beverlybubba

One notable difference from the Courier-Journal All State team, Josh Harris, 1st team in the C-J, totally absent in the AP. Makes no sense to me. Congrats to those who were honored.

Sounds like you made the right move. Schools tend to be "friendlier" towards girls as it is. An "unready" boy might have an especially difficult time.

I'm referring to holding back a student who's started school and doing well solely for the purpose of excelling in sports. Two people I know did this with their sons in the 5th grade. As hoops5 partially points out, there are lots of psychological and social problems encountered when doing this. For beginners, the kid is cut off from their friends, given the message that they're not good enough to compete on the same level as their peers, excelling in sports in more important than living a normal childhood, making good grades, etc. At least when a child starts 1st grade a year late, many of these problems are avoided. Although, we do have a problem in this country with prolonged adolescence as it is. A person becomes a legal adult at age 18. Holding a kid back interferes with being able to behave as an adult. To me the point is to help kids to be good adults, not prolong childhood.

This is correct. Looking at KHSAA Bylaw 4 I think I see why many have their kids repeat around 5th and 6 grades. A student having been enrolled in the fourth (4th) grade or in any grade through twelfth (12th) shall not be eligible for interscholastic athletics at the high school level (grades 9 through 12) for more than a total of one (1) year in each grade and applicable eligibility shall begin in the first year enrolled in that grade. A student repeating a grade for any reason is ineligible to participate in interscholastic athletics at the high school level (grades 9 through 12) during the second year in that grade. In some schools, in some sports, kids play at the HS level from the 6th grade on. A lot of girls at my daughter's school play freshman basketball while in the 7th grade. (One played varsity.) If you waited till 6th or 7th grade to repeat, the child wouldn't be able to play any high school sport.

I certainly agree. My brother-in-law who teaches high school says everybody should be at least 18 when they graduate. Makes sense to me. Some people need to be held back because they're not intellectually ready or emotionally mature enough. One girl, a year behind me in school who was my age, I know was started in school a year late because she was so small. She was the smallest person in her class even though she was the oldest.

My sister turned 18 three weeks before graduating. National Honor Society, D1 scholarship for basketball, 1st string all state. Now a college professor. Anecdotal evidence means nothing.

Personally, I abhor holding kids back for sports. Yes, it helps some kids succeed in sports. Is that worth wasting a year of their life? The practice hurts kids who aren't held back. My son, who is a senior, won't be 18 until the end of March, 2011. At the recent Best of the Bluegrass All Star game, he said everyone other "kid" he asked was older than him. Seeing that he's 6' 3" and 285 lbs now, he would have been a monster in high school if he had been held back a year. (If held back, he would have been 265 lbs as a sophomore.) I can't see holding back a kid who is an honor student in the National Honor Society just to garner more recognition in sports. I'd had hated it if my parents had held me back. Unfortunately, too many colleges coaches don't seem to realize or care that a 17 year old 6' 3", 285 lb kid will grow and develop more than one who's 18 or 19.

I'm not really pulling foir anyone. Orca1 made a comment and Clyde replied that "productivity THIS YEAR ON THE FIELD" is what mattered. But, because I keep up with a lot of stats, I didn't feel this was necessarily the case and provided an example. It went from there. As far as the all state team goes, I view is as a combination of a popularity contest (not of players but of teams, districts, coaches, players, etc) and actual performance/ability. The big problem with all state teams is almost no one is really familar enough with football across the state to make accurate comparisons between many players, especially non-skill position players.

Josh absolutely deserves it. I would have named him "Athlete" like Flo Hardin from Ballard. Josh is an excellent running back and kick returner also. Obviously a valuable player. Naming him as linebacker ignores his other accomplishments.

Did I say I had a problem with Josh Harris? Nope. Josh Harris is an excellent player and deserves what he got. I said I wondered why another player who had excellent numbers as a linebacker and didn't even get an honorable mention. BTW - the stats are the only objective measure of performance.

You continue to make it up as you go along. First, I never said one kid should be 1st team and the other not. You're implying I did. But if productivity on the field matters, why was one kid completely ignored when he did more on the field at linebacker? Nothing is confusing me, you're simply being a contrarian who wants to deny the facts. BTW - that is only one example that easily jumped out at me. Several others make me wonder too.

I'm sure Clyde can explain it.

You make no sense at all. First you say productivity this year is what matters. Now you say it's something else, imaginary I presume. Just keep making it up as you go along and dig your hole deeper.

Not really. One kid not on the list at all missed the first two games due to illness, played middle linebacker, lead his team in tackles per games played, was second in tackles for his team despite missing two games. He had two interceptions with one returned for a TD. Another linebacker on his team with less tackles per game and also two interceptions but neither returned for a TD made 1st string all state on this list.

I have to wonder what matters most, PR or actual play.

Congrats to Trinity. The only other team I'm familiar with is Alcoa, TN which just won its 8th straight state championship and is ranked lower than Trinity by Rivals.

I hope so.

Wow. He was a workhorse. My heart goes out to him and his family.

Terrible. I hate to hear that. He played real tough. I pray for a speedy and full recovery.

Thanks. Nice meeting you and your son and I wish the best for you both.

A point I made in the earlier thread, or somewhere.There was a significant and easily noticeable difference in the size of the lines.

Yeah. In the summer or spring it could have been thunderstorms and tornadoes.

The weather was unusually bad for this time of year. You'll always have some sort of conflict with other sports. Playing this time of year can really help some kids get recruited. If it was held in the spring, many (most?) kids who had signed/committed wouldn't play. I wouldn't let my son play after committing. Nothing good could come out of it, but something bad certainly could. I think, from what I heard, that the Louisville coaches suggested the Louisville vs KY format. As far as friction goes, is East/West friction better than Louisville/KY friction. From what I saw, there wasn't any friction, just kids playing a game and shaking hands afterward. IMO this format stacks the odds against Louisville. The OL and DL for KY was much bigger than Louisville's.

The organizers and sponsors did a great job. The players loved the entire experience, except maybe eating at Golden Corral so often. I know my son fully enjoyed it and loved getting to know players from across the state.

Cross didn't surprise me. Mason County spent the last two seasons chasing him. Fortunately, MC caught him enough to win but I consider Cross the best running back Mason played against the last 2-4 seasons. I happened to sit behind his father, great guy.