Open Job: Beechwood

After just one season, Beechwood Girls Head Coach Chris Gramke has left to take the same position at Oak Hills HS across the river. The announcement came from Oak Hills and does not mention anything about Coach Gramke being at BW in the last year. There has been no announcement form Beechwood. The announcement came within a day after Coach Gramke's camp at Beechwood. What is going on in Tigerland? The HS Principal leaves abruptly and the band director and his assistant bolt for Ryle. Probably no connection here but for a school system that prides itself in tradition there sure seems to be a lot of changes in the last few years at all grade levels.

Talent coming up is scarce I think.

Tough district too isn't it.

Talent coming up is scarce I think.

The pipeline was very lean a year ago (at the higher grades) so this was known before last season even began and patience was to be a virtue. There was an announcement on the first day of Coach Gramke's tenure at BW that the focus would be to build the pipeline starting in the grade schools, thus why 2nd grade teams were probably added. Now that one of the best players in BW history has graduated it will be tough sledding for a couple of years until some of the younger girls are ready and matured. This situation, at this given time, should not fall on the Coach. I would think that everyone associated with the program realizes this. Not even Geno Auriema could fix this overnight. Not sure why Coach Gramke departed but the next Coach should have experience as a program builder in addition to the X's and O's and the human relations side of the job.

The poor softball team is in shambles too. Those coaches are doing everything possible to hold that together. Are there just not a lot of females going to Beechwood that are interested in sports any longer? That's just a question. Not a knock. And it's perfectly fine for them not to be. Just seems odd for Beechwood. Again, not a knock, just different.

The poor softball team is in shambles too. Those coaches are doing everything possible to hold that together. Are there just not a lot of females going to Beechwood that are interested in sports any longer? That's just a question. Not a knock. And it's perfectly fine for them not to be. Just seems odd for Beechwood. Again, not a knock, just different.

Great question. That would be a great research project as to the root causes. Beechwood should have the leverage of grade school feeder teams being on the same campus. Basketball starts now in the 2nd grade but competes with volleyball within the same grades. Softball, as far as I know, does not have a feeder system within the school grade levels. Coaches that are also teachers are present every day and the face of their programs. I would imagine football at BW would have a different dynamic if Coach Rash were not a teacher. Maybe you hit the nail on the head. It could be that girls have more choices than before and/or the interest in sports is diminishing. which is interesting because it seems that the number of unfulfilled college scholarships in women's athletics is reportedly on the rise.

The poor softball team is in shambles too. Those coaches are doing everything possible to hold that together. Are there just not a lot of females going to Beechwood that are interested in sports any longer?.

Part of me thinks that in several communities soccer and volleyball is the number one choice for a girl to play. Stufents begin playing soccer and volleyball at the beginning of the school year, and if they have fun there's always club volleyball and club soccer in the winter.

I have no actual research to back this up, I'm just throwing out an idea

Part of me thinks that in several communities soccer and volleyball is the number one choice for a girl to play. Stufents begin playing soccer and volleyball at the beginning of the school year, and if they have fun there's always club volleyball and club soccer in the winter.

 

I have no actual research to back this up, I'm just throwing out an idea

To build off of that, I would say, from my experience and observation, that club soccer and club volleyball coaches employ more pressure than AAU coaches to persuade girls to play their sport year round and give up all others.

Part of me thinks that in several communities soccer and volleyball is the number one choice for a girl to play. Stufents begin playing soccer and volleyball at the beginning of the school year, and if they have fun there's always club volleyball and club soccer in the winter.

 

I have no actual research to back this up, I'm just throwing out an idea

You're exactly right. I would add basketball. Us softball coaches fight the other sports constantly. It's very easy to have success in other sports and I can see why girls are attracted to them. It takes time to develop the skill necessary to be really successful in softball. It's also boring at a young age. So you lose kids. But the kids that make it thru the early years and embrace softball really love the game and are very passionate about it. You just can't get the really good athletes to get through the tough times. At least here in NKY.

Very easy to have success in other sports? Please don't blame other sports for lack of success.

Very easy to have success in other sports? Please don't blame other sports for lack of success.

I'm saying in NKY, kids get attracted to the other sports. Several of the athletes chose the other sports because softball doesn't get to them at an early age. And when they do, the sport is very boring. It much easier to go to a soccer game or bball game, be done in an hour and have things that were exciting to the kid at a young age. Compared to going to a game in 90 degree weather for an hour and a half getting two at bats, maybe you hit the ball once and stand in the field for 20 minutes at a time with no balls hit to you. If you were a kid, which one are you attracted to? So yes, other sports can attract the athletes easier at a young age. And if you don't get to the athletes in softball and have good coaching early on, you're not going to attract the better athletes. And by the time you can, the good athletes are already committed to other sports as their main sport.

And as for blaming other sports for lack of success...I coached AAU bball and ran an organization for several years. I now am the coach of Highlands softball. We haven't had a lack of success. So I'm just speaking from several years of experience coaching at different levels in multiple sports. In NKY, the other sports get the athletes prior to softball and I'm not saying that from "lack of success"...trust me.

The poor softball team is in shambles too. Those coaches are doing everything possible to hold that together. Are there just not a lot of females going to Beechwood that are interested in sports any longer? That's just a question. Not a knock. And it's perfectly fine for them not to be. Just seems odd for Beechwood. Again, not a knock, just different.

I believe the softball team finally got some uniforms this past year. Prior to that, the school gave them the old baseball uniforms to use. I don't think they get a lot of support.

Part of me thinks that in several communities soccer and volleyball is the number one choice for a girl to play. Stufents begin playing soccer and volleyball at the beginning of the school year, and if they have fun there's always club volleyball and club soccer in the winter.

 

I have no actual research to back this up, I'm just throwing out an idea

In NKY, it goes soccer, volleyball, basketball, and then softball for girls. A few years back, in Boone and Kenton counties, there were over 800 girls playing spring soccer compared to less than 200 playing softball, and that's not counting all the select soccer players. There were no select 8U softball teams at the time in either county. Softball is constantly going up against these sports, and it loses out more often than not. The support isn't there either. I've been working with organizations and reaching out to schools over the past 4 years trying to grow rec softball in Boone and Kenton counties, and it has been a struggle.

As RCC9 mentioned, it's hard to grow that interest at the younger ages. It's easier for kids and parents to gravitate to the other sports because they're cheaper and games are at a much faster pace. Tournament play in softball I know can burn out kids quickly. Playing 4, 5, or 6 games in one day and then coming back the following day to play a few more in the heat drives people away. With soccer, you have at max, 2 games per day for tournaments. The tournaments are much more laid back, and every girl on the team plays nearly 50% of the games. I've been to both as my daughter has played in both, and as a parent, I'll pick soccer tournaments over softball tournaments all day, every day, and I'm a baseball guy.

And as for club volleyball and club soccer forcing girls not to play other sports, they're not necessarily forcing girls not to play other sports. It's just hard to play 2 sports in the same season. Club soccer plays in the fall and spring. That spring season occurs during softball season. It's hard to balance 2 sports during the same season, especially when one is club. Trying to play on 2 club teams (soccer and softball) is nearly impossible. Plus, most parents don't want to deal with 2 sports at the same time.

A name that I'd like to throw out there is Danny Roller. Has coached at Conner, Boone Cty and Notre Dame. He has also coached AAU. Very knowledgeable and girls enjoy playing for him. If Danny is interested I think he would do a great job at Bee hwood.

He helped coach my daughter's AAU team last year. Seemed like a really good coach.