What's going on at Nelson County?

[rjs4470]

I am not going to start naming schools, but I have heard of a few with alarming low numbers this time of year. I love KY HS football but it is getting tougher and tougher to get kids out. They have a bunch of choices and every one of them is easier than football, especially compared to the old days.

 

In the last 24 hours I have talked to two very successful coaches of highly successful programs that were struggling to get all of their kids to workouts/practices.

 

And, in all fairness to the kids, I do think we start too early. I would be for pushing back the start of the season.

 

We absolutely start too early. Our go date where I'm from was always around August 10th, first game the Friday after Labor day. Nowadays, without two-a-days, August 1st is probably a good start time.

[Jumper_Dad]

How many kids are playing some sort of Baseball Travel Ball or AAU Basketball. I know in some past years there would be several local football players still playing baseball this time of year that would miss the opening of practice.

[NLTanker1]

Maybe '97 is just "Good enough".

[Coach Preston]

We absolutely start too early. Our go date where I'm from was always around August 10th, first game the Friday after Labor day. Nowadays, without two-a-days, August 1st is probably a good start time.

 

I was just thinking about this topic. There is no need for a rule to require any coach or program to start practice any later or (as late as that coach wants). If you start your season week 1 (by your choice as a coach) and don't start practice until late July you still have a month to get ready for the season. I remember Joe Prince's last thoughts before heading to Va. He made a great point that what works for a school in Eastern Kentucky might not work for a school in Central Ky. So to install one rule for all will hold some programs back and help others imo. We as coaches have to have our hands on the pulse of our team and program in order to make it work for our particular situation. We stopped about 10 days earlier in June this year than we have in the past. I did not need a rule to make me do this. Just some thoughts.

[rjs4470]

I was just thinking about this topic. There is no need for a rule to require any coach or program to start practice any later or (as late as that coach wants). If you start your season week 1 (by your choice as a coach) and don't start practice until late July you still have a month to get ready for the season. I remember Joe Prince's last thoughts before heading to Va. He made a great point that what works for a school in Eastern Kentucky might not work for a school in Central Ky. So to install one rule for all will hold some programs back and help others imo. We as coaches have to have our hands on the pulse of our team and program in order to make it work for our particular situation. We stopped about 10 days earlier in June this year than we have in the past. I did not need a rule to make me do this. Just some thoughts.

 

Correct. But if you make that decision, you better win. Because if you don't the criticism will be harsh, and you'll quickly get accused of being lazy, too soft on players, or not doing what needs to be done to be successful. It would take a very successful coach to lead the way in a movement in this direction. I don't see any coach that would be willing to take that chance. Stopping early in June when things are voluntary, is way different than starting later than allowed.

[Watusi]

I was just thinking about this topic. There is no need for a rule to require any coach or program to start practice any later or (as late as that coach wants). If you start your season week 1 (by your choice as a coach) and don't start practice until late July you still have a month to get ready for the season. I remember Joe Prince's last thoughts before heading to Va. He made a great point that what works for a school in Eastern Kentucky might not work for a school in Central Ky. So to install one rule for all will hold some programs back and help others imo. We as coaches have to have our hands on the pulse of our team and program in order to make it work for our particular situation. We stopped about 10 days earlier in June this year than we have in the past. I did not need a rule to make me do this. Just some thoughts.

Kudos for not being afraid to go against convention and do what you think is best for your team. There is no one size fits all approach, IMO.

 

Belfry hasn't started practice yet, they will begin this coming week. Parent meeting Monday, practice starts Tuesday if I am not mistaken.

 

Of course they always have two scrimmages and play their first game in week 1 instead of week 0.

[Coach Preston]

Kudos for not being afraid to go against convention and do what you think is best for your team. There is no one size fits all approach, IMO.

 

Belfry hasn't started practice yet, they will begin this coming week. Parent meeting Monday, practice starts Tuesday if I am not mistaken.

 

Of course they always have two scrimmages and play their first game in week 1 instead of week 0.

 

Thank You. I just feel like the more we tie ourselves down by adding additional rules the more coaches will regret it later. For example, look back at the time when Kentucky didn't have spring practice and how long and difficult it was to get it in place. The nice thing is that you don't have to have spring practice but you can if you want. I personally know two very successful coaches that don't do spring practice at all. I get it on some key points and completely agree but we have the ability right now to adjust on our own to make our own program work for our kids, community and school. Again just my opinion.

[jericho]

It's hard for some families to get their vacations in before dead period, some have to go after the 4th when it's cheaper and some just can't get off.

 

Football does start too early and they need a longer dead period for kids and families to be kids and families.

[tonkatruck]

The decay of athletics and this school system has been going on for sometime. The Distritct Admin and sometimes the school Admin have made tons of decisions whether intended or unintended that have cut sports off at the knees throughout this district. I get that academics are first but you can do the best you can to have all programs succeed. There is not a feeder system for Nelson County High School. (Nelson gets about 65% of the students that come from OKH and Bloomfield Middle, the other 35% go to Thomas Nelson) OKH & Bloomfield have struggle to even field teams the last few years let alone be competitive on the field. It should not be surprising that those issues have moved up to the high school.

[jericho]

If you have good sports you will have good academic success in the school.

 

All this academic bull crap only ends up hurting all sports and helping about 5% of the students. It's those 5% that play nothing too.

 

Good athletics = good academic

 

Kids are lazy and sorry this day and time because the parents let them tell them what they want to do instead of the parents telling the kids.

 

Parents would just soon their kids not play sports in a lot of places so they don't have to take them to practice or games.

 

Parents are sorrier than kids in most cases.

[plantmanky]

There are several reasons this is happening at Nelson Co. All self inflicted sad to say.

[groundattack]

Very sad situation, this is a prime example of what terrible leadership can do to a district. It starts at the top, the entire district is a toxic environment that has infiltrated every aspect of the district. Nothing will change until they remove the superintendent and I think the board has finally seen the light.

[plantmanky]

Very sad situation, this is a prime example of what terrible leadership can do to a district. It starts at the top, the entire district is a toxic environment that has infiltrated every aspect of the district. Nothing will change until they remove the superintendent and I think the board has finally seen the light.

 

Agreed, and not just administration at the high school, it was/is district wide.

[Jim Schue]

I don't know what to make of all of this at NC. I hope they can get their numbers up to a decent level once school starts and they can recruit the halls.

[plantmanky]

For all you peeps on here that say middle school ball dont matter, this is proof that it does. Read into that what you want.