HIGH SCHOOL FORMAT?

[Courtside]

As a coach, I know the girls would like to advance further and play for a state championship.  As a teacher, I feel they'd miss too much school.  The pressure we are under to get standardized scores at such a high level is tremendous.  Plus I personally feel the state championships should be reserved for high school.  We start doing all these things way too early.

 

Also, many middle school athletes play several sports.  Half my team also play softball (and most of the others run track), so that would rob the spring sports of many players should a state championship be held.  And where does it stop?  Football state championship running into basketball?  Basketball into baseball and softball (and even track)?  I know the high schools struggle with this, and forcing younger athletes to pick one sport over another is not fair to them.  They should be able to enjoy as many as possible before possibly having to settle on one to concentrate on in high school.

 

The point was also made that middle schools don't have the budget that high schools do.  This is true at our school.  As is, if we make it to the tourney in Pigeon Forge, we either have to travel down and back each day we play (about 5-6 hours total round-trip on a school bus), or parents must foot the bill for hotel rooms.  Some of our families just cannot afford this.

 

Just several other points to ponder before considering a state championship in middle school...the principals just might be right this time....  

825554285[/snapback]

I am also for a state tournament. One thing that nobody has thought of yet: No middle school is required to participate. If your school does not have the money, the time, the support, or any other reason then don't go. There are alot of schools that would go. Look at this board, all of the schools that are currently playing in some kind of state tournament.

[coachjeffers]

I have read through these posts on this thread and all of you make some good points. I have coached Middle School basketball in the past, but due to health reasons I am not coaching now. I hope to get back in the game someday, but my time off has given me the opportunity to look at middle school athletics from a different perspective. I coached in the Area 2 Small School Division where there are about 23 schools participating in TMSAA basketball. Ultimately, coaches do not need to teach competitiveness to middle school kids or a desire to win. Three years ago there was an influx of several teams into Area 2 that had not competed in the TMSAA before. Since the state does not set enrollment guidelines for the division of big school/small school, my school (being a mid-sized school within area 2) was nearly bumped to the large school division where we would have been playing schools 4 and 5 times our size. Of course, Area 2 being a rural area, has several small middle schools that we are 4 or 5 times larger than, also (not very equitable at any breaking point). Basically, we were going to be going into a division where we would have to travel further, have less fan support, and little to no chance of being competitive. That doesn't even mention the loss of money due to smaller gates and greater travel expense. My thoughts went to the fact there were many schools within a 2 hour drive that belonged to other areas that were much larger than our school and yet they still got to play in the small school division. It really was not equitable. I petitioned the coaches in area 2 to vote us back to small school and they graciously passed the motion.

 

I had mostly good intentions when I "whined and cried" to get my kids back into a division where we could compete. However, much of the reason for my desire to stay small school was to have a shot at winning some type of title (area tourn. champ, sectional champ, etc.). Looking back, I wonder if I wanted that more for the kids or for me. Middle School athletics should a wonderful environment for kids to learn about teamwork, hard work, and attempting to achieve goals. Too often we begin placing so much pressure on STUDENT-athletes in the middle school ranks that they don't have the opportunity to enjoy being kids. Local, area, and even sectional tournaments are great. What is to be gained by adding regional and state tournaments. More games? More pressure? More failure?

 

We want to teach all of the athletes how to carry themselves and act like winners. What the TMSAA has set up right now accomplishes the goal of teaching most of the good qualities mentioned throughout this topic by people with good insight. Before a TMSAA State Tournament is added there are so many questions that should be answered. However, I don't believe that those questions should be about cost, travel, division competitiveness, etc........

 

Is this the best thing for the STUDENT-athlete? Will they learn more, have more fun, or gain new understanding about competition or personal goals? I don't think so. The ultimate gain in adding more tournament games and a state title is simply bragging rights. Well, I think we know that at the high school level this is a more achievable and less contraversial goal.

 

Oh yeah, remember these are STUDENT-athletes and we don't need to drop the student from that title.

 

............just a perspective from a parent and coach

Edited February 13, 2005 by coachjeffers

[VicKing]

Coach, you are a class act, and it could not have been said better.!

God Bless...

[PowerSet]

At least you had a Small School Division to play in. Currently, West Tennessee has one division for over 100 middle schools. The smallest West TN TSSAA member has an enrollment of about 100 students (K-8) while the largest has an enrollment of over 1400 (6-8). Talk about no-win situations!

Edited February 17, 2005 by PowerSet