Rebel Yeller

Mark Williams the Evadale Rebel's Haed Coach confirmed that the Rebels will once again host their annual "Midnight Msdness" practice at 12:01 AM on Saturday August 11th.

The Rebels have been one of the very first teams in the state to put on the pads and practice for each of the last 7 years. The stands are full of parents, students and others from the community all waiting to hear the first pops of the pads in a brand new season.

The Rebels will have a tough task this year with their new district alignment that includes Teneha and Mount Enterprise. Teneha is the defending 1A Division 2 State Champion and Mount Enterprise lost the Region 3 championship to Teneha last year. The Rebels have won district five years in a row and have been to the playoffs for the past seven years and this years team wants to continue the tradition of success on the field.

Hope that all the area teams and players have a great week of practice beginning next week, well most of the get started next week. To the new coaches I hope you and your teams get off to a great start and of course we pray for an injury free year for the players. It is time to get the bands, drill teams, cheer leaders and fans set and ready, because it is just about time for football SETX style.

I can hardly wait! 

You know tradition is a two edged sword. If you have been good and remain that way then the cutting goes to your opponents, but if your team has a few down seasons then watch out for the backlash!

How many times have winning coaches had to pack and leave because they stayed a couple of seasons too long. How many times has a coach come in and followed a winning coach who moved on when that coach moved on knowing the talent was drying up had to endure the slings and arrows of losing.

Lets be honest, we treat HS coaches just like we do college and professional coaches and I for one believe it is unfair. Any coach other than HS can recruit or draft players to fill needs. I know we have coaches and parents who shop their kids to other schools for athletic purposes, but that happens a lot less than we might think. HS coaches are there week in and week out. They work with the young men and women that come out for their sport from their school. They put a team together and they play. When they win we think they are great and when they don't we think they are bums!

Well the life lessons of HS sports are what are most important to me. I know that winning is fun and we have had lots to cheer about here in Evadale for the past five or six years in all sports. But if this year we don't win games it is not because the coaches quit coaching or the players quit playing. In life sometimes you just don't win. But for 98% of the student athletes who will never play at the next level it has to be about learning that hard work is good. Team work is good. Discipline is good and that games are just a tool to learn about life and how to live it.

What have you done lately for your coach or athlete to show them that their worth is not about wins, but is about being people of good character!

[quote name="H-D BOBCAT 55" post="1234437" timestamp="1341758553"]
[quote author=Rebel Yeller link=topic=100843.msg1234420#msg1234420 date=1341751551]
[quote author=Grayghost link=topic=100843.msg1234322#msg1234322 date=1341683953]
Just in time for Tenaha and Mt Enterprise to light it up. Seriously, congradulations!!
[/quote]

Well we only get Mount Enterprise at home this year, but no one will be able to say that Evadale plays in a weak district for the next couple of years that is for sure!
[/quote]You play where they put you. I know H-D has a tougher overall schedule compared to Evadale's. Normangee, Groveton, and Lovelady just to name 3.
[/quote]

Well we get one state champion and one regional finalist did any of those three end up that deep in the playoffs? And just get ready all you will hear for the next two years is how weak yall's 4 team district is. You will have to make it to a regional game or beyond to get any respect.

[quote name="Grayghost" post="1234322" timestamp="1341683953"]
Just in time for Tenaha and Mt Enterprise to light it up. Seriously, congradulations!!
[/quote]

Well we only get Mount Enterprise at home this year, but no one will be able to say that Evadale plays in a weak district for the next couple of years that is for sure!

Last month the Evadale ISD accepted a donation from Eastex Federal Credit Union that will help place a brand new scoreboard at the football stadium. This $36,000 scoreboard will be just another piece in some of the finest facilities in a 1A school in Texas.

the LED scoreboard will be larger than the present scoreboard with an electronic message board that will flash items of interest throughout the game.

The scoreboard is on order and is scheduled to be installed before the first home football game.

See you at the Battlefield!

I had another thought as I have driven by several football fields in the past couple of weeks. At this time of year when rain tends to be less of an occurance, football fields are lush and green. Grass! Lush, green, and waiting for that cut before the lines are painted on and the games begin.

Here in Evadale the grass is green, in Silsbee its green there too, in Buna, in Kirbyville, and all over SETX. The sprinklers are going and the grass it is growing. At some point in late October most of it will be beaten down and depending on the weather during games some of the fields will get pretty rough by the end of the season, but for now. It is just another one of those hopes that springs up in every school and with every player. That hope is that the season will be as successful as the grass growing is during the summer.

The 6A Idea has been tossed around for many years. Schools like Plano that fought to keep only one school in their community until it could no longer except enrollments growing close to 5000. Look at Katy just west of us. They have gone from a single high school to their very own district in just over 10 years.

The UIL is not a part of the Texas Education system (it's owned and operated by the University of Texas) and it has found a cash cow in the multipule divisions in the larger sports. If 5 championship football games made money for the UIL think what 10 must do now. The same goes for the Division 1 & 2 basketball for boys and girls. The UIL does not receive money from any round of the playoffs short of the state games. Why would they drop from 10 to 6 playoff games? That would not make good business sense!

So you can look for the same alignments for years to come. The only real change I can see is the State Education Agency forcing 1A schools into situations where they have to merge with larger schools in order to provide mandated services or programs that their budgets will not allow. If that happens then you just might see reclassification, but it will not have the same form as any of us would expect it to be.

Just wait and see what happens, I believe the landscape of high school athletics will look much different in 10 years and the busineeses that are advertising on the scoreboards and programs will soon be making deals for their names to be on uniforms. Get ready for high school athletes to begin looking like international soccer players as schools sell jersey ads to try to have budgets for school athletics.
 

Wow it is hard to believe that football scrimages start in just 74 days! I know that people on SETXsports get excited most about football. We love our basketball, baseball, volleyball, softball and all the other sports our children and community kids are involved in, but football is what fills the stadiums, brings out bands, cheerleaders, pep squads, spirit flags and so much more.

Right now every team believes they will be the state champion and that regardless of the summer heat the prize is waiting for them and their teammates.

This will be my second year without a child in uniform, but after last year I can still say that there is no better show on any given Friday night than high school football in Texas. So to all the players prepare yourselves to excell. To the coaches sharpen your game plans to perfection. To the bands learn every note to the school fight song and prepare to have plenty of reasons to play it. To the cheerleaders, pep squads, drill teams and others who pump up the crowds do it higher, more inline and more over the top than ever before because for a few those dreams of a state title will come true and with 74 days left before your team can hit somebody else there is no reason to believe that one of those teams won't be yours!

Got me there! So what Super Regional is Lamar in this week?[
quote author=puddin tane link=topic=100377.msg1228619#msg1228619 date=1338911916]
Lamar [b]18[/b]-#20Baylor [b]17[/b]

go BIG RED
[/quote]

As a graduate of Baylor University I have endured many years of being a fan with not a lot of success to show for my support, but support I did. There is still a shelf in my office that proudly displays plenty of Baylor "stuff" and my diploma hangs on the wall behind my desk. So I hope you won't begrudge me the opportunity to be very proud of my university as the end of this year draws to a close.

This year will always be tied to RG3 and his run to the Heisman Trophy. He is a once in a life-time combination of athletic ability, leadership and being a fine young man. I personally wish he had gone to some other team that Washington, once a Cowboys fan always a Cowboys fan, but I wish him great success (well maybe not in two games a year). The football team as risen under the coaching of Art Briles and that rise will bring football back to campus soon with a brand new Baylor Stadium. The concept drawings of the statium and the surrounding area are breathtaking. Once this stadium is built it will just help to continue the elevation of the program. It and the completion of a new track stadium will mean that Baylor has comproable to better practice facilities and venues than almost any other university in the country.

Basketball was a two headed monster for Baylor this year. A women's national championship and the men with still another run deep in the tournament. With a second womens title and the entire starting 5 return for the Lady Bears next season they have to be the favorites to repeat and if Britney Griner continues her year to year improvement it could be really special to see her next season. The men continue to knock on the door and coach is recruiting some of the finest in the country. It is more difficult to do this in the "one and done culture" that goes against the educational mandate of colleges, but it is what it is.

Baylor Baseball is in a super regional after finishing the regular season as the #4 national seed. They are of course hopeing to eliminate Arkansas for a trip to Omaha and the College World Series. Track and field is still in contention with 11 individual or relay entries in the NCAA championships this week.

Baylor also had a national championship in equistrian this year! All 19 teams that the Bears field in NCAA sports made it to post season play and last week Baylor set an NCAA record for most wins by a D1 program in a single school year. That number is now 126 and could climb higher.

So 2011-2012 will forever be etched in the minds of the Baylor Nation and it is my hope that those dark days are long gone. It is fun to cheer for a winner, but regardless I am still a Baylor Bear and will be till I die.

Still have room if you know of a senior that would like to play!

This Saturday at 6 & 7:30 PM the SETX All Star Basketball Games will be held at the Evadale High School gym on FM 105 a half mile south of Hwy 96.

The girls will tip off at 6 followed by the guys at 7:30 tickets will be available at the door. $5 for adults and $3 for 12 and under. The proceeds go to the Evadale Catfish Festival King & Queen Scholarship fund.

If you know of a senior player that has not been contacted you can give me a call @ 409 466-2641. We have a couple of spots for girls left and we can squeze in a few guys.

Hope to see plenty of people there for a couple of great games!

Again one last chance to get nominations from the schools listed we need your help!

We are preparing to start making invitations to senior basketball players from the area for the SETX All Star Classic. The games will be played on Saturday, April 14th in the afternoon and into the evening at the Evadale Rebel Gym on FM 105 a half mile south of Hwy 96.

As of March 29th here are the schools that we do not have nominations from
No nominations from girls or guys
Larger Schools - Vidor, LCM, WOS, Orangefield, Bridge City, Hardin Jefferson, Ozen, Central, West Brook, PA Memorial
Smaller Schools - West Hardin, Kountze, Buna, East Chambers, Ahahuac, Sabine Pass, High Island, Kelly, Orange Community, Legacy, Colmnesneil, Chester, West Sabine & Burkeville

If you have connections with any of these schools and can get a message to their coaches please have them send me a personal message or respond to [email protected]. We need the names of their nominees and a contact phone number so we can invite the players to participate. The list of players should be 1 through 3 as all #1's will be contacted first before we work our way down the list.

Tickets to the games will be $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and younger. Please help us make one final appeal to the coaches to nominate their players for this years SETX All Star Classic. The proceeds from the games will go towards scholarships given to Evadale graduates.

Just send me a personal message here on setx or send me an email [email protected]
[
quote author=Baller 93 link=topic=98109.msg1202234#msg1202234 date=1332794839]
Whats ur contact information?
[/quote]

The date has been set for April 14th.

The invitations will be made starting on Thursday (March 29th) and we wanted to give area coaches one last opportunity to nominate senior players to participate in the SETX All Star Classic.

You can send a personal message to me here on SETX with the name and a phone number of players girls and guys. Once we have invited all those that have been nominated we will make the final determination how many games we will have. It all depends on the number of players.

Tickets will only be available at the door and the cost will be $5 for adults and $3 for kids 12 and under. The proceeds will go towards the Evadale Catfish Festival King & Queen Scholarship Fund that will give out up to four $1000 scholarships this year.

Once we have a list of the players that are participating the names will be released and we hope that interest will grow for this years games.

Thanks for the cooperation of several area coaches, but we still need more nominees from coaches. Please help us to recognize some deserving student athletes.

WEll since Wes Williams was last years QB and he will be a senior in 2012 it is his job going into the season I would presume.

Still looking for nominations from coaches, please help us out.

Thanks

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 14th

3 PM - 3A to 5A Girls Game
4:30 PM - 3A to 5A Boys Game
6 PM - Private to 2A Girls Game
7:30 PM - Private to 2A Boys Game

We will be making contact with nominees over the next couple of weeks, so coaches please send me those personal messages with your teams nominees in order 1, 2 & 3 that you would like to see them contacted. We need names and contact phone numbers as we will contact all the #1's first before making our way to the #2's then the #3's. If a schools higher numbered nominee declines the invitation then we will immediately contact the next number so we can have as many schools represented as possible.

We will tell the players to bring both their dark and light uniforms as unforeseen circumstances might keep players out at the last minute and we might have to make adjustments to the teams.

The games will all be held at the Evadale gym on the Evadale ISD campus located on FM 105 a half mile south of Highway 96. The tickets for the game are $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under. The proceeds will go toward the Catfish Festival Scholarship fund. The snack bar will be open during the games and the format will allow you to see players from your school in back to back games.

Special note: in the event that we do not get enough nominations for girls we will have a Private to 5A that will be in the 6 PM time slot so again fans can still see players from their schools in back to back games.

Just a quick note that we hope to have the date firmed up in the next week or so. We still need nominations especially from the girls coaches, but we need them from guys too. Please be sure that your coaches send me a personal message with the name and phone numbers of three players. They should be in order as the #1's will be invited first then the #2's then the #3's.

We are settling into a Saturday in mid April, but that is not confirmed. So please help get the word out that we need nominations. They can still be mailed to Box 45 Evadale, 77615.

Tickets to the game will be available at the door. Adults $5 and children under 12 will be $3. The proceeds go to the Catfish Festival Scholarship Fund.

Thanks again for you assistance and we look forward to hosting some great games filled with All Stars!

The SETX ALL STAR Basketball games are being postponed! Due to the number of teams still in the playoffs it was determined as well as the lack of nominees that have been sent in that we will move the date back in all likelyhood into April.

THE GAMES WILL STILL BE PLAYED!

We will be working with the Evadale Athletic Department to secure a date and know that only a few athletes have been contacted and they will told about the postponement.

When the new date is secured we will post it through this site as well as let local news outlets know about the date.

Coaches we will still need your nominations of girls and guys for the games. We will still strive to play four games 3A-5A girls and guys and Private-2A girls and guys. So please get those nomination in just as quickly as you possibly can. We will wait to make contact with players until after a date is finalized.

Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to some outstanding games that will include as many senior players as we possibly can accomidate.

I had the priviage of coaching high school athletes more than 20 years ago. Sports has always been a passion of mine and I love high school sports, it is the purest form of competition that is available at any level. I wanted to start this post partly in responce to the recent openings at area schools and partly because I believe that sports even high school sports are becoming dangerously close to falling into the same whole that colleges have fallen into.

Coaches who work for school districts are a breed unto themselves. If you coach JH kids the wins and loses are less important you are there to be sure that the 95% (the non super star) kids learn the fundamentals and get ready for the next level. These kids are hard enough just to keep their focus for more than just a few minutes so these men and women at this level are a credit to their districts because they teach the games as well as make sure the kids get to play the games. Ever been to the first week of JH 7th grade football or volleyball? If you have you know what I mean.

Coaches are at the field house during their season seamingly 24/7. They have to be the janitor, cleaning lady, laundry and even training staff if you are at a smaller school. They do get a coaching stipend, but if they are not at a larger school where they make a bigger base salary then if you figured it by the hour, most of us would never work for that amount. I would also say that most of us would never do it for the average teacher pay either, and no I am not a teacher.

High school coaches are breaking down film, scouting, practicing, driving the bus, repairing the equipment (more and more with shrinking budgets), taking care of the facilities, and then on the sidelines where they are judged by the performance of student athletes that are between the ages of 15 to 18. Now I know all of us are judged in our job performanance, but how many of us are dependent on a team of teenagers to evaluate our performance in our job? Do not get me wrong, there are things that these men and women can do to get in trouble with not only their school but with the law, they are in fact given unpresidented access to our kids, but one area where we have to be careful about juding them is the record that they have in any given season.

Coaches can not control the kids that choose to play a sport. They can not make people move into the district or attendance zone of a school to provide players for a school. They can not hand hold every player to be sure that they maintain their grades so they remain eligable to play. They can not lay hands on injuried players and heal them and they better not place players in harms way by playing them when they could do permanent damage to themselves  by playing if they are injuried. They can not control the break up of their parents marriages, or with their girl friends. They can make them behave off the field and when players are not we often get upset when a coach does something to discipline them saying. "That was not related to the game!"

So as we think about the coaches we have or the ones that we would like to have I think I have a suggestion for what we all should be looking for in these men and women that work with our kids.
1. They must be people of good character - I want to be able to trust them with one of the most precious things that will ever be in my life.
2. They must teach - I want a person who wants to impart knowledge on the field and in the classroom.
3. They must be a role model - I want them to be someone who seeks excellence, but uses the set backs to teach that coming back from losses is important too!
4. They must love what they do - I want someone to want to be doing what they are doing. If they don't it will show.
5. They must keep the game in perspective of it's place in education - I want sports to be something that shows young people that teamwork and helping one another is going to give them things that they will use for a lifetime.

Wins was no where on my list. Wins are a by product of factors that are too often out of control of anyone especially a coach. Can they prepare they teams for the game? Absolutely! Can they put together a plan for a game? Absolutely! Can they control that the team on the other side is not as good as their team? Absolutely not!

If we really want to go down the road where coaches in high school are judged by wins and losses then get ready, because the flood gates to something that you don't want to see will be opened wide. The word will go out that Coach So And So is looking for a new player and that deals are to be made to get a promising JH player to move with his family to a home that a wealthy member of the community owns and is willing to take reduced rent for if the family moves. Think it won't happen, well it already has, maybe not so much now, but it likely will if we start revolving doors at schools that are not winning.

People on SETX Sports know that I like to win and I have enjoyed the Rebels winning alot the past few years, but I am more proud of the product that our coaching staff has put out after graduation than the product on the field or court. If you are looking for a true judge of coaching look at the athletes five to ten years after graduation. Are they men that we are proud to have in our community? If they are and most HS athletes usually are, then in part you can say that a coach is successful. Just listen to those guys or girls when they talk. If they use the phrase, "Well Coach ___________ used to say!" then you will know the true impact of coaches.

While you are enjoying the tournament be sure to check out the Evadale Catfish Festival!

It is a little over a week until the SETX All Star Basketball games and we need the assistance of coaches. You can send me a PM with players name and a phone number so we can contact them this weekend about the game(s). If your team is still in the playoffs you can wait until next week, but we will begin calling players on Saturday and Sunday to see if they are willing to play on Saturday, March 3rd.

We just need names and a phone number of the players, so please help us out with a PM with your nominees.

Thanks!

While there are still a number of teams in the playoffs the nomination forms for players that coaches want to have their seniors participate in the games need to get those names in ASAP. It is our hope to be able to begin Saturday night making calls to players to check on their willingness to participate. We need girls and guys nominations. If you know you high school coach please ask them if they have taken the time to send their names in.

WE WILL NOT CONTACT PLAYERS FROM ANY TEAM THAT IS STILL IN THE PLAYOFFS. IF WE HAVE PLAYERS THAT FIT THAT THEN WE WILL WAIT UNTIL TUESDAYS GAMES AND ONLY EXTEND INVITES TO PLAYERS WHOSE TEAMS HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED.

Please help us honor these players.

Thanks to Hardin, Leggett and Orangefield for nominations.