To celebrate a state championship in football and a very successful fall sports season – both on and off the field as the overall grade average of all fall sports teams was a 92, the Maine-Endwell School District put on a parade for the both the school and the overall communities.
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My children go to a school that is known for its academics, a school that is known for its music program and a school that is known for its sports. When you consider the high school – where sports are played most – has approximately 800 students, it is a miracle that there is more than one program where students excel. In programs like Science Olympiad, it is hard as students are generally in everything, taking AP classes while playing in the band and participating in sports.
The state championship games are coming around this month for fall sports. In this school district of approximately 2,600 students, the following teams are into the semi-finals in the state championships: boys’ soccer, football, and field hockey. On top of that the cross country team placed seventh at the state meet and is going to the federation – which, if I remember correctly, is a combination of both public and private schools – meet this coming weekend.
Just seven short years ago, my second born was playing on the varsity football team. The team went undefeated and won the state championship game. I remember the work that the boys put in practicing. I remember the work the parents put in supporting the team. I remember some very good high school football. I also remember injuries, lots of injuries and some at not convenient times.
As the boys and girls at Maine-Endwell continue on their championship journey, I wish all the teams and their coaching staffs good luck.
The week leading up to Homecoming at our local high school – and throughout the district – is called Spirit Week. Yesterday kicked off the start of Spirit Week 2010 with the annual reversal game. The girls – juniors versus seniors – play flag football while the boys are cheerleaders. This year there were two junior band members who played also. Enjoy the slideshow!
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Do you remember Spirit Week as a high schooler? Do you remember doing it with/for your children?
I have a friend, one that I first met and chatted with online but that I have since met in real life, whose son’s football team was making a run for the NYSPHSAA championship. I have followed Dad’s posts on Facebook about wins in various games and it has taken me back.
Tonight, even though I have no connection at all to the community, I watched as the Groton Indians played the Randolph Cardinals in Rochester in the western Class D semi-final. My heart goes out to those kids who suffered their second loss of a fantastic season tonight. Losing is hard but it is a necessary lesson in life, as well as in competition.
I am taken back to the 2003-04 school year. My son was on the Maine-Endwell football team. The team had won several Class A Section 4 titles. They were good but not great. They made a run that year but fell short in the semi-final game.
The next year, my son was a senior on the team. There was a new head coach. The head coach had been the middle school principal previously. He retired from that but took the part-time coaching position. The team had lost a lot of players but had many good ones left. The season started and ended in the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University.
The kids on that 2004-05 school year team will never forget that run. They played every game with heart and were the Class A State Champions. Every game was one to remember.
Surprise! Surprise!
The NCAA thinks it is just like big time professional sports and has an annual meeting to discuss rules and changes to said rules. If you have ever gone through the NCAA recruiting manual, I am amazed there are not more violations. It is like reading a state report but much more dry and hard to figure out.
The big change this year involves men’s basketball and recruiting. Why men’s basketball was singled out is beyond me but it was. You are now considered a recruit as young as seventh grade in men’s basketball. Why, you may ask? The reasoning stated is that a lot of college coaches run clinics and summer camps aimed at this age level. To give everyone a level playing field, the new rule as to the age of a prospect has been set up.
What is my biggest problem with this new rule? Well, we can start off with it being hard for parents of juniors and seniors in high school to keep up with what is needed for NCAA recruiting and eligibility. It is harder for student-athletes and potential recruits to keep up on what is needed by the NCAA. It is also expensive to keep up on what is needed as there is a filing fee for eligibility clearance for division 1 and division 2 schools. There is no longer a need for this clearinghouse filing for division 3 schools.
Another reason I find this a ridiculous new rule is that it only applies to one sport. Within that sport, it only applies to the male portion of it. That is hugely discriminatory. If I were a men’s basketball coach, I would be screaming. Set the rule and make everyone play by it or do not make the rule at all.
The logic behind it that coaches run clinics and camps is true. It is not just men’s basketball coaches that do this though. It is soccer coaches, hockey coaches, lacrosse coaches, football coaches. You need to apply the rule to male and female sports. You need to apply the rule to all sports, not just basketball.
Heaven help that parent whose son is 12 and in 7th grade and extremely good at basketball. His chances of being seen by a coach who will follow him until he is starting to look at colleges has just decreased. His chances of going to a clinic or camp where a real, live college coach will help improve his skills has just decreased.
I love to go to swim meets that are not at Maine-Endwell. You see, my son is a diver, not a swimmer. He does occasionally swim exhibition heats but he does not swim much. He dives. So why do I dislike going to home meets? Maine-Endwell does not currently have a diving board for diving during swim meets.
When my son, who is now a senior in high school, began diving in middle school, I presumed that the divers would dive at the same pool they practiced at – a neighboring high school – and then come over to the meet at Maine-Endwell with scores. Of course, I didn’t realize that most meets are scheduled for the same days so the pool would be in use. I also didn’t realize that this would mean additional officials in a sport where, as far as I can tell, officials are at a premium. So, for divers at Maine-Endwell, you only dive in away meets so half your meets are without your specialty.
Last night, I actually got to Oneonta High School with time to take some still shots during diving warmups. Below is what the three boys look like on the board or in the water or in a splash. Please be nice – I don’t have a fancy camera.
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Not exactly but a little known prep school in our backyard is known for the quality and number of running backs it has produced.
I remember when Milford Academy was first getting started. No one in the small upstate NY town of New Berlin was sure about the location in their town. Townspeople, if I recall correctly, were concerned that these kids – many of whom were uneligible to play Division I or II college athletics – were trouble makers. From the local papers, I would say this has proven to not be true. Instead, at least during football season, the local area is treated to some wonderful football.
It has recently come to the attention of Rivals.com college football staffer Steve Megargee that Milford is the common denominator among three of the best running backs in college football today – Iowa’s Shonn Greene, Pittsburgh’s LeSean McCoy and Miami’s Graig Cooper.
All three of these young men are legitimate Heisman candidates this year. All three of these young men are helping their teams win. All three of these young men went to Milford Academy.
Look around upstate NY. See what is in your backyard – Milford Academy.
Well, last weekend was homecoming at my two son’s high school. This means there was a week of events at school and then homecoming Saturday. All fine and good but the weather, for the first time in my memory, canceled the annual parade.
Homecoming week starts off with the Junior-Senior Reversal game. The junior and senior girls play flag football. Supposedly, the junior and senior boys are suppose to be cheerleaders but this year there were no cheerleaders.
Saturday is normally a long day, all in town, for me and mine. The weather this year did not allow for that. The parade was canceled on Friday afternoon. It was actually postponed and will be held October 18 – although I have recently voiced concerns over that date as it is PSAT test day.
So when the fun and broken bones ended, we had won the football game. The boys came home with time to shower and make themselves presentable for dates, dinner and a dance.
My Two Youngest
So why is it news when Ozzie Guillen lets out that managers do tell pitchers to hit batters? In my mind, and there are sports purists out there who will think this is blasphemy, this was a given. I have watched it from Little League to high school through college and pros. I have seen the pitches that could be nothing but intentional.
My daughter was a huge baseball player. Much to the chagrin of the Little League board and the boys on the team that wanted her off so they could play, she continued playing baseball until age 15. She stopped at that point in time as teener league was split in two age groupings and, while her fielding and base running were still better than most of the boys, her ability to stand in the box was being compromised by the fact she was a girl. Pitchers would take shots at her figuring they could scare her. She never moved. Talk about HBP. She was hit by pitches numerous times. That was not nearly as disturbing as being hit by fielded balls as they were thrown at her as opposed to the base player.
If pitching at the batter is prevalent – regardless of reason – in this level of sports, I can only imagine that it is prevalent at higher levels. I have found that poor sportsmanship tends to be a top down concept. The players start out just there for the game, the love of the game. They move on as told to by those above them – coaches, managers, owners – to being there for the money (even in college because what is a sports scholarship other than payment to play but that is fodder for another blog post) and doing what those above them tell them to do.
Do I think Ozzie Guillen was wrong in admitting he sometimes tells a pitcher to hit a batter? No. Do I think Ozzie Guillen was wrong to tell a pitcher, to start with, to hit a batter? Yes. Should he be punished for being honest? No. Should he be punished if the offense can be proved? Yes.
I know that hydration is extremely important to casual athletes, serious athletes, the young, the old. Our bodies need water to help with the processes of daily life. In the heat and humidity that signify summer in upstate NY, we may need water more than just when we are exercising.
Training people, and it is a training exercise, to hydrate before it is necessary takes years. I have spent a lot of parenting time explaining the importance of hydration with water, as opposed to sports drinks, to my soccer players, tennis players, bicyclists and golfers. While all understand the importance, I think I have finally found a statistic that will drive home my point.
I have Versus’s Tour de France coverage on as I am working in the mornings for the next three weeks. Today is the second of two early mountain stages that are not the big mountains – not the Pyrenees or the Alps but just mountains. There are rules that prevent riders from going back to team cars to pick up additional water on climbs. These rules are in place for any number of reasons but the most important is rider safety.
The hydration statistic that I am sure will drive home importance to the athletes in my life is, and I paraphrase, five percent dehydration results in a 20% decrease in efficiency. There is nothing an athlete wants to do more than be efficient, whether it is in running, kicking, batting, hitting or cycling. So, for your own safety and your own efficiency, be sure to be hydrated.
