If Michael Jordan can get cut from of his sophomore basketball team I must ask how many talented kids are mistakenly pushed aside prior to ever reaching their potential.
The talent pool of the local youth football programs seem to flourish each and every year but sadly this group of kids somehow gets filtered out once they hit junior high to the point it is survival of the fittest to ever hit the high school field. Is this filtration due to outside competition such as soccer, tennis and cross country or is there more to it?
How many of these kids who may be diamonds in the rough get tired of standing on the sidelines or being subjected to the "B" team and never having an opportunity to showcase their skills because they are either too shy to jump in and try to run the ball for fear of failure or, in many cases, experience a late growing spurt but have already given up prior to becoming physically ready and able to contribute?
Are the coaches to blame or is the whole junior high athletics program including football with its' shortened seasons and limited focus at fault? No matter where the fault lies, the fact is that high school football programs in this state are not nearly as deep as they could be because somewhere along the line a handful of athletes fell through the cracks. Don't be so naive to believe that just because a high school sets up a camp in the summer that kids in the community will become more entrenched in football but reaching out to gain numbers is a must if a community wants a competitive varsity team year in and year out.
The extra effort spent by the current varsity players meeting with the next generation of players inside their classroom or attending their games probably goes a great distance toward the retention level of kids interested in the sport. Homecoming week is already distracting enough for the varsity team but at some point during the season the players and coaches themselves need to venture out and meet the kids and their parents and build some type of five year plan for success.
Though the fact may sound a bit ridiculous, it is understood that once an athlete hits his sophomore season if he has not begun receiving information from college recruits he is already behind in the recruitment process. Regional and national combines and summer college camps are available to players as young as seventh grade but unless a parent has experience with finding this level of training they will unintentionally put their child at a disadvantage by not giving them the training necessary to now compete on a national stage.
A varsity football team will spend twelve hours of on-field preparation for each Friday night game and the depth and talent of the scout team, "the look," is critical in preparing the "A" team for game action. If the varsity is not pushed during the week their level of preparedness will not be satisfactory for the big game and this becomes more evident as the season progresses. Teams with depth and numbers find success in November while teams without generally have a longer off season and seldom compete for state championships.
The discussion of school size always enters the equation here but if resources are utilized properly the number of athletes in a program will always be satisfactory. This takes a vision and a community coming together to withstand coaching changes and overcoming abnormally small class sizes but if competing for football championships is of utmost importance then having an on going game plan is essential.
A joint effort between two non-associated athletic programs may be part of the answer to gaining larger participation numbers for each sport. The benefits from playing soccer in the off season to establish better foot work for football is undeniable. An effort from the football program to encourage its athletes to participate in spring soccer will go full circle because the advantage of playing football for a soccer player is that it will increase their level of phyisicallity. Rather than competing with other sports for the limited talent pool in a given school district creative joint mergers with dual benefits for each program should be considered.
Much like an unbiased school board monitors the success of classroom accomplishments a sports board with an assembly of leaders should be formed to help support the ongoing training and recruitment of a community's student athletes. With the wellness programs instilled into school districts and the removal of pop and candy machines from inside the schools themselves the natural progression should be the encouragement that all students participate in some type of competitive physical activity.
This will probably never take place because sadly, the trend in many of the larger school districts nationally is to save money by scaling back on athletic programs' funding. Up until the recent bust of our economy funding for athletic programs and the travel associated with competing has not been a question in Wyoming but now school districts here too are tightening their spending and the first area reviewed is the cost associated with athletics. This fact is going to work against the growth in numbers of programs so creativity in fund raising activities is going to be more important than ever to be able to continue to place a competitive team on the field each and every Friday evening. Door to door sales by a large group such as the football team will reap financial rewards but smaller groups with higher travel costs such as the debate team who incur overnight expenses nearly every weekend throughout the winter sports season and well into the spring are going to suffer and may ultimately get cut purely based on financial.
Many obstacles exist in the retention of student athletes participating in sports and unless a school district has a concrete plan for success the best they can hope for is that their talent pool continue to be superior to those communities around them and eventually this plan is inevitable to fall short. Preparation and vision today creates luck and touchdowns tomorrow!
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