Here’s the thing about HS stats. They’re only as good or bad as the HC wants them to be. For ML games, every entry the SK makes, another scorer checks to be sure it was legally made before the data is entered into the database by the second SK. The people who do that and query the data are not parents of players in the game or coaches who have tons of other things they’re responsible for. They’re well-paid people who typically earn their living doing what they do.
In the almost 20 years I’ve scored HS ball, my pay has varied from a dog and a Coke to $5 a game, to what I get now which is nothing. I do it because I love it. Here’s a typical game for me. Because I live 15 mi from the closest field and 20 mi from our team’s home field, I have at least a half-hour trip both ways. The games run from 2-3 hours, so just doing the game is a 3-4 effort. When I get home, I go over every play on the scoresheet and make sure the data in scoring app matches what took place. That eats up a good hour. Then I write the team newsletter and print all the stats, then post them on my web site which takes another hour at least. Then I send the coaches the stats for the game.
Next I post the stats on MaxPreps. Even though that’s done electronically, I verify all the stats to make sure they’re correct and posted to the right player. You see, several players on our team have different uniform numbers for away jerseys, but MaxPreps only allows one number, and that’s how the stats are tied to the player. Then there are times when a player from the JV is called up or a player has to wear someone else’s jersey. So I have to make sure the stats match the player by making sure every entry is correct.
By the time I’m completely done, I have a solid 6-7 hours in, and that happens 27 times every season. Is all that necessary? It is if you want to have confidence that the statistics reflect what’s actually going on. Now for teams where the HC coach is trying to do what I do and what he’s responsible for, it may well be he’s putting in another 3-4 hours every game. Some coaches try to do everything, but many set priorities and the stats are on the low end of the priority list. I believe every coach would love to have accurate stats to work with, but simply won’t do what’s necessary to have it happen.