twilyms

Every school has policies and codes of conducts their student athletes must follow 24/7. Also, in every school the top athletes get away with breaking these rules. Had Willie been first chair tuba player preparing for solo and ensemble of preparing for UIL one act play, he would have been whisked off and not been allowed to participate in any activities. Had this been an athlete from Central that was caught, all the Ozen backers would be calling for his head and the Central backers would be in their places defending him. Gifted athletes have always been able to break the rules. 30 years ago when I was in high school the top performers could do anything then. As sad as it is, it has always been that way and it probably always will.

Money doesn't buy a spot on a select team. There are tryouts. The best make it. Those that aren't good enough get sent packing. Once you make the team, there are monthly dues required that help finance uniforms, equipment, tournaments, etc. All kids pay the same, so no kid "buys" his spot. Select coaches are not gurus. Someone said high school coaches don't want to give up their nights and weekends to go see these players. Let me let you in on a little secret. Select coaches also have regular jobs. They give up their nights for practices. They give up their weekends for tournaments. Parents give up their nights and weekends for it. I guess some are willing to make more sacrifice than others.

I believe once you get to high school, the responsibility of the coach is to put the team in the best situation to win. Playing time is earned during practice time. When other influences other than ability determine who plays and who sits, that when credibility and respect are diminished. I can understand not playing the moron trouble making star, but when a better athlete is sitting because a kid's parent moved the coach to town or baby sits their kid's on the weekend, how do you respect that person?

I don't believe it is so much the select ball coaches as it is the athletes being able to play year round. The "select" player who plays year round has the definite advantage over the kid who has to get his glove out of the closet when practice starts up. The idea of a coach being respected just because they have the title "coach" in front of his name is insane. Maybe the position commands respect but it is the actions and results of the person in that postion that ultimately earns their individual respect.

The person doesn't get respect.... the title does..... example: I cannot stand Obama! I hate his policies, I think they are misguided, and I think things are about to get worse.... I don't like him at all, but I respect him as a politician because I respect the office of the president, and respect our country. He won the election, so I have to go along with what he sets... Dislike and respect are two different things. Main Entry: 1re·spect Listen to the pronunciation of 1respect Pronunciation: \ri-ˈspekt\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin respectus, literally, act of looking back, from respicere to look back, regard, from re- + specere to look more at spy Date: 14th century 1: a relation or reference to a particular thing or situation <remarks having respect to an earlier plan>2: an act of giving particular attention : consideration3 a: high or special regard : esteem b: the quality or state of being esteemed cplural : expressions of respect or deference <paid our respects>4: particular , detail <a good plan in some respects> in respect of chiefly British : with respect to : concerning in respect to : with respect to : concerning with respect to : with reference to : in relation to Please note - some side effects for Prozac may not be reported. Always consult your doctor or healthcare specialist for medical advice. You may also report side effects to the FDA at [Hidden Content] or 1-800-FDA-1088 (1-800-332-1088). Now that's funny.

One thing I should have added is that the coach should be given a chance. All too often, judgement is rendered way too swiftly and way too harshly. I still believe a title doesn't earn you respect, actions and results do. However, there should be a timetable of allowance to give that coach an opportunity to earn the respect he deserves.

Respect is earned, not deserved. The best advice I ever got was when I got promoted at my job, I was told, " No one will respect you just because you have a title. Prove to them you can do the job and the respect will come." That is the problem. A lot of coaches or so incompetent, it is hard to respect them. One example, a girl on our highschool team missed the first few weeks of the season with an ACL injury. This girl is a freshman. We have a new coach and he has never seen her play. When she was realeased she went straight to the varsity. How did this happen? Input from parents and outside forces have a lot to do with who made the varsity. How do you show respect for this guy when the talk in the stands is that his program is being run by a couple of the parents? That's why this program struggles to get to the level of the Centrals, the Kountzes, the Orangefields and the HJ's. This is why girls are quitting and people are frustrated. If an incompetent police officer was investigating the break in at your home, would you just sit back and remain quiet because a policeman should be respected? I don't think so. I totally disagree that you just respect the coach because he has a title. I think he needs to earn it like everyone else.

Nah, we're just kidding around out here in Hamshire. We're actually working on a summerstock theatre play :-X I bet the director's kid is automatically in the play and gets the best role.

Yes. Every player, excluding alternates, must qualify. They each have to play one full quarter. Rules such as this forces a coach to really coach or their weakneses in strategy will really show. Good luck with that.....Your coach was 0-2 right out of the gate in last years regional in Lubbock. Hopefully he will accept some help this year. I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm just a witness to it all, but, from what I hear, there is quite a bit of talent and if all the players are used properly good things could happen. Its a must that they are coached well. You could be right. That may be our biggest hurdle.

Wow, Dove should write romance novels. He could make the ladies all gooey inside.

Yes. Every player, excluding alternates, must qualify. They each have to play one full quarter.

I do agree with you guys. The best players should be the all stars. Name one year that has ever happened. Let me save you some time. NEVER. The huddles Dove was talking about was specifically for this reason. Everyone was wondering which deserving kids would be left off for a coach's kid. Everyone acts like this is some big surprise. I'm just saying I'm not surprised at all. Evryone knew this would happen. The only way to make it fair would be to leave coaches out of the selection process. Do I think the best kids made the team? No. Did I know they were selecting for spots to fill after coaches' kids? Yes. Is it fair? NO. Is it any different from every other year? No. Am I surprised? No, and you shouldn't be either.

Dove, I believe it is going to be a group effort. I wasn't there, but rumor is the second place coaches will be assisting with the coaching. Macattack, deserving or not, everyone knows the coaches' kids always make it. I really don't have a problem with it. They put the time in all year and they are going to give up a lot of time coaching the all star team. If they want their kid there I can live with that. I agree that there are probably a couple of deserving kids that got left out. Every allstar team is the same. The first seven or eight players are your best, then you get everyone else qualified and try to win the game. Playing your kid all the time while better kids sit on the bench, that's where the problem comes in. Let's give them a chance and assume they will do what's best for the team they have. If our top seven or eight are used correctly, this team can still win

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Ah Booger, I bet we could be great with our 6th and 7th graders, if we could get some parents to get their kids out of baseball and onto the court. Hmmm At 6'2 and 220 lbs, everybody wants a piece of Kam. Right now baseball IS his first choice, but he has three years until high school to decide which sport(s) he will settle on.

Ah Booger, I bet we could be great with our 6th and 7th graders, if we could get some parents to get their kids out of baseball and onto the court. Hmmm If Tyler keeps his 3point range, Kendrick can stay under a littl bit of control and Kameron keeps growing - put them with your boys and the rest of the guys and we may have something. They will be our secret weapons for right now. HJ is going down in a few more years. When our All-Stars are announced Saturday, I think you will get a glimpse of the beginning of a brighter future for HF basketball. I have a feeling that this team might be pretty good.

Never say never.

Ah Booger, I bet we could be great with our 6th and 7th graders, if we could get some parents to get their kids out of baseball and onto the court. Hmmm If Tyler keeps his 3point range, Kendrick can stay under a littl bit of control and Kameron keeps growing - put them with your boys and the rest of the guys and we may have something.

I believe HF will be in good shape in a few years. Don't know if we will be the best, but we will definitely be competitive. With a couple of the eighth graders, the talented seventh graders and an athletic bunch of sixth graders, we may be a factor in two or three years. Until then, get your licks in because some day the worm may turn.

Do you think maybe it is because the girls know each other so well? These girls play against each other all year and in some cases with each other during the offseason. I know my daughter plays softball against a teammate just about every game in high school. She wants to win just about as bad as anyone, but it kills the rivalry when you are only rivals for three months and then on the same team nine months out of the year.

A 6' 8" post - a 6' 5" forward with a smooth jump shot - a 6' 2" ball handler and 9 more guys that can play defense and we will have our power house.

I was hoping to see Kevin Weldon's name on that list. Still, this is a good list. PNG should get a coach that can take them to where they expect to be. Mr. Weldon was born and raised in Port Neches, Texas where he graduated in 1978 from Port Neches-Groves High School. He graduated from Sam Houston State University in 1982 where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Kinesiology and History. His professional career began in 1983 in Splendora where he taught History and was an assistant football and baseball coach. Mr. Weldon taught Physical Education and became Head Baseball Coach for Splendora High School in 1984 and held that position until 1990. The baseball program won 4 district championships and advanced to the state playoffs a total of 7 times while Kevin Weldon was named “Coach of The Year” 3 times during that time span. In November 1989, Mr. Weldon was promoted to the position of Athletic Director and Head Football Coach by the Splendora ISD Board of Trustees, a position that he held for the next 13 years. The Wildcats advanced to the playoffs 6 times and he was named District Coach of The Year 5 times by his peers. He was Montgomery County Coach of The Year in 2001 and selected as East Texas Coach of The Year in 1991 and 2001. In 2002, Mr. Weldon received his Masters Degree in Education from Texas Southern University. He became a Central Office Administrator in 2006 and assumed the duties of Facilities Director which included district security, new construction, renovations, bond referendums and technology. Kevin Weldon was appointed as the 22-AAA UIL Executive Director by the superintendents of each member school of the district in 2006. He is a member of the East Montgomery County Rotary Club where he holds the office of Secretary. Mr. Weldon completed his superintendent certification from Stephen F. Austin State University in the spring of 2007 and was elevated to Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services for Splendora ISD. He has been a guest speaker at several local civic organizations as well as seminars at the state level. He too has been a guest instructor at Stephen F. Austin State University and Texas Southern University in the education departments.

Coach is a great guy. Do you think the HJ and OF programs got to be where they are by coaches being "good guys"? No these programs got to where they are by putting the best players on the floor in the right situations. When you play players with freshman level or JV level talent against varsity level competition, you get beat. That's just the way it is with this program right now. For some reason no one can figure, our best players are not on the floor. It's not just a sour grapes situation. Not only are our fans who have watched these girls since they first picked up a basketball dumbfounded, but knowledgeable basketball fans from other schools are baffled by our rotation as well.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 GRACE ON A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD One of my favorite Sports Writers is Rick Reilly. For years, the first page I would read in my Sports Illustrated magazine was his column on the back page. Rick has left SI and writes for ESPN Magazine now. One of his recent columns was so good that I want to share it with you. The following is his article: They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through. Did you hear that? The other team's fans? They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions. It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on — by name. "I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville 's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!" And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach. But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas . Every game it plays is on the road. This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville , but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets. So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth." Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?" And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you." Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders! "I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'" It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!" Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still. After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us." And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears. As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player. The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know." And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night. Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free. Hope. by Rick Reilly, ESPN Magazine ********

We are from the Fannet area. Kids from all over the area are playing for this organization. So far, we don't have one complaint. Bring your boys out. If they can play, the other kids will accept them just fine.