How the economy is affecting high school sports

2008-11-18T12:18:48-05:00

2008-07-11T11:07:31-04:00

2008-09-10T06:39:48-04:00

2008-11-18T12:18:48-05:00

avril

Los Angeles 603922

1 thanks for your information about money.by http://moneymakemachine.blogspot.com 3371514

2008-08-06T15:16:24-04:00

dave o

Wethersfield 91100

sports builds character --- bad egotistical greedy selfish character 2416566

2008-08-04T00:04:56-04:00

morganwardztas

No City 462839

<a href="http://www.singhalaya.blogspot.com">srilanka</a> 2388204

2008-08-04T00:03:28-04:00

morganwardztas

No City 462839

<a href="http://www.singhalaya.blogspot.com">srilanka</a> 2388155

2008-07-12T10:55:04-04:00

2161

EastCoastKeith

11040

Wow. Talk about a sad reality. Meanwhile we have politicians who at one point were closely tied to a certain presidential candidate proclaiming we're a nation of whiners over the recession. America is sinking into a third-world abyss. Only the rich and powerful will be able to afford to have their children participate in high school sports, which as Pittsburgh Fan alludes to, will eventually be dissolved into AAU-type leagues that stress nothing but winning and college recruitment. That is not what high school/youth sports are about. You learn about life through these sports. Winning is hardly important. 2199931

2008-07-11T17:38:43-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/894/38/thumb/espn-sucks.thumbnail.jpg 15 MS

PittsburghFan

Biloxi 89738

Good riddance. High school sports are corrupt and take money away from where it's needed most. We already have the AAU, so why not let them take the lead? They can go out and get the kinds of sponsors that sports needs to have. And as far as putting the emphasis on participation and not competition, gow up. Life is a competition. Nobody gives you a raise at work for showing up. You don't get a trophy because you tried and failed at your job. We're doing our children a huge disservice teaching them that it's more important to participate than it is to win. 2197449

2008-07-11T17:29:35-04:00

Baseball55

New Gloucester 452433

High school and youth league baseball coach for 16 years. I'll believe the claim that prep school reports are in trouble the first time I see local sports parents scale back rather than expand the program. When I started coaching, we had a 4 team LL for 9-12 year old boys, a 3 team softball league for 9-12 year old girls, and MS and HS softball and baseball teams. Now we have T Ball, a Farm League, a Minor League and a Major League for 9-12 boys, a comparable Minor and Major softball for 9-12 girls, Junior League for 13s, Senior League for 14s, Babe Ruth for 15s, Junior Legion for 15-16 and Legion for 16-18 plus a recreational Twilight League team for the college boys plus Over 25, Over 35 and Over 45 recreational baseball in the area. This in addition to having 7th grade baseball, 8th grade baseball, 9th grade baseball, JV baseball and Varsity baseball and softball programs to match.. As teams have been added, the Town has paid for new facilities, additional coaches, additional equipment, additional umpires and additional transportation. Each year the parents want improvements-- dugouts, fences, new turf, professional groundskeepers, electric scoreboards, p.a. systems, bleachers, batting cages, enclosed bull pens, pitching machines, etc. New uniforms and warm ups every year. More games. A spring trip to Florida. And we have comparable growth in other youth sports as well-- soccer, basketball, hockey. We have added a football program. And every year the budget gets bigger and bigger. The threat by school administrators to cut the athletic budget is trotted out every year and has always proved to be a phony one. School administrators know that the parents will pull out all the stops to support the sports program so that's the one put on the block. They know that no one would care if the maintenance budget gets cut or a cafeteria position is eliminated or the textbook budget is trimmed or a teaching assistant is let go. 2197424

2008-07-11T16:27:08-04:00

228

EZWriter

Saint Cloud 55141

I'm not at all sure this is a bad thing. Returning high school sports to a more rational placee in our society seems to me to be a good thing.. For high school sports to go back to a mtter of very local ad provincial intrest is more as it should be, in my opinion. Getting the money and irrational pressure and scrutiny out of our high schools could be the best thing to happen to American sports in twenty years. 2196858

2008-07-11T15:46:05-04:00

SportsforFun

Swarthmore 452462

Actually, a 'looser' probably ran from spelling class ... maybe directly to track practice. 2196396

2008-07-11T15:44:36-04:00

Big Dog Too

Mount Vernon 142432

Our local high school ice hockey team has been doing most of its own basically since existance. We do fund raisers to help alieviate costs. Each year each kid has to pay an ice bill for cost of just having a surface to play on and to cover cost for officials and everything. The high schooll helps some what. Each kId has their own gear (Skates,Shin Guards,Hockey Pants,Hockey Socks, Shoulder PAds,Elbow pads,Helmet, at least two sticks). Depending on brand and level of equipment $1000 to $1500.....goalies even more. My son's two stcks together are $400. School kicks in Jersey. Each kid will have about a $500-$600 Ice bill be year. 2196442

Everybody is feeling the affects of the economy and if things continue to sink high school sports could be in serious trouble. SI.com's Andy Staples <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/andy_staples/07/10/schools.economy/index.html">writes</a> that high school teams and programs are being cut and many districts are changing student-athletes user fees in the hundreds of dollars per season to play. In Mt. Vernon, N.Y., where the Bulls' Ben Gordon was once a star, the school's athletic program has been cut and if the school doesn't raise nearly $1 million there will be no sports in 2008-09. Families are cutting back on summer camps and tournaments outside of school and small colleges are finding it harder and harder to fun their teams.What's going on in your area and what's being done to save high school sports? What would happen if there were no high school sports in your community? Should there be state or federal funding for high school sports? Weigh in with your thoughts.   2186

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