All A revisit!

[lawildcat]

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[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

This subject kills me. The people that defend the All A as a opportunity for small schools are the same people that go out and create a select soccer or AAU teams and then look for the "right" tournaments to play in. What do I mean about the "right' tournaments? You play local, call ahead and find out what teams are in the tournament prior to playing to see if you have a chance to win or even compete. You follow other teams that you know are good and stay away from them, while following what teams at your level are doing so you can get in those tournaments...to create opportunities for your kids to have success. If you know a team that's good, you'll avoid that one and move on to another until you find a tournament you can compete or even dominate. You don't want to put your kids in over their heads. You definitely want to make sure they have a chance to be successful. That's crap! Sign up and play! Take your whippings and then one day you'll be able to give the whippings. That's how life works. Don't present a false sense of security for the kids and players. They won't ever understand what's it really about. They will think they are good and then one day get hit in the face with reality. You think you're doing a good thing when in reality, you're just pushing disappointment and frustration off. There is ALWAYS someone out there that is better than you! ALWAYS! If you really want to be successful, you must learn to deal with challenges, disappointment and frustrations early. The ones that learn that at an early age are the ones that take on life head on from the beginning.

 

Isn't the whole purpose of sports to have fun? What's wrong with letting smaller teams have a little fun and have their own tournament...and what's wrong with letting the winner of that tournament celebrate that they won?

 

Sure there are a ton of better schools, and challenging yourself isn't a bad thing, but lets not act like all schools have the same opportunity to compete on that level.

[hoops5]

[Jumper_Dad]

You compare playing in the All "A" to dodging teams in travel ball? Who are they dodging? They play in the All "A" and then still play in regular State Tourney later...who are they dodging?

 

I've not been involved with a lot of travel teams but the ones I've been around the coaches put the kids in over their heads and played up in age any chance they got to make the kids better. Yeah there are some that do what you said, but that in no way translates to the All "A" Classic.

 

Is it the All "A" Champion signs up at NCC that are driving you nuts, you've mentioned them and how you don't agree with their wording on their signs.

[RCC9]

RC it seems as if your the only one upset with what they call it or don't call it or how teams treat it or don't treat it. Since it has no effect on your school and takes nothing away from your school or your team I can't understand your position being so strong. We get it you don't like the All "A" because some schools (you feel) treat it as the pinnacle of their season...again that has zero impact on your team.

 

 

 

It's called the All "A" Classic...not the Class A State Championship. But teams can celebrate it however they feel...IMO.

 

Thats that problem. People try to relate my position to the school I support. It has nothing to do with that. It's the way I'm wired I guess.

 

Up here, the A is not looked at as just an invitational or classic. It's revered as a state tournament. I can't stand made up opportunities for success. They come right out and admit it with "it's for the schools that can't compete". Like we should feel sorry for the NCC's and Brossarts that dominate the A up here and compete with every other non-A school anyway. Then on the other side of their mouth, they want to talk about how much better they are in sports than many of the larger schools. The fact is, they are right! They are better and in some cases, much better than some of the largers schools. (no, not just Highlands) So why do they need an "opportunity" for a championship? Remember, to you it's just another tournament. To them, it's the top priority. So I get tired of hearing "poor little us" need an state championship that we can compete in, but guess what we beat you in everything anyway. Which is it??? Do you need an opportunity or are you already good enough to compete anyway? It has nothing to do with the school I support. I have said that I have the utmost respect for both those schools. I sometimes don't know how they stay as competitive as they do. I just get tired of hearing "Poor us" out of one side and then "look how good we are" out of the other side.

 

I'm also completely against the "everybody gets a trophy" philosophy. (which you know from other forums). I don't like the creation of more championships, just so kids can experience it. Where do you stop??? You'll always have someone that's disappointed. You'll always have "bubble" teams and someone will say "where's my opportunity". The opportunity should be provided, it should be earned! That's why I have this stance.

 

I said, if they just went out and collected the best A teams in the state and said here's an invitational to play in so we can crown the most competitive A team, then I would be fine with that. But people call is a state championship and an opportunity for the little guys, that's crazy. The same teams compete for it every year! And that's only about 30% of the teams that are in it.

[RCC9]

Isn't the whole purpose of sports to have fun? What's wrong with letting smaller teams have a little fun and have their own tournament...and what's wrong with letting the winner of that tournament celebrate that they won?

 

Sure there are a ton of better schools, and challenging yourself isn't a bad thing, but lets not act like all schools have the same opportunity to compete on that level.

 

The ones that dominate this tournament every year have plenty of opportunity to compete at the state level. Just as much as anyone else. The true small schools have just as much opportunity in this tournament as they do making the state tournament. Zero chance.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Up here, the A is not looked at as just an invitational or classic. It's revered as a state tournament.

 

I lived in NKY for 32 years, and never thought it was revered as a state tournament. I'll give it to you, it was looked at a little differently than your average invitational or classic, but I didn't ever think any of the competing schools looked at it like it was anything near the Sweet Sixteen.

[RCC9]

You compare playing in the All "A" to dodging teams in travel ball? Who are they dodging? They play in the All "A" and then still play in regular State Tourney later...who are they dodging?

 

I've not been involved with a lot of travel teams but the ones I've been around the coaches put the kids in over their heads and played up in age any chance they got to make the kids better. Yeah there are some that do what you said, but that in no way translates to the All "A" Classic.

 

Is it the All "A" Champion signs up at NCC that are driving you nuts, you've mentioned them and how you don't agree with their wording on their signs.

 

Not comparing the All A to travel ball. I'm saying the people that use "opportunity for small schools" as a reason kids deserve a separate opportunity to compete at a state level, are the same select coaches hand picking tournaments to go to that you are confident you will go well in. The teams I'm talking about can clearly compete with all the other teams. If you're reasoning is to create an opportunity for the small schools that can't compete and you are a small school that can obviously compete (remember, just about half of the sweet 16 teams this year were All A teams), then that doesn't fly with me. Why do you need another opportunity?

 

Again, I'm not saying it's not a great tournament. I'm not saying it's not fun for the kids. But all it really is is a gathering of the most competitive A teams to compete against each other. And all of those A teams are as competitive as 90% of the other teams in the state. And the same two teams win every region every year.

 

So it's not a state tournamant and it's not a tournament "for the small schools that can't compete". It's a great event for the very competitive "Smaller Schools". That's it. I can name probably 10 schools in the NKY area that feel it's just an extra game on their schedule. Or the tournament they play in that NCC or Brossart kills us in every year. They are the small schools that don't have a chance otherwise.

[Jumper_Dad]

You said "if they just went out and collected the best A teams in the state and said here's an invitational to play in so we can crown the most competitive A team, then I would be fine with that"

 

That's exactly what they do, but instead of arbitrarily selecting who is believed to be the best, they let them play it out locally and bring the top from each region to the Invitational/Classic and crown the most competitive team as the All "A" Classic Champion.

[RCC9]

I lived in NKY for 32 years, and never thought it was revered as a state tournament. I'll give it to you, it was looked at a little differently than your average invitational or classic, but I didn't ever think any of the competing schools looked at it like it was anything near the Sweet Sixteen.

 

Come over here in Camp Co. They live for the A over here. They have to worry about" let downs" after the A is over. They have to figure out how to motivate the kids again, once it's over. I'm telling you, it happens. I haven't seen that happen with "just another tournament". I also haven't seen signs and banners hung and rings purchased claiming state champions for "just another tournament". They focus on the A as much or not more than the regular region. Maybe it is just this area that is like that and maybe for the rest of the state it is "just another tournament". So maybe my vision is skewed by the area I live in and hear the most about.

[RCC9]

You said "if they just went out and collected the best A teams in the state and said here's an invitational to play in so we can crown the most competitive A team, then I would be fine with that"

 

That's exactly what they do, but instead of arbitrarily selecting who is believed to be the best, they let them play it out locally and bring the top from each region to the Invitational/Classic and crown the most competitive team as the All "A" Classic Champion.

 

It is kinda what they do. But do not need to play all the games, that lead to the winner calling themselves the state champion. Because of the format, I could see where people would want to call it a state championship. But it's not. The regions are just a formality. There are only 1-2 teams that have any kind of shot. Without all the format, it may be harder for everyone to call it a state championship. It's really just an invitational then. You can call the current one an invitational tournament all you want, but what it really is is a way to allow the smaller schools an opportunity to have their own state competition and keep them from complaining so we don't get pushed to classes in bball. That's what this has evolved to. If you just invite teams each year to come play a 16 team tournament. Then it's just like another tournament. When you invite every school in the state under a certain enrollment and format it just like the state tournament, that's classification.

[Jumper_Dad]

Honestly why does it matter what teams think it is? "A" State Champion or "A" Classic Champion...it makes absolutely no difference...

[RCC9]

You know, maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. Maybe it is just another tournament. Well my daughter won the Conner Christmas Invitational the year before last. She did get an opportunity to compete! Thank goodness! I would hate to see her not be provided an opportunity to have success. I see how this works now.

 

Well gotta run...I'm calling school and Coach Richey. I didn't notice our banners being hung in the gym and I'm sure that our rings should have been in by now!! We sure are behind the times. We need to learn how to celebrate at Highlands!

[Jumper_Dad]

:laugh:

[RCC9]

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You should have just contributed something with the time it took you to draw all those pretty horses being attacked by the Pac Man family!