I've seen plenty of varsity players out there who played Knothole through Class A (15 years old). Most of the Class A Knothole teams couldn't compete with a National or American SWOL team, but there are usually some Class A Knothole teams that can compete with the Continental SWOL teams. The Class A teams that can compete with the SWOL teams usually have about 4 players that could make an American SWOL squad, 4 players that could make a Continental squad, and about 6 players who couldn't make any SWOL team. That means if you're one of the top 4 players from the team, you pretty much get to play and develop in your favorite positions and don't have to worry about riding the pine if you're on a SWOL team. Of course the Knothole regular season is too short (14-16 games) so you play for a coach who enters your team in tournaments and also plays in fall ball leagues against competition outside Knothole. When your year is done you've played 30-35 games in the position you most want to play and develop in. But when you're 16 (10th grade) and serious about baseball, you need to be in a league like SWOL.

How many freshmen did they even have tryout? I think even if they had a freshmen team it would be 90% 7th and 8th graders that would stop playing when they are freshmen for football just what I think. SWOL is not that much better than div.1 if it is.

How many freshmen did they even have tryout? I think even if they had a freshmen team it would be 90% 7th and 8th graders that would stop playing when they are freshmen for football just what I think. SWOL is not that much better than div.1 if it is.

 

There might be one or two teams in D1 Knothole that could compete with SWOL National League teams on a day to day basis. PERIOD!!!!

There might be one or two teams in D1 Knothole that could compete with SWOL National League teams on a day to day basis. PERIOD!!!!

 

:thumb:

 

 

I saw the final four teams in the D1 knothole tourney last year at the 15 year old age level and they could not compete at the National League level in the SWOL. Win a game every now and then.....but compete on a regular basis...no way.

 

The only people who say that D1 knothole compares favorably to SWOL are the ones who have never experienced SWOL.

Okay lets put this to rest.

1. Above the age of 11 if you are still playing knothole or D1 knothole you are playing a very watered down style of baseball.

2. At 11 and teams younger those kids that are playing SWOL or Greater Cincinnati Select League are gaining a huge advantage because they are playing top line teams in their league every night out. Knothole and D1 Knothole have so many bad teams in it you cannot get a real gauge on just how good you are.

 

The choices in this area are Knothole D1 Knothole KABA Little League SWOL Greater Cincinnati League and Tri State League. You can throw out Knothole KABA and Little League in this area.

 

SWOL is still the top league in the area. If you play Greater Cincinnati Select League you are playing SWOL teams just not all of them. If you play Tri State League you are playing SWOL teams and a few teams from outside the area (all star teams at each age level) who have no place to take their best players (Carroll Co, Gallatin Co, Grant Co. etc).

 

D1 Knothole teams can compete with teams in these leagues. There are players in every league who can play at the highest level. The problem when these kids continue to play knothole (at any level) is they never see the day in and day out best players and best teams. I see D1 Knothole teams score 15-16 runs in their league come into tourneys with select teams and they lose games or if they win they are 4-3 etc. The competition is just not there!!!!!!!!

Okay lets put this to rest.

1. Above the age of 11 if you are still playing knothole or D1 knothole you are playing a very watered down style of baseball.

2. At 11 and teams younger those kids that are playing SWOL or Greater Cincinnati Select League are gaining a huge advantage because they are playing top line teams in their league every night out. Knothole and D1 Knothole have so many bad teams in it you cannot get a real gauge on just how good you are.

 

The choices in this area are Knothole D1 Knothole KABA Little League SWOL Greater Cincinnati League and Tri State League. You can throw out Knothole KABA and Little League in this area.

 

SWOL is still the top league in the area. If you play Greater Cincinnati Select League you are playing SWOL teams just not all of them. If you play Tri State League you are playing SWOL teams and a few teams from outside the area (all star teams at each age level) who have no place to take their best players (Carroll Co, Gallatin Co, Grant Co. etc).

 

D1 Knothole teams can compete with teams in these leagues. There are players in every league who can play at the highest level. The problem when these kids continue to play knothole (at any level) is they never see the day in and day out best players and best teams. I see D1 Knothole teams score 15-16 runs in their league come into tourneys with select teams and they lose games or if they win they are 4-3 etc. The competition is just not there!!!!!!!!

 

:thumb::thumb:

 

Couldn't of said it better myself...:clap:

I don't know JB as well as some of the other posters on here, but I do know that he loves baseball and loves the kids.

 

I would hope that people weren't really expecting Highlands to instantly become regional contenders when Jeremy was hired. He's going to need a year or two to get to a contender level. It'll happen, but give him time to develop the younger kids.

 

I hear there are some pretty good arms on the JV squad. I think a couple are 8th graders.

 

The freshmen team will help things.

 

Part of the reason the football team is so successful is due to the FTJFL. I don't know that the FTJBL(if there is such a thing) will ever help. To many other baseball options, Knothole, SWOL etc..

 

 

JB and staff will be successful and we just need to support them anyway we can.:thumb:

I don't know JB as well as some of the other posters on here, but I do know that he loves baseball and loves the kids.

 

I would hope that people weren't really expecting Highlands to instantly become regional contenders when Jeremy was hired. He's going to need a year or two to get to a contender level. It'll happen, but give him time to develop the younger kids.

 

I hear there are some pretty good arms on the JV squad. I think a couple are 8th graders.

 

The freshmen team will help things.

 

Part of the reason the football team is so successful is due to the FTJFL. I don't know that the FTJBL(if there is such a thing) will ever help. To many other baseball options, Knothole, SWOL etc..

 

 

JB and staff will be successful and we just need to support them anyway we can.:thumb:

 

BINGO!

I don't know JB as well as some of the other posters on here, but I do know that he loves baseball and loves the kids.

 

I would hope that people weren't really expecting Highlands to instantly become regional contenders when Jeremy was hired. He's going to need a year or two to get to a contender level. It'll happen, but give him time to develop the younger kids.

 

I hear there are some pretty good arms on the JV squad. I think a couple are 8th graders.

 

The freshmen team will help things.

 

Part of the reason the football team is so successful is due to the FTJFL. I don't know that the FTJBL(if there is such a thing) will ever help. To many other baseball options, Knothole, SWOL etc..

 

 

JB and staff will be successful and we just need to support them anyway we can.:thumb:

 

I agree that he needs more time to develop the team, one year is just not realistic. BTW there is a FTJBL but it is a very low "fun" level and the top players usually play elsewhere to develop their skills. Very, very few players go on to play high school.

The freshmen team will help things.

 

This is stated like it's happening. Will there be a frosh team next year?

I think a frosh team will help. I have been very fortunate to know Jeremy for a long time and trust me he will inject enthusiasm into the baseball program. He will not accept average and he will continue to build the program. He is JB "Johnny Baseball". Perhaps the season has been a little disappointing in the number of wins; but with the good district draw who knows. One of his best traits is he enjoys the game; will not fault the kids, and teach the fundamentals. In time the kids will play with his passion for the game and one day "Be Exceptional". We strongly would encourage those boys from area knothole teams to come out! At times, I too can be over the top and want to see a quick reward, but Jeremy has a plan and sometimes it can't happen overnight even with a senior dominated team. Get the kids early and develop them. I think the program is headed in the right direction.

 

I agree that a frosh team would help immensely, and the last I heard, it was likely going to happen next year. Hopefully that remains the case.

 

I also agree that the draw of football at Highlands hurts baseball and basketball (although it probably helps the track team as some of those track kids might otherwise play baseball but for the football draw). I'm not really sure what really can be (or for that matter should be) done about that. Football has and is such a big thing in Ft. Thomas and at Highlands, it's hard to be upset with kids that want to focus primarily on football. And let's face it, playing any sport on the highest level these days requires more and more specialization and year around training. Heck, in some sports (primarily soccer and volleyball) more and more kids aren't even playing for their high school teams (it's a trend that is being critically followed by high school athletics advocates), but rather are concentrating year round on club and select teams.

 

Some players have been mentioned in other post that played both sports at the highest level. Not sure I agree about that. They played football and baseball, but I'm not sure they played football as well as they would have if they had concentrated solely on football.

 

We also have to face the fact that Highlands is a pretty small school. If some of the best athletes in a class decide to concentrate on one sport, it really adversely affects the quality of play in the other sports. Willie did a good job of developing a corps of basketball players that wanted to concentrate heavily on basketball and not play football. As a result, they've become very, very good basketball players. I think in time Jeremy will do the same with the baseball program, but it's not going to happen overnight.

 

And it's not just at Highlands. Think how much Maile would have helped the CovCath football team had he played. The kid is a stud. His dedication to baseball adversely impacted the football team in my opinion. But I have no fault with him making that decision. His heart was in baseball; not football. My guess is that there are other kids at CovCath that played baseball, but not football, that could have helped the football team if they had played. Heck, I wonder if Isler would have concentrated on football only, whether he would have been a much better football player and helped the footbal team even more. But again, that was his choice. He decided to also play baseball because he loved baseball and probably felt it was his best chance to get a college scholarship. I'm fine with that.

 

With the situation being what it is with football at Highlands, I think it becomes imperative that Jeremy get the frosh team started and that he get involved with younger kids and encourage them to play in more competitive youth leagues. I don't know enough about the strengths of knothole vs SWOL, but if what many state is the case, Jeremy needs to start encouraging young players and their parents to participate in the SWOL league. Knowing Jeremy's passion for baseball, I'm sure he'll do what is needed. Folks just need to be patient.

 

In closing, I think that particularly with the smaller schools that don't have the numbers, you are going to see more and more schools that are very good in one sport and average or slightly better than average in others. The level of play in high school sports, due in part to specialization, has become very, very good. I don't think we will ever return to the era where a school that counts on a lot of multi sport players to win will be successful on the highest level in any of those sports. I believe that to win state championships in any sport these days, you have to have a large group of kids specializing in that sport. The old multi sport players may not like to hear that, but unfortunately that's reality. So in order to be very successful in multiple sports, a high school has to develop a corps of athletes in each sport that want to concentrate on that sport. At smaller schools that will be difficult and it will mean the coaches are going to have to get as many kids as possible out of the halls on onto the fields and courts. That will take dynamic and energetic coaches like Jeremy, Dale and hopefully the next boys basketball coach at Highlands.

Very long but hit on some great points. If you talk to Coach Baioni you will get the same reaction out of him as most of the posters on here when it comes to playing select vs knothole. The problem with the youth teams is that it is difficult to change mentality when you are having great success and you are asking them to go into a situation where your success may not be so great. I think it is tough to sell parents on this. Especially when you are dealing with younger age kids (10, 11 ,12).

In closing, I think that particularly with the smaller schools that don't have the numbers, you are going to see more and more schools that are very good in one sport and average or slightly better than average in others. The level of play in high school sports, due in part to specialization, has become very, very good. I don't think we will ever return to the era where a school that counts on a lot of multi sport players to win will be successful on the highest level in any of those sports. I believe that to win state championships in any sport these days, you have to have a large group of kids specializing in that sport. The old multi sport players may not like to hear that, but unfortunately that's reality. So in order to be very successful in multiple sports, a high school has to develop a corps of athletes in each sport that want to concentrate on that sport. At smaller schools that will be difficult and it will mean the coaches are going to have to get as many kids as possible out of the halls on onto the fields and courts. That will take dynamic and energetic coaches like Jeremy, Dale and hopefully the next boys basketball coach at Highlands.

 

LN - thanks for the post. As unfortunte as I think the specialization of kid sports is, I agree that it appears to be here to stay. While I believe certain kids will continue to play 2 sports, the vast majority will most likely concentrate on 1, especially considering the ever increasing, although somewhat self-imposed, academic workload. The performance expectations, athletic & academic, placed on students these days by both parents and schools is unbelievably high compared to only 25 years ago. I was a good student, but never even remotely contemplated the types of academic activities now commonplace in the better high schools. An effort that put me towards the top of my class in the 80's, would barely get me to an above average level at Highlands.

 

But getting back to sports, what I'd like to ask of AD's and coaches is to not put roadblocks in place for those kids wanting to play multiple sports. 99% of kids will not be getting athletic scholarships, so let's not deprive them of opportunities now that they'll regret missing later.

LN - thanks for the post. As unfortunte as I think the specialization of kid sports is, I agree that it appears to be here to stay. While I believe certain kids will continue to play 2 sports, the vast majority will most likely concentrate on 1, especially considering the ever increasing, although somewhat self-imposed, academic workload. The performance expectations, athletic & academic, placed on students these days by both parents and schools is unbelievably high compared to only 25 years ago. I was a good student, but never even remotely contemplated the types of academic activities now commonplace in the better high schools. An effort that put me towards the top of my class in the 80's, would barely get me to an above average level at Highlands.

 

But getting back to sports, what I'd like to ask of AD's and coaches is to not put roadblocks in place for those kids wanting to play multiple sports. 99% of kids will not be getting athletic scholarships, so let's not deprive them of opportunities now that they'll regret missing later.

 

 

Your welcome. I totally agree with the comments about the coaches and the increased academic workloads these kids are having to take in order to get into the more selective colleges. But, much like athletic specialization, it is what it is regardless of whether we agree with it. I think at times the best we can do, as parents, is help them to identify the real important goals and deal with the pressures. I'm continually amazed by how well young kids today deal with pressure. Much better than I think I would have when I was their age.

 

Some kids, including my sons, choose to concentrate on one sport not because they thought or think that they'd get an athletic scholarship (they know that there is not much demand for 6' offensive linemen) but rather because they have dreamed of winning a state championship in football since they were little ones and wanted to do everything they personally could do to help that happen. Who knows, they may one day look back and regret not playing other sports, but I hope not and doubt that they will. Besides looking backwards accomplishes nothing.

Great points nice thread. I appreciate the information that has been shared.