Skunk

Two fine teams no matter the recrds (as is all the rest mentioned). I would take the coaches; Bertke, Shepard, Sullivan, Downs & Waibel, and put them on any HS coaching staff in the State at the HS level and feel comfortable that they will produce winning athletes. I don't want to lose sight of the kids who did not play for these teams. It is already bearing fruit for many other Freshman teams that kids from both Kenton & Boone county youth leagues are holding their own, it's just that they have not seen the competition of the aformenetioned teams and may not have had as solid as coaching staffs that these teams had. Excellent class of athletes!

Camels won by 10 first game, BW won by 9 second game.

What happened to the Reds and Riverbats? Didn't Shumate play for the Monarchs?

:thumb:

This is a very interesting debate regarding Sophmores not playing Varsity in general. But as mentioned elsewhere in the forums, there are a considerable number of Frosh this year that WILL be playing Varsity next year. It's hard to predict a Maile or Farris at the Freshman level, but IMO there are so many Freshman this year that are playing JV & Varsity (or should be at the schools that do not allow Frosh to move up), that we could see a considerable number of top level baseball players coming thorough the pipelines. Ryle will likely change next year I can't imagine the Hempel kid playing JV again, and the Friedel kid is one of the top athletes at any age group. Popham at Dixie started his 8th grade year on Varsity, and the group of Freshman at Beechwood will be getting Varsity time. NCC & Highlands has some very talented Freshman, NCC has Freshmen that could start Varsity now, but their team rules will not allow it. My point was, these freshman mentioned above are all from Baseball schools (well, maybe not highlands) and these kids will be starting varsity as sophmores. THOUGHTS???

Kelly(s) from NCC & Simpson from SK. But watch the potential numbers for the little guy from CCHS, Johnson. People laugh at his 135 pound frame, calling him too little, but don't be surpised to see this young man put up big numbers in 6A this coming year. The kicker is, his own coaches may be worried about his size, as they will likely start the season with him in the slot, but will have to put him in the back field and take advantage of his incredible footwork.

Fiar, and you have a right to your opinion. The Bluegrass Knights proved year in and year out what they were capable of at every level. I don't know of another team in the NKY area that has the resume that they put up over the last few years. There is no doubt that all of the above mentioned teams were the best in NKY. I belive each would agree that on any night, one could beat the other. I don't know what the records were against each other, but if they were .500, then I prove my point, not that I am disagreeing with you. In any case, these teams put together arguably the best class in the NKY area in many years. I believe that the class of 2011 will produce some of the best baseball that this area has seen in many years. This is by no means a parent making boasts that everyone else is going to say "here we go again". Let time speak for itself, this is an extremely talented group and were instructed at the highest level.

Milfordflash, what do you mean?

Was Woodruff one of the top pitchers in NKY last year? I recall the Hurd kid as the Camels #1, I just don't recall Woodruff though.

Great point, and one that is lost way too often. With so few games that will be playted this spring, the trick will be identifying what you have and what you can do in May. Too much emphasis is put into wins and losses in March and early April, that once the real pressure time comes, you don't have enough horses with experience to make the one play that will mean a win or loss at Distric/Region time. Don't you bet, that this game is not just as big for the coaches though. A goodccoach understands that he has to put games into perspecitve, but there is always that game with the imaginary circle around it. The challenge for the coach, and I agree with you completely, is to let the game play itself out, make the best decisions that fit the moment and learn something about his team that can be used later.

Freshman or JV? As mentioned, Campbell County Freshman beat Ryle, I bleive they won a 10 run-rule game.

Brossart Freshman should be tough by the end of the season. They have a lot of kids who have great raw talent and Bobby Rowe's system is fantastic, I think it is too early to see how they can adjust.

Way to early, since there are not enough games in the book, but thoughts? JV 1. Cov Cath 2. Beechwood 3. Ryle 4. Campbell County 5. Dixie Freshman 1. NCC 2. Boone County 3. Campbell County 4. Ryle 5. Brossart

BufordT, Good Luck to you and yours. I respect you for what you do and why you do it. It's easy to be a critic, but again, a critic can be put in his place when dedication are hard work is being performed, which sounds like they way you have tried to shut up yours. That's what looks like needs to be done in Camel-land.

BufordT, I have no argument with anything that you are saying. But the posts on here do not suggest that this is an issue with parents who are upset that little Johnny is not getting playing time. As you suggest, and I can agree to a point, a teacher, a coach, an administrator, a parent, etc... should have a life. However, timing of these actions come into play. And it is unfortunate that the Sweet 16 historically falls the week before the Baseball season kicks off. And this is only an example of what we are reading on this post. There are many comments of behavior that is unbecoming of the success of program building. Let's face it, if your Senior starters are calling for additional practice, shouldn't the head coach see that as well? BUT, your best point is the POINT. It does fall back onto the administration. The School Super came to the CCHS district with his own posse. That posse included the current baseball coach as well as the hire of the former Basketball coach. In both cases, there have been both public and private rumblings of the direction of the sports programs at these two levels. And you are absolutley correct, there is always going to be someone that you cannot please, but let's face it, no one can argue with someone who dedicates themselves to the program. There are ton's of complaints about Coach Mueller from the Highlands parents, but NONE are questioning his loyalty, work ethic and dedication to building a system that works at every level. This is not just a CCHS issue, ask the fans at Dixie, Boone, Simon Kenton and Scott, just to name a few. These schools have a coach at one of the Big 3 sports, that dedication has been questioned. This thread started with fireball thrown at the Campbell County coach, fairly or not, but it is not just "rumbling and grumbling from Campbell County".

I like Beechwood. They are very well coached and have kids who know how to play in the BIG game. The downside to this year may be depth and experience at teh back-up positions. I say this with bited tongue, since the younger players know the game and have played against the best competition in their summer programs. They will compete.

Hmmm, wasn't there a Basketball Coach who did the same thing to his Baskebtall team, by saying it's his last year? He abandoned his team, his school who was looking for his best effort, and to the kids that he was responsible for leading. Look what happened to that program. As you EXCELLENTLY put it, it leads to less than best effort.

:flame: Sorry to disappoint you BB, but not a parent. Since I see that you are from PC, I guess that is why you are coming to defense of another PC'er. So, since you were wrong on your assumption, let's look at the facts and you tell me, did the PC Varsity baseball coach leave his team to attend the Sweet 16, not this year, but every year? Be honest! No my friend, if you want to build a winning tradition and a winning program, you dedicate yourself to those actions. You sacrafice the things that you would like to do for the betterment of YOUR program.

Bertke-Beech, Popham-Dixe, Kelly-NCC, Sullivan-Walton and Rebholz-CCHS all have the potential to be stars at the High School level. The best program in NKY was the Bluegrass Knights, and they have sent a tremendous number from the class of 2011 into the upper levels of their respective High Schools this year. This age group is deep, maybe one of the deepest in recent history. This age group took advantage of getting away from Knothole and putting a group of young men into the select baseball ranks, defintely a group that will be able to compete with the Lexington and Louisville kids. Keep and eye out for any of the kids who came from these Rosters: Bluegrass Knights, NKY Knights, Monarchs, NKY Riverbats, NKY Reds. These kids competed and won against the best competition in the nationally renowned SWOL league, and have travled all over the Mid-West and Southern states competing against the best teams in the country.

You are absolutely right. Parents should just sit and shut up when they don't like what is going on around them. We should all accept that they put mayonaise on our burger when we explicitly asked for it to be plain. We should all accept that gas is $3 per gallon, and say nothing about it. Kids don't doo their homework, dog messes on the carpet, "don't worry, be happy" blah, blah, blah. I have been coaching for several years as well, and one of the responsibilities for coaching, teaching, managing at your job, is being held accountable for your actions (or inaction as is the case in this thread). There is no coach in the High School rnaks that can every say they got into it because of the $$$. There is no money to be made, but there is a tremendous amount of greif that can be expected, right? Aha, that is where the challenge comes in, are you able to handle the grief? Grief is going to come, no matter what you do, but for the coach of the Camels at te Varsity to become less than motivated to be the very best, well I'm sorry, that is not acceptable. CCHS is a 6A school, there should be an expectation for excellence. The school finally rid themselves of a Basketball Coach who became so unmotivated, all anyone could do is pray for the day he retired. So the coach of the Camels must ask himself, what has he done to ensure the success of the program. If you want to be successful at the High School level year in and year out, you must have a plan for success. I must agree with an earlier post, how could a coach ever consider leaving every year the week prior to the 1st game of the season, and shut his team down because he wants to attend the Sweet 16 Basketball tournament? Do you think the the CCHS football coach will tell the boys that he won't be there the week before the first game (every year). No Way! No one would accept that, why should the baseball team. Has the Camel Coach participated with the JV players and coaches, Freshman players and coaches. Has he involved himself in the youth programs around the county. Yep, that goes way beyond the $3K he may be making to coach, but it instills a winning attitude and tradition. Just ask the football coach, it has worked for him.