It's nice that everyone can voice their opinions with the mask of anonymity, just seems to me like people talking behind others back. So here we go. We live in J-town's district and my daughter played there her 7th and 8th grade year. There was a different coach each year. Was J-town an option for us when it came time to pick a school, yes. Our first option was Manual, obviously we didn't get in. Which was surprising to me since she has been an A/B student since 3rd grade. So now we are scrambling to find a good school for my daughter. In my mind, as probably for most fathers of athletes, she is a stand out player. So that was part of the decision making. Along with academics and my daughters preferences as well. I asked everyone that would have a conversation with me, what would be the difference between an A at J-town or an A at Eastern or Mercy or Manual. I heard a lot of different opinions but ultimately J-town came off our list. It came down between 2 schools, Mercy and Eastern. We had done several workouts with Eastern's coach and had a friendly relationship with him. We all know Mercy's system and how successful they are at it. We chose Eastern because my daughter thought she fit in better there and would be more comfortable. Mercy was not in our budget. I've told everyone that I never would have thought that my daughter would go to Eastern because she has played with 2 of the girls for the past 3 years of middle school, I was wrong. I never thought she would start as a freshman. I still believe that Eastern, if they pull together, can win a state championship. I do question our decision on picking Eastern, but who has never questioned a decision they made. She is the one that would be spending "the best 4 years of her life" at the school so she had major influence on picking the school. Hindsight is truly 20/20, so telling someone to beware is ludicrous. How is someone to know what is a good fit for them unless they get in there and see? There is no dating period for finding a high school, if there is maybe someone should have informed us. She will continue to play hard the rest of the year and hopefully the team will pull it together. Then all of the anonymous post will be saying, woulda, coulda, shoulda... What child does not want to go where the good team is? Who is the last person that said, that team sucks, that's where I'm gong to school? AAU had no influence on what school we chose. If your child has the opportunity to play up and against better competition, why wouldn't you do it? That is the only way to get better and see what you are made of. Karma? Not if someone is better than you or you have not progressed as a player over the summer. It used to be the best players played. Well that was more than I had planned to say. Excuse my rant. Good luck to your schools and children. GO EAGLES! AND GO KIARA PEARL!!! My baby girl.

Things just arent like they used to be......a few schools have accumulated talent from places outside of their district/area. Probably not all are shady deals.....but I personally root for the teams that do it with their "own" kids. I have given up the fight involving the R word....so if it makes people feel better to drift to a "stacked" team to win the championship....it is all good with this dinosaur!!!

I don't really care if kids move to other schools after playing as 8th graders or as 9th-11th graders.

Q Snyder started his high school career as an 8th grader playing for Fern Creek. He played for Ballard from his freshman year until graduation.

Kentucky needs to change the rules to equal the playing field by letting kids go where ever they can be accepted.

 

Pretty much the way it is now, isn't it?

Pretty much the way it is now, isn't it?

 

Once in a great while kids are ruled ineligible by the KHSAA.

It's nice that everyone can voice their opinions with the mask of anonymity, just seems to me like people talking behind others back. So here we go. We live in J-town's district and my daughter played there her 7th and 8th grade year. There was a different coach each year. Was J-town an option for us when it came time to pick a school, yes. Our first option was Manual, obviously we didn't get in. Which was surprising to me since she has been an A/B student since 3rd grade. So now we are scrambling to find a good school for my daughter. In my mind, as probably for most fathers of athletes, she is a stand out player. So that was part of the decision making. Along with academics and my daughters preferences as well. I asked everyone that would have a conversation with me, what would be the difference between an A at J-town or an A at Eastern or Mercy or Manual. I heard a lot of different opinions but ultimately J-town came off our list. It came down between 2 schools, Mercy and Eastern. We had done several workouts with Eastern's coach and had a friendly relationship with him. We all know Mercy's system and how successful they are at it. We chose Eastern because my daughter thought she fit in better there and would be more comfortable. Mercy was not in our budget. I've told everyone that I never would have thought that my daughter would go to Eastern because she has played with 2 of the girls for the past 3 years of middle school, I was wrong. I never thought she would start as a freshman. I still believe that Eastern, if they pull together, can win a state championship. I do question our decision on picking Eastern, but who has never questioned a decision they made. She is the one that would be spending "the best 4 years of her life" at the school so she had major influence on picking the school. Hindsight is truly 20/20, so telling someone to beware is ludicrous. How is someone to know what is a good fit for them unless they get in there and see? There is no dating period for finding a high school, if there is maybe someone should have informed us. She will continue to play hard the rest of the year and hopefully the team will pull it together. Then all of the anonymous post will be saying, woulda, coulda, shoulda... What child does not want to go where the good team is? Who is the last person that said, that team sucks, that's where I'm gong to school? AAU had no influence on what school we chose. If your child has the opportunity to play up and against better competition, why wouldn't you do it? That is the only way to get better and see what you are made of. Karma? Not if someone is better than you or you have not progressed as a player over the summer. It used to be the best players played. Well that was more than I had planned to say. Excuse my rant. Good luck to your schools and children. GO EAGLES! AND GO KIARA PEARL!!! My baby girl.

 

 

 

Thank you for your very honest and insightful post into the machinations of the thought process and considerations of what went into the decision that your family made. The happiness of your daughter is what all parents seek, so the hope is that the long-term proves that she made a good choice. That said, karma, hindsight, etc. are anything but ludicrous. Think about it - long-term considerations should always override short-term ones. And hopefully there will be more "best years" of life beyond four years of high school b-ball for your daughter. I am compelled to believe that the overall mission and scope of high school sports is not selecting this program or that program. That formerly was something associated with realms of college sports and/or the professional free agency, not high school sports.

 

I by all means intend no personal insult with this, but looking across the current the entire landscape of KHSAA athletics - and this is not directed to any one person, family, team/school, county/city - a number of sports throughout the state are dominated by programs that are accumulating talent - and that is not proper, honest or fair. That is not what high school sports are supposed to be.

 

That said, any workouts in advance by any high school coaching staff member, while an athlete is playing for another high school despite still being in middle school, is an area where the KHSAA should be concerned.

Had a nice reply from my phone but got cut off...

Short version.

No rules broken, no bribes, no special treatment. Just people trying to make the best decisions for their children

KHSAA should be concerned. Really? Come on man... Unfair advantage? The church league has tryouts and coaches pick the best players.

High School ball is basically AAU ball anymore. Kids just drift to whatever team they know some people on. If that's what makes them (or more importantly the parents....tongue in cheek) happy----roll with it says this "dinosaur."