Glyde

Ahead of NDA? Brossart Volleyball and St. Henry Volleyball are miles apart.

My opinion: championship for the state does not = State Champion. Now that I know the reasoning from RS, remove the word "shoddy" since it was a conscious decision to include them on the list, and not an oversight or error in reporting - even though I personally disagree with the decision. Invitational means restricted to those who have been invited to participate. When you run a private tournament only for certain schools based on enrollment, technically it's an Invitational Tournament. Ex: Campbell County has not been invited to participate in the All-A due to their enrollment. It's worth stating again the the All A is a privately funded, managed, and run tournament with no official KHSAA connection.

The article said "A look back at high school state champions in Northern Kentucky for the 2013-14 school season:" I took that to mean official KHSAA Champions. Did I mis-read that? Yes, the All-A has it's place, but there are a lot of in-season tournaments in our state in every sport that are a heck of a lot harder to win (my opinion) based on the level of talent in the tourney, ie more big schools with deeper talent pools. I used to think there was a lot of pride in our state for having only 1 true State Champ (no classes) in many of our sports, but apparently that feeling has changed judging from the postings I am reading. One final thought - Is the winner of the NIT also considered a National Champion, listed right up there with the NCAA tourney champ?

No I don't think so. Since there's no All-A football tourney and the KHSAA already has established classes and official champions for football, I don't think football makes for a true comparison.

Thank-you RS for your response. I respect your excellent coverage of HS sports and your opinion, even though I don't share in your view of the All-A. Take just 1 apples to apples example - say boys basketball - CCH state champs, NCC All-A champs. I don't believe winning a small school invitational tourney which automatically excludes the bigger and in many cases more talented teams, is on the same level as a winning a KHSAA State Championship - in this example.

I don't think it's right that the Enquirer listed All-A Championships alongside KHSAA State Championships in a recent article sub titled "A look back at high school state champions in Northern Kentucky for the 2013-14 school season:" A salute to Northern Kentucky's champions I think this is very sloppy reporting. The All-A is an invitational tournament that excludes schools based on their enrollment. It is not the State Championship. You cannot list the CCH boys state basketball Championship alongside NCC boys basketball All-A tournament Championship. Same for NDA state soccer Championship vs NCC Girls' soccer All-A Championship. And I'm sure there are others. An All-A championship doesn't carry the same weight and it takes away from the true state champions by listing them as such. Either list only the KHSAA Champs or list every in-season tourney that every team won in every sport, because the All-A is just another in-season tourney.

GRC's 40th District only has 3 teams in it - often they only had to win 1 match to be District champs. And in 4 out of the 5 years they were champs, they lost their 1st Regional match against a District runner-up. I think most would say this is a step down for CC compared to their outgoing coach, who won the Region the last 2 years. I wonder if CC is having problems attracting quality candidates given the turmoil surrounding the school and coaches in other sports.