Bizarre finish to boys game disputed – Sacramento Sports – Kings, 49ers, Raiders, High School Sports | Sacramento Bee

Bizarre finish to boys game disputed – Sacramento Sports – Kings, 49ers, Raiders, High School Sports | Sacramento Bee.

Internet can crash codes of conduct on ChicagoSports.com

Internet can crash codes of conduct on ChicagoSports.com

Interesting article about high school athletes and the Internet. Our school has taken disciplinary action against only one student (that I know of) for a blog post. In our case it wasn’t an athlete, but the implications for high school athletes are serious. I’m also hearing more and more about college athletic departments taking strong stands against student-athletes’ use of MySpace, FaceBook, et al.

Cuts painful but necessary

Cuts painful but necessary on ChicagoSports.com

Mr. Temkin never fails to offer interesting insight into the culture of high school sports. Cuts are a tough issue for everyone involved.

“All it takes is one bad parent”

The vice: High school coaches feeling added pressure from pushy parents : Football : Knoxville News Sentinel

The sounds of fall: Leaves crunching underfoot, the first football practice of the new season, and parents griping. It must be time to get back to school!

High school recruiting goes to court

Football recruiting case argued at Supreme Court on ChicagoSports.com

and

Barry Temkin’s Blog

Recruiting has been a hot topic in Illinois and, I suspect, around the country. A court decision legally allowing the recruiting of 8th-graders (under the protection of the First Amendment, no less) would certainly change the landscape of high school athletics.

Trash-talking in high school games

Disrespect a continuing problem

“Trash-talking is what teams do when you are better than they are.”

Best and truest quote in the piece!

Thinking about Ashley from Oscoda

When I posted a brief mention of Oscoda High School’s cancelled football season, I received the following response:

ashley Says:
October 5th, 2006 at 12:50 pm e
I am a student at Oscoda High School and I think that the desicion may have been a pretty harsh one. The Varsity football not nly effects the members of the team and the coach but also all of the other students, not to mention Homecoming. Which by the way is one of the most antisipated day of the school year. What is homecming without a VARSITY Homecoming football game. Who are these people to take away this sport from us. In Oscoda there is NOTHING to do. Not only do a great deal of us watch the game but it’s also a way for us to stay away from all of the drugs that Oscoda has to offer. As a matter of fact I, myself had went to a Varsity football game as a replacment of drugs and alcohol. I stronglythink that before the decision was made they should have taken the students well-being into better cnsideration. Now what do we do??

I did a whois on the address that the post came from, and it was a computer inside the Oscoda School System.

It’s interesting to see the passion in Ashley’s comments. It’s a reminder of all the great things high school sports can mean to the entire school community. She also helped remind me to be grateful for my school’s football team – even when they struggle. We lucky to have a phenomenal coaching staff who do a great job giving our entire school a program worth supporting.

If Ashley or any other students from Oscoda are listening, please post comments here and let us know how it’s going. We’re all rooting for you – Go Owls!

Friday Night Lights

After one episode of the new TV show, I’m a fan! It’s interesting to watch the portrayal of a coach who’s clearly under the gun.

I have a question for coaches out there though: In the first episode, Should the head coach have stayed at the game (as he did), or should he have gone to the hospital with his severely injured player?

I have always held that, as a head coach, I should always accompany my players to the hospital if they have to be taken in an ambulance (and unfortunately have done so on several occasions). The only caveat is that I had to make sure there was a competent assistant coach to supervise and manage the rest of the game for the other players. In one case several years ago, I had a player who was severely injured near the end of a basketball game and her teammates (who were clearly rattled by the incident) chose to forfeit the game and go to the hospital with us.

I guess you could make the argument that there are more players who need you at the game, but my take has always been that the severely injured player’s needs exceed theirs at that point.

Having said that, I thought the show did a great job portraying the deflated feeling of the rest of the game after the injury. It was clear that players from both teams struggled to go on with the same intensity after the player was hurt. I also appreciate the huddled prayer with both teams at the end in which the player offering the reflection noted that the score of the game wasn’t terribly important at that point.

Oscoda Press: Varsity football cancelled

Oscoda Press: Varsity football cancelled

OSCODA – The Oscoda High School football stands were empty Friday night.

Instead of suiting up for the first home varsity football game of the season, the 0-4 team was at the Carter’s parking lot, joined by 110 students and parents who were demonstrating in protest of the administration’s decision to cancel the Owls’ varsity football season.
According to an unsigned press release sent from the district superintendent’s office, the decision was made Sept. 19, “after much thought, research and many discussions with parents, athletes, fellow schools in the NEMC conference and with the Michigan High School Athletic Association.”

The media and professionalism in youth sports

Upon Further Review – Chicago Sports – Blogs.

I’m glad Temkin is writing a Blog – he does a nice job covering prep sports in our area.

This year’s LLWS should serve as a cautionary tale about casting the glare of big-time media coverage on youth sports. It’s not easy for young athletes and high school coaches to ignore the lights and not be affected. I also wonder whether national media outlets will tend to focus on the high school superstar athletes – as Temkin alludes by mentioning LeBron James.

I’m interested to see the effects of increased media attention to high school sports.