All-Area (or county, etc.) teams

One of our All-Area teams (wrestling) came out today and there was some questionable voting done by the coaches (as there almost always is when it comes to this stuff).

Some state placers didn't get on either team (first, second and honorable mention), while others were at least honorable mention. A (former) parent who now serves as a volunteer coach at one of our schools e-mailed me today asking why some kids made the team and some didn't.

I told him that's how the coaches voted, and that's how it's always been for these teams.

My question is, is there a better way to handle All-Area stuff? How does your paper handle?

 

In our newspaper's All-Area teams, WE pick the teams with the exception of wrestling. The wrestling coaches in the area had always done an all-area team, so we go with theirs (in fact, the coach asked us to add a few names since some kids who made the state tournament weren't on the original all-area team that came out before individual duals).

But with the exception of wrestling, we pick our own all-area team. We ask for input, but at the end of the day, we make the call on who makes the teams.

 

always picked the teams ourselves. it's the "Podunk Press" All-Area team. not the "Podunk Area Coaches" All-Area Team.

 

coaches nominate their kids, send in stats or whatever. then the staff gets together and builds the team.

 

League all-star teams are voted on by the coaches here, but the paper that does the All-Area teams (football/soccer/hoops/wrestling) makes their own choices. They do use a committee of volunteers for football, because they cover so many teams in a six-county/two-state area, but I believe the SE runs that meeting. For everything else, they'll accept input, but the guy who leads their coverage of that sport has the final say.

 

Assuming you cover enough games to get a legitimate look at the players in your area, YOU pick the teams, with "input" from the coaches.

Leaving it up to coaches' votes, or for that matter, even nominations, opens the door to all sorts of politicking, sandbagging, score-settling and back-scratching, and throws all credibility out the window.

 

Depends. If they have large- and small-school divisions (or two different states, as in our area), some of the top kids in each weight class may never face each other.

 

Nah, nobody would ever do that.

Regards,
America East basketball coaches

 

Our all-area wrestling team comes out tomorrow. We have a 16-person team for our 7 high schools.
The 11 state qualifiers from our area were automatic. Then we had coaches and our staff vote on five wild cards and the wrestler of the year. No glaring omissions this season.

We have in the past had players of the year in some sports that I didn't agree with, but they were defendable.

 

Coaches are picking your all-area team. I think your problem is now solved. You pick em.

 

We run the coach selected teams and the teams we pick. Rarely a complaint.

 

What he (or she) said.