Interesting article about steps to improve basketball/ sports at Grant County

[laniganfan29]

http://www.grantky.com/articles/2007/03/07/sports/sports05.txt

 

My question to fellow BGP'ers around the state, does your local paper do articles of this sort?

 

Please share your thoughts.

[superman23]

I think the article is very accurate. Grant County has plenty of kids to choose from but they bring a six man team to the court all under 6"3. You would think they would be a contender every year for the regional championship.

[sportsmaniac]

Grant County might be the biggest school in the state that only has 1 middle school feeding into it. They only have 1 middle school team per grade level this has to hurt there numbers.

[WTOWNRAIDERFAN]

Until GC brings in a coach from outside the county, they will continue to struggle. I like Coach Kinmon and have respect for him, but he still puts players on the court because of who the family is. And unfortanitly it happens all the way down to the middle school and youth programs. They have now and have had alot of undeveloped talent that they have wasted.

[superman23]

I agree. This year they have been in alot of close games that were blew to the lack of coaching. They should really consider a new coach.

[WTOWNRAIDERFAN]

Like I said I do like the coach and have respect for him, but as the article says, these teams have been picked since the 5th or 6 th grade. Not just basketball , but all sports in GC. And until they get someone in that knows no one in the county and puts teams on the fields or courts that should be there and not be worried about upsetting some friends of the family they will just be so-so and every now and then a contender.

[Souper]

It's typical for this paper to write an article like this when the other high school in town lost 30 consecutive games.

[rojas4]

If you reread the article he was talking about both high schools in Grant Co.. I agree with the first point especially. That happens in many places.

[Sandman]

Grant County might be the biggest school in the state that only has 1 middle school feeding into it. They only have 1 middle school team per grade level this has to hurt there numbers.

 

I agree with your point, I think this hurts the high school program without a doubt.

 

But, while a decent sized school, Grant, insn't near the largest with only one middle school feeder. Campbell County is a huge school and has only one feeder, Holmes is very large with only one feeder as well.

[Sandman]

http://www.grantky.com/articles/2007/03/07/sports/sports05.txt

 

My question to fellow BGP'ers around the state, does your local paper do articles of this sort?

 

Please share your thoughts.

 

Specifically regarding the article, first of all I think it's very presumptuous and unprofessional of Wayne Yeager to think he can address what he perceives as wrong with Grant County sports without talking to (quoting) anyone actually involved with the programs. The cloud of unprofessionalism deepens because it's his last column in Grant County and he admits he's "talked about" these subjects "many times" but never written about them. If these were such burning issues with him, he should have taken them on before now when he takes what is basically a "parting shot" for fears of burning bridges.

 

That being said, once I read the article is was harmless enough because it is so vague.

 

As to point one, doesn't it go without saying that every community should try to improve all young athletes rather than label select fourth or fifth graders as the next varsity team? He didn't seem to blame the varsity coaches for this so much as the community as a whole for giving up on kids too early in their development. Generic advice, sure. but certainly good advice for every youth coach and youth program in general. Let the kids play, and let as many play as you can.

 

On point two, I'm not sure what his point was. If Grant County already has people as coaches who aren't high school teachers, and they've stayed, what's the issue? Again, I don't know, maybe this is some axe grinding, maybe it's about a new policy, just can't tell based on only this read.

 

Point three has nothing to do with improving athletics in Grant County. Is having a Williamstown or county resident officiate a Grant/Williamstown game smart for that particular offical, probably not. Does it set either athletic program back if it happens, of course not.

[FBRULES]

The comment about officiating where you reside is baloney. All of us are from somewhere. If you have a conflict with a particular school; that is, recent graduate, direct relative works there, plays there, etc., then you should scratch the school. But, I live in a city where I have nothing to do with the school, know hardly anyone there except the head football coach, and went to school on the other side of Northern Kentucky.

 

What he writes is naive and insulting. That is, because someone is from a particular geography than there is the appearance of home cooking. Maybe the fact is that we are all perceived as bad (I mean it's hard to please em all) and people have to look for the deep, dark, secret meaning when the truth is they just didn't like the call (right or wrong).

 

A few times in playoff games when we are the only five from out of town, someone will say, "Well, they must have found these guys here." That's a sly way of just saying they don't like the calls. Fair enough.

 

Actually, I worked my first varsity football game when I was hanging out at the food court at K-Mart and some dude came up and asked me if I wanted to work a football game, so he gave me a hat, whistle, and flag and said come on the game starts at 7:30.

 

FBRULES

[Hoops Yoda]

I have to disagree with FB - I think it does matter if you live in that town or if you are an alum. There is added pressure knowing you really do have to shop at Wal-mart/go to church/eat at restaurants/etc - with the people who just berated you at the game the night before. There is enough pressure on the officials - and there are plenty of other games to call. The assigning secretary should not allow this to happen - common sense.

[BGGreen]

Regarding he officating issues he discusses, I'd argue with his logic; as some of the worst officated games I've seen involved involved officials with "local ties", who ended up being biased against the "home" team do as to prove they were not favoring them!!

 

The other excellent point he makes is the one regarding "chosing the HS varisty team" in the 4-8th grades. I've often seen kids annointed the next this or that at a young age simply because he grew & matured early!! Develop ALL the kids, and let the chips fall where they may!!

[sportsmaniac]

I spoke with Coach Kinmon and he is very discouraged about the perception of the article and comments made here on BG Preps. Coach Kinmon has repeatedly asked for 2 middle school teams per grade level and funding and gym space will not allow this.

 

He also stated that there are no gyms in the county other than school gyms so many kids that do not get to play on the school teams quit playing at an early age. He has no control over that.

 

He mentioned that he got involved in the elementary program and has over 150 boys playing basketball in grades 2-5. The school cuts down to 14 in 6th grade, what can he do about that?

[Mustang]

As far as the perception of "home cookin" by the local officials, I'd like to point out that the combined record of the two Grant County schools in question was 11-45, hardly an intimidating statistic.

 

I don't think that I would hesitate to bring a team to Grant County and take my chances in our ability to overcome the local bias.