parents want the best opportunity for their son or daughter and sometimes they make decisions we do not like, and the influence we want to accuse of being there is not there.

[mamaball]

Since my daughter graduated from Memphis Central and is now playing at a D1 school, I feel compelled to comment on this particular dialogue, especially because I want to defend Coach Nikki Bray and MC.

 

My daughter was in the optional program at her middle school, which was one of the many feeder programs for MC. When word of her talent got around the city, there were many high school coaches who crossed the line to RECRUIT her. They called my house, approached me and her father at games, etc. The only coach who did not do this was Coach Bray. In fact, we watched other teams play all the time; my daughter was impressed with the way Coach Bray interacted with her students; she loved the testimony of the other girls who played there and loved the curriculum. The exposure that Coach Bray planned was a bonus; sponsors who believed in the school stood up and the girls themselves raised funds by washing cars, selling candy, etc. Coach Bray works hard to keep her program clean and she earnestly goes out of her way to instill that philosophy in her players.

 

While I must confess that she hit some adolescent bumps and did not continue in optional programs after her first year at MC, my daughter kept her GPA up, we (her parents, Coach Bray, her instructors, and the awesome staff under principal McCullough) stressed that without that foundation, she could not play. But it was the integrity of that program at MC that impressed us the most. I know that Memphis does not have a good reputation in its own state; sometimes it is deserved. There are those of us who try to live above the pettinesss by constantly proving our naysayers wrong. Excellence is the answer.

 

There are surely enough athletic shenanigans going on in any high school in the state; why pick on Memphis and MC? I'm sure you have your reasons sir. However, I am afraid of what those reasons are.

[GCPioneer]

No need to defend her,the coach, or the program, mamaball. Everyone that knows Memphis Central and knows what kind of program that Coach Bray has going on there understands why Memphis Central is so good. Bray brings out the best in her players and prepares them for college ball whether it be D1, DII, NAIA or JUCO. Bray is one of the best coaches in the state if not the best. I'll even venture out and say she might be one of the best HS coaches in the country. Don't let these people bashing the program or the coach bother you in any way. They're simply jealous of what your program has going for itself.

[PHargis]

My daughter was in the optional program at her middle school, which was one of the many feeder programs for MC. When word of her talent got around the city, there were many high school coaches who crossed the line to RECRUIT her. They called my house, approached me and her father at games, etc. The only coach who did not do this was Coach Bray. In fact, we watched other teams play all the time; my daughter was impressed with the way Coach Bray interacted with her students; she loved the testimony of the other girls who played there and loved the curriculum. The exposure that Coach Bray planned was a bonus; sponsors who believed in the school stood up and the girls themselves raised funds by washing cars, selling candy, etc. Coach Bray works hard to keep her program clean and she earnestly goes out of her way to instill that philosophy in her players.

 

While I must confess that she hit some adolescent bumps and did not continue in optional programs after her first year at MC, my daughter kept her GPA up, we (her parents, Coach Bray, her instructors, and the awesome staff under principal McCullough) stressed that without that foundation, she could not play. But it was the integrity of that program at MC that impressed us the most. I know that Memphis does not have a good reputation in its own state; sometimes it is deserved. There are those of us who try to live above the pettinesss by constantly proving our naysayers wrong. Excellence is the answer.

 

There are surely enough athletic shenanigans going on in any high school in the state; why pick on Memphis and MC? I'm sure you have your reasons sir. However, I am afraid of what those reasons are.

 

MMB, I passed over responding to this post but the more I passed over it, w2ent back and read it, it brought out so many questions that I have to ask a number of questions that I felt others had the same questions. Your post gave me the impression the optional program you mentioned did what you wanted it to do, ws part of a school program of Middle Schools that allowed your daughter to go to any high school and was part of a Foundation and right or wrong, High Schools were allowed to recruit Middle Schools. This optional program had some stipulations that a student had to qualify, such as minimum GPA. And that money was raised by by some means and put in that foundation.

 

Because you posted this and I am sure it is definitely all right, I know of no other schools or school system that is doing this, nor should I. This had something to do with a player being able to play by being in one of these optional programs. If a student did not meet the qualifications under which this foundation was started, she could not play. DM was right. Recruiting is not right.

 

Foundations make me think of private schools but MC and other public schools are , not Privates. Maybe all high Schools are open. Just trying to understand what was happening here because under some situations wverything is all right and under others

there are likely some misunderstandings.

[BBallExtreme]

My daughter was in the optional program at her middle school, which was one of the many feeder programs for MC. When word of her talent got around the city, there were many high school coaches who crossed the line to RECRUIT her. They called my house, approached me and her father at games, etc. The only coach who did not do this was Coach Bray. In fact, we watched other teams play all the time; my daughter was impressed with the way Coach Bray interacted with her students; she loved the testimony of the other girls who played there and loved the curriculum. The exposure that Coach Bray planned was a bonus; sponsors who believed in the school stood up and the girls themselves raised funds by washing cars, selling candy, etc. Coach Bray works hard to keep her program clean and she earnestly goes out of her way to instill that philosophy in her players.

 

While I must confess that she hit some adolescent bumps and did not continue in optional programs after her first year at MC, my daughter kept her GPA up, we (her parents, Coach Bray, her instructors, and the awesome staff under principal McCullough) stressed that without that foundation, she could not play. But it was the integrity of that program at MC that impressed us the most. I know that Memphis does not have a good reputation in its own state; sometimes it is deserved. There are those of us who try to live above the pettinesss by constantly proving our naysayers wrong. Excellence is the answer.

 

There are surely enough athletic shenanigans going on in any high school in the state; why pick on Memphis and MC? I'm sure you have your reasons sir. However, I am afraid of what those reasons are.

 

MMB, I passed over responding to this post but the more I passed over it, w2ent back and read it, it brought out so many questions that I have to ask a number of questions that I felt others had the same questions. Your post gave me the impression the optional program you mentioned did what you wanted it to do, ws part of a school program of Middle Schools that allowed your daughter to go to any high school and was part of a Foundation and right or wrong, High Schools were allowed to recruit Middle Schools. This optional program had some stipulations that a student had to qualify, such as minimum GPA. And that money was raised by by some means and put in that foundation.

 

Because you posted this and I am sure it is definitely all right, I know of no other schools or school system that is doing this, nor should I. This had something to do with a player being able to play by being in one of these optional programs. If a student did not meet the qualifications under which this foundation was started, she could not play. DM was right. Recruiting is not right.

 

Foundations make me think of private schools but MC and other public schools are , not Privates. Maybe all high Schools are open. Just trying to understand what was happening here because under some situations wverything is all right and under others

there are likely some misunderstandings.

 

OMG, it's not rocket science! Memphis Central, White Station, Ridgeway, Overton, Whitehaven among other Memphis City Schools are optional schools (sometimes called magnet schools in other areas). These schools have special areas of focus, for example college prep, fine arts, international baccalaureate, performing arts, aviation, etc. Any student from any area in the city can apply to attend that school through the optional schools program. Criteria range from percentile scores from TCAP or other standardized tests to auditions in some cases, conduct, volunteer hours, grades, etc. In fact, students who do not live in the city of Memphis can attend an optional school if the student qualifies and the parent pays the tuition (like a private school). Therefore, optional schools have the ability to attract students (players) from anywhere in the city as long as the student (player) meets the criteria for the program at that school. Some of the very best basketball players are also very good students. If a player is an exceptional student, that player has her choice of attending practically any optional high school, so why not pick one that also has an awesome basketball program. I'm sure that there are many other districts in the state that have similar programs under other names. There is nothing peculiar about basketball in Memphis, except that we are gaining national attention as a hotbed for talented players.

[mamaball]

OMG, it's not rocket science! Memphis Central, White Station, Ridgeway, Overton, Whitehaven among other Memphis City Schools are optional schools (sometimes called magnet schools in other areas). These schools have special areas of focus, for example college prep, fine arts, international baccalaureate, performing arts, aviation, etc. Any student from any area in the city can apply to attend that school through the optional schools program. Criteria range from percentile scores from TCAP or other standardized tests to auditions in some cases, conduct, volunteer hours, grades, etc. In fact, students who do not live in the city of Memphis can attend an optional school if the student qualifies and the parent pays the tuition (like a private school). Therefore, optional schools have the ability to attract students (players) from anywhere in the city as long as the student (player) meets the criteria for the program at that school. Some of the very best basketball players are also very good students. If a player is an exceptional student, that player has her choice of attending practically any optional high school, so why not pick one that also has an awesome basketball program. I'm sure that there are many other districts in the state that have similar programs under other names. There is nothing peculiar about basketball in Memphis, except that we are gaining national attention as a hotbed for talented players.

[mamaball]

Thanks Bball. I have the unsettling feeling that PH is not interested in understanding or even listening to reason. Maybe if we cut to the chase: THERE IS NOTHING ILLEGAL OR UNDERHANDED GOING ON THE GIRLS' BASKETBALL PROGRAM AT MEMPHIS CENTRAL. THE TALENT IS REAL. THE INTEGRITY IS PROVEN. THE STUDENTS ARE INTELLIGENT. THE COACH IS LIKE LIFE: HARD, BUT FAIR. And the record speaks for itself.