Football eclipses Baseball?

quillgirl - we've got the same kind of thing in our area. Football rules! (gag me!!!) They can call football practice everyday of the week and no one complains - try to do that in baseball and everyone squaks. Our HS players would always go to football at the expense of baseball and it was always allowed. I say you should have to pick at some point because it's not fair to the team left hanging. Yes it's nice to be able to play more than one sport - but guess what - life if full of choices - it's time they had to make some. (sorry, but the whole football thing gets my dander up)

At this moment, I have to say football is more annoying than s****r. I don't know that many good baseball players who are (or would be) s****r players, but I know any number of football/baseball players. And football is now year-round, and it is king when push comes to shove. Grrrr!

I know that around here they say the emphasis is on FB because it brings in revenue - well so could baseball if we had a proper field on school grounds and if we played some 7pm games instead of 4pm when everyone is still at work. Our guys have to go use a local community field whick is sad at best and the HS kids can't even just stay after school to watch the game. They have to have a car or a ride. It's sad but I've grown to despise FB because that's all the world's about! Double Grrr.............

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Originally posted by Hoovmom15:
we've got the same kind of thing in our area. Football rules! (gag me!!!) They can call football practice everyday of the week and no one complains - try to do that in baseball and everyone squaks. Our HS players would always go to football at the expense of baseball and it was always allowed.

In my local high school, not only is it allowed, it is mandated! The spring hs schedule--(football) weights at 6:00 -7:30 AM, then school, then a baseball game, usually starting at 4:30. By the middle innings, the football baseball players are exhausted.

The summer schedule isn't much better: Weights at 6:00, football "camp" from 8-12, then the summer league game at 2:00, usually a double header. Unless 7 on 7 is scheduled. Then the football players, I'm sorry, the baseball players who play football are required to leave for the football game.

Oh by the way, the school's "athletic director" is also the head football coach--a role he's played since 1969. In fact, he taught me to drive...and the songs on the AM car radio (!) included It's Too Late, Draggin' the Line and Rainy Days and Mondays! Just to let you know how long ago that was!!!! It's ridiculous.

Oh by the way-- Part Two--with the exception of the head basketball and girls gymnastics coaches and maybe the badminton coach, every other coach at the high school either coach football, too, or are involved with football in some other way. That's how much clout the guy has.

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we've got the same kind of thing in our area. Football rules!

Football rules for football players, and baseball rules for baseball players. Appreciate the fact that these young men are dedicating themselves to something other than playstation, drugs, or just hanging out waithing for the next day to start. I was once a "anti-other-sport" kind of guy until my son left the roost. I then saw the big picture where a large number of HS kids were not involved in anything. I've changed my tune and say if your passion is Football, go for it, if it baseball, go for it, and if it's sokker, let's sit down and talk.

That seems to be how it is

At my school,a school rich with football tradition(produced Saints WR Robert Meachem,and many others),football will always be first.Thats how it is at most schools,all over the country

Our games are played on an average field,at 4pm,while football plays on a turf field at 7pm on friday infront of 10thousand people.

From our local paper last week "To play in college, high school athletes vie for ways to beat the odds
Students should choose wisely if scholarships are the goal"

Part of the survey:

NCAA Sports with the least probability for high school male athletes to play in college: men's wrestling (37-1), men's basketball (27-1) men's track & field (24-1)

men's tennis(18-1) men's golf(17-1) football(16-1)

Those with the highest probability:
men's lacrosse (8-1) men's swimming (13-1) men's baseball (14-1) men's socker (15-1)

Those sports with rapidly increasing demand for athletes: men's baseball & socker. Decreasing demand: men's track & field and swimming.

For the full article: https://www.ajc.com/search/content/sports/highschool/st...pthsscholarship.html

(You might have to join to read it, but it's free.)

quillgirl:

I love baseball above all else, but I must say that there is NOTHING like Friday Night high school football, especially if your son is out on the field with his friends. Every game matters and the teamwork, detremination and toughness required are qualities that can build strong character and benefit a young man for a life time.

It is often difficult to play more than one sport, but I tip my cap to all those who try. And to do it successfully is an even greater accomplishment. If you are in a competitive school and you can succeed at both it not only speaks volumes about your talent and dedication, it often will make you better at both.

By the way, in regard to scholarships, in nearly every case if it is a scholarship the family seeks, they would most often be better off saving their money because the money they spend on baseball if invested would bring about a greater scholarship than what eventually will be offered in this era of 11.7. Play for the opportunity and for love of the game.

Agree about scholarships, jemaz. What I took from the article was the bit about the odds of playing in college. For us, it's not about the scholarship but the opportunity to play.

My guy has been a successful two sport athlete, but has redirected his focus to one sport, with the other becoming his hobby. He received MVP last year in his hobby sport at school. He received "rookie of the year" for his focus sport. Could have gone either way, but he chose baseball. I think you eventually have to choose. It's hard to devote the proper amount of year round training to two sports at the high school level. At least not in the south where outdoor sports can be played year round, and usually are.

I think for football players, that is the focus sport because of the importance placed on it in schools and communities and by coaches, so baseball becomes their hobby. Even if they are good at bball, they choose football over it.

I never attended a school with a football team, so can't say I've ever felt that high about it. My dad was a college player, but he didn't pass it on to his kids. I've been to plenty of games, but no real connection to it. No emotional reaction other than aggrevation that it is a major handicap for our summer team.

quillgirl ... I share your Georgia location, where HS football definitely rules the roost. My son plays both football and baseball. When it will get REALLY difficult for the combo player is in July, when the football coaches require attendance at optional workouts. That is when in my son's case he has to choose between a baseball tournament -vs- sitting out one full football game because of falling short of the required number of workouts. And it kills them to sit on a Friday night.

rz1

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Football rules for football players, and baseball rules for baseball players.

I agree with rz1 on this one.
Choose the sport/sports that make you happy, and you feel you have the best chance to succeed.

All (team) sports are team building.
EH

The one sport athlete, nothing like leading straight for injury. Last night we had our spring sports banquet. Out of all of the athletes in our school (950 students) we had maybe 20 qualify for our school’s “3 sport Athlete” award which is given out to all athletes who earn a Varsity letter in 3 sports during the same academic year. But, there are a lot more who play multiple sports at our school as underclassmen. I can’t think of one sport at our school that insists an athlete play only that sport. In fact, our coaches encourage us to play another sport. Our baseball coach has convinced kids to play football strictly to get a little bit of a more aggressive attitude.

Tomorrow morning at 6:55 there will be athletes in the weight room under the supervision of our football coach. Out of the 30 that will be in there, I’d guess 15 of them are football players. The others are basketball players or baseball players. Some of them play two or more. Thursday those same 30 will be in there again with our baseball coach in charge. There are a few of us who have been going at it nonstop rotating from sport to sport for the last 48 months. Sometimes we would play all 3 sports in a single day!

From the sounds of your schools, I don’t think I would play a sport at other schools. I know we’re real lucky here in that all of our coaches get along pretty well (except maybe our wrestling program). It is not a big surprise to find our football coach at a basketball or baseball game or even a s****r game. Our baseball coach seems to always be at our basketball games or football games. And our basketball coach has been known to show up at football games and even the occasional practice. He used to officiate football so he’d come so we could work on some timing stuff at practice. Our s****r coach is always at football games. He and our football coach even share a couple players and very seldom are there conflicts between the two. I wish more schools had as great of relationships between coaches at our school does. It sounds like very few do.

Bulldog...Sounds like you have two pretty good coaches who understand the football/baseball players.

Beenthere, our 4 coaches of what I'd consider to be the main male sports all work extremely well together: baseball, basketball, football, and s****r.

There's no spring football here..

Hey bulldog, I don't mean to give you a hard time, but Waterloo is a small town close to where I grew up and small town sports are much different than big town sports. How many kids in your graduating class?

In most small towns there are only about 15 athletes in the whole school and they have to play 3+ sports.

I started all three in Beardstown. Go Tigers!

DonutMan, Friday night I believe there will be approximately 221 graduating seniors in my class. Our school has approximately 960 students currently, but is expected to soar up around the 1300 mark in the next 10 years due to a new school being built that ground work was started this fall.

My brother's class, as sophomores, is approximately 280 students.

Waterloo, in case you've been gone awhile, is just under the 10k mark (city is paying for census this fall) and is expected to be over that 10k mark when new subdivisions are added. Also, the Waterloo School District emcompasses much of Monroe County which is listed as one of the fastest growing counties in the countries.

We may be smaller than some, but there's not much "small town" left in our school.

Bulldog,
Glad to hear that at least that part of downstate Illinois is growing. It had been 20 years(dang I'm getting old) since I was through there. Keep up the good work.

We moved to Phoenix a few years ago and I have been told that my sons class will have at least 1200 students in it. Sports are very competive and most kids his age(12) have already specialized. You can tell the differnce between the travel kids in every sport. And since the weather always cooperates in the desert, all sports are year round. It is the rare kid that shines in more than one sport.

That being said, he plays several sports, but he will have to choose sooner or later.