Horny teens and the LSU gymnast

Girls wrestling in Colorado is sanctioned now. Our school district has a district team, no high schools have their own yet. There was girls golf when I was in high school 30 years ago. Kind of interesting how places vary.

 

I think it’s the last 20/25 years kids are playing one sport year round rather than doing two or three in high school. Summer is big for travel and tournaments and club seasons during school when the high school sport isn’t playing. Basically there’s an understanding kids will play for their schools and take a break from club. A few will forgo school sports but they are the exception (you can’t to both at the same time).

It’s honestly sad it’s gone that way. Specialization is getting younger. And a vast majority won’t sniff higher than an NAIA spot in college. But everyone is chasing the scholarship and it isn’t good for kids.

 

Earvin Johnson played HS basketball at a public school 2 miles from his house (bused there for desegregation purposes instead of the school 1/2 mile from his home). He stayed there all 3 years and led them to a state championship his senior year. He never played in front of an empty seat his last two seasons of HS.

He went to a university 5 miles from his house. He became a demigod.

Emoni Bates played for his hometown HS and led them to a state title his sophomore year.

He then went to play for a traveling all star team coached by his dad. He then went to Memphis where he struggled due to injuries and other reasons.

Now he has transferred to a university 5 miles from his home, in his hometown. Has he become a demigod?

No, by and large, nobody gives a fuck.

 

The elephant in the room, too, is that it's a hell of a lot tougher to line up an athletic ride out of high school these days. And that is for a number of factors.

The portal is clearly at the top, because most major and mid-major coaches will tell you they get more of a finished product when they bring in transfers. Didn't we see that about 50 percent of starting QBs in FBS this year were transfers?

But there's also COVID providing an extra year to an entire class of student-athletes. And the graduate year for fifth-years.

So I can understand why the 16-year-old basketball stud might want to help his chances.

 

In terms of baseball here, if my kid is playing say 14U as a freshman in high school when most play 14U as 8th graders, the seasons do overlap so that's where there could be some consideration. Also used to be in baseball here you'd keep playing with your school in summer leagues after the season was over. That appears to long have gone away. Some better programs may have developed their own travel type teams, but most play separately.

I know all this varies by sport, but it seems like the club level and the high school level is getting more and more mixed. We have friends whose daughter has become a decent enough swimmer. She's competed regionally and nationally. She recently went to an out-of-state competition, yet it is the girls high school season right now. She's a freshman, so I thought maybe she just isn't swimming for the school yet or at all. Then my friend posted a photo not long ago of her kid in the school's swim cap, so who the hell knows?

I look at the specialization earlier and earlier and just don't get it. How do you know how your kid is going to grow or what their interests are going to be in a few years? What about burnout? Even injuries? My sixth grader had a basketball teammate this year who is 5-7, 5-8 with all the tools. He is a pretty darn good player, and huge for sixth grade. Looking at his parents and an older brother who is well into high school, he probably isn't growing a whole lot more unless he hit a genetic jackpot. So he should remain a good player, but if he specializes to get that college scholarship he might be out of luck.

I look at my own kid, who still plays three sports, and think, he could be a pretty good basketball player. He likes it a lot, too, especially playing for his school. Ask him if he wants to play in another season before baseball or go to a camp or whatever. And he pretty much always says no. So, it is kind of up to him in that regard. I know that isn't the case for many kids.

 

Is there anything scarier, and also gutsier, in sports than a little kid doing a backflip while having to nail the landing high atop a 4-inch-wide piece of polished wood? I can't even imagine what the first one, two, five, 50 attempts are like.

 

the only thing scarier is being that kid’s parent and watching her do that. Beam is my daughter’s best event but I don’t breathe when she’s on it.

 

I honestly hate that sport

 

Yeah. My thoughts exactly. You can get the yips in golf, but not on a balance beam. I don't know how they do it.

 

Dustin Salisbery has a kid old enough to be in high school? Damn. /endthreadjack

 

Back in my coaching days, which coincided with the rise of web sites and social media, we had a guy covering stuff that got a little too chummy with high school girls.
I honestly don't know if the guy was a perv or just didn't have good sense.
Either way, I wouldn't let him interview one of my girls unless I was nearby. I told them if he ever did anything on school grounds that made them feel uncomfortable, let me know immediately. If he DMd them on social media in a way that made them uncomfortable, let their dad know immediately and me about a half second later.