Heck, I coached AAU and coached several kids on the camp co team that went to state. Haley was very close with them and I live in cold spring! I could have sent her to play at Campbell with her good friends for free!...and still chose to send her to HHS and pay a boatload of tuition!

Come on you guys. Those are your takeaways? You guys are offended by the references? Fine, I withdraw all references to the Highlands softball program. As for Haley, her drive and skills always impressed me, I am truly sorry that I offended you or her by describing her as a competitive and talented player with a passion for the game that might have gone to a different school if Highlands had not had the program it does. My bad.

Not following the HHS example. Other than two kids out of 44 in the program, they all spent multiple years in ft Thomas schools. And those two came as freshman. Not one player showed up at HHS for softball. When those two can (one from Wisconsin and one from Dixie), HHS was 10-19, had just hired a coach that had never coached a fastpitch game in his life and HHS was everyone's senior night! No one came to HHS for softball!

 

But you are right. They all worked their tails off to make the program relevant. It wasn't done with transfers and kids coming that played together on a select team. Just a bunch of home grown kids that wanted it.

 

As for Haley Coffey, she wouldn't have been at any other school in NKy. Regardless of a sport. Heck, she didn't even play softball til the 6th grade when her buddy begged her because they needed numbers in the program and they knew she was an athlete. Same with her sister and the same with her brother that will be entering the middle school and will most likely never play a high school sport.

 

I will add that both had at least 1 parent that went to Highlands. You forgot about that.....

Come on you guys. Those are your takeaways? You guys are offended by the references? Fine, I withdraw all references to the Highlands softball program. As for Haley, her drive and skills always impressed me, I am truly sorry that I offended you or her by describing her as a competitive and talented player with a passion for the game that might have gone to a different school if Highlands had not had the program it does. My bad.

 

Not offended at all by any of your comments. I'm making a point that none of their decisions were driven by sports and all were developed by hard work on their part. That team that you mention was not assembled by coaches, parents or kids. They wanted a change with mostly kids that did grow up together. You're never gonna find a school that has kids come together from any level of multiple schools that has all kids that grew up together. But when teams start to get assembled (for whatever reason you want) that's not the "spirit" of high school sports. Regardless of how competitive you want to be. Select sports are for the ultra competitive kids that want to form powerhouses. High school sports are to go to battle with kids you mostly grew up with. School pride from longevity. Wanting to get your sisters back. My city against your city. My district against your district. Creating rivals that become best friends when you graduate. Playing against your summer buddies and having bragging rights when the select season starts. Those, and many other things, are the spirit of high school sports. Not creating dominate powerhouse teams...and I don't care what the reason for it is.

 

But when you add recruiting by a program to assist in creating those powerhouses in high school, that almost makes me sick! That's just my opinion. Others take the opinion that you can't compete unless you are recruiting. OR you can say the ole saying "if you ain't cheatin, you ain't trying!"

As far as starting a thread about Holy Cross and the recruiting issue, and whether or not HC's conduct violates the "spirit" of the rule, I don't know what the alleged conduct is. I have said many times that the conduct that I am personally aware of does and did not, I believe, violate the bylaws in any way. But I am speculating about what the allegations are and who made them. You want me to start a thread about what I speculate? Really?

 

How does one write an 18 page "preemptive appeal brief" and not know what the allegations are? What is a "preemptive appeal brief" - does that mean "since we think you are going to allege something, before you go there here is why we believe you are wrong?" A preemptive appeals brief sounds like it would be a great (and very amusing) read.

Some of you guys have me all wrong. Not a hater of Highlands by any means, I consider it a great school with committed teachers and coaches and outstanding facilities. I particularly admire the job the baseball and softball coaches have done the last few years, revitalizing those programs into winners.

 

I do also agree that Highlands is under more scrutiny than other schools and I think they probably make more of an effort to be compliant than other schools, because they are aware of the heightened scrutiny. Which is precisely why I would raise the question about "Highlands" broadly interpreting the transfer rule. Here we have a school that strives to be compliant interpreting a rule this way, exploiting what I would hope we could all agree is a loophole. After reading the arguments, I would consider the Martin transfer compliant with the rule as it is expressed, if it was up to me, although I also note that the KHSAA ultimately has the authority to deny the transfer.

 

Yes, I could have posed the question as a hypothetical, but I believe it becomes more relevant and easier to discuss when you have an actual example of the rule being interpreted, and the relevance is even heightened when a school under scrutiny, like Highlands who always "dots every i and crosses every t", is doing the interpreting. So I believe interjecting Highlands adds to the discussion, but not in an accusatory or persecution way.

 

As far as starting a thread about Holy Cross and the recruiting issue, and whether or not HC's conduct violates the "spirit" of the rule, I don't know what the alleged conduct is. I have said many times that the conduct that I am personally aware of does and did not, I believe, violate the bylaws in any way. But I am speculating about what the allegations are and who made them. You want me to start a thread about what I speculate? Really?

 

Finally, with respect to the comparison of my and RCC9's approach to what high school sports is about, I don't think they are that different. I want my kids, and all kids for that matter, to enjoy their high school experience to the fullest, including sports. But kids are different, some strive for a championship ring, some work harder than others, some can even decide they want to go to a school with their AAU friends and play together (I am curious about why there is no mention of the boys side, where it has long been known and accepted that that occurs). A great example of a high school sports success story is the Highlands softball program, where you have a passionate coach that has a group of motivated girls work harder than everyone else and they win. The fact that all those girls didn't grow up together, and some came into the program later doesn't diminish what they accomplished. They wanted a competitive high school softball experience so they chose to play for a coach and a program that they thought could provide it. I wonder, for example, if the coach at Highlands had been an ambivalent fellow about winning, and not particularly demanding about practice and off season workouts (as some high school softball coaches can be), if a talented and highly competitive player like, say for example, shortstop Haley Coffey, would have chosen to play at Highlands or gone somewhere else.

 

I believe kids and their families have the right to choose what they want their high school experience to be, including sports, whether it's Caleb Jefferson, Haley Coffey or anyone named Macke. Personally, I have several kids and they are all differently motivated, but for every one of them my wife and I feel we are making the best choices for them, all things considered, and it is a very difficult calculus. I don't think our choices are an appropriate subject for debate, so I won't participate in that.

 

I have followed high school sports in northern Kentucky for 50 years and have cheered for kids and teams from every school in northern Kentucky, and with very few exceptions I have accepted that schools and coaches are doing their best for the kids in their programs. I don't go looking for infractions and rule violations or evidence of cheating, and never have I said or implied that I was challenging the Jenna Martin transfer. My postulate was academic, given the extensive discussions on BGP about transfer rules. I would have hoped it would have been accepted as such.

 

You're approaching @B-Ball-fan territory with the length of this reply. :lol2:

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Edited June 17, 201610 yr by Pete Mitchell

She should just run track, or play tennis, or golf, bowling, and no one would care about the transfer or shove it all over BGP......:idunno:

To answer the question, are they interpreting the rule correctly the answer is no. This situation has come up before, this young lady will have actually move out of the Grant Co. school district to be eligible at her new school.

To answer the question, are they interpreting the rule correctly the answer is no. This situation has come up before, this young lady will have actually move out of the Grant Co. school district to be eligible at her new school.

 

Not the case. She's moved.

How does one write an 18 page "preemptive appeal brief" and not know what the allegations are? What is a "preemptive appeal brief" - does that mean "since we think you are going to allege something, before you go there here is why we believe you are wrong?" A preemptive appeals brief sounds like it would be a great (and very amusing) read.

 

Can we start a poll asking the question: Who thinks Pete Mitchell should post the preemptive appeal brief?

This kind of stuff happens all the time in Louisville when a student leaves a private school and transfers to a public school claiming "financial hardship". 2 football players left Trinity mid-season last year, both played in varsity games at Trinity by the way, transferred to Waggener and played varsity football for them the same season.

This kind of stuff happens all the time in Louisville when a student leaves a private school and transfers to a public school claiming "financial hardship".

I"m confused... Is that why she left?

I"m confused... Is that why she left?

 

Doesn't really matter does it? Just pointing out how kids here play varsity for 1 school one year, leave and play for another school the next year.