News Developmental plan proposed
- Thread starter VaPrepsRod
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As I was reading your opinion, my mind was crafting a reply. But, then when I read your last two paragraphs, you took the wind from my sail.
Let's face it, virtually no high school athlete will ever make a living playing sports. But every one of them has to go out into this world, compete for a job and make a living.
The physical aspects of a program of this type are obvious. What is not as obvious, is the mental and physiological results. The confidence, the poise, the communication skills learned through a comprehensive approach such as proposed by Mr. Hanson, give our kids just that much better of a chance.
We have been fortunate here at Dinwiddie. We have had coaches, faculty, and staff that have informally embraced this concept of a comprehensive development program. And head football coach Billy Mills has put in place, a program that any school would be proud of.
I was very fortunate to be asked by Coach Mills to be a part of a committee to help evaluate and grade the candidates for team captain. WOW, what a penominal group of young men. Honestly, I was blown away with how bright and articulate these guys were.
After all was said and done I gave Coach Mills, what from me, was an ultimate compliment. I told him that I would hire every one of those young men immediately for my company. This may not sound like a big deal on the surface, but it is nearly impossible to get a job working for my company. They were that impressive.
In no small part, Coach Mills' complete and comprehensive program gave these kids the resources, guidance, and opportunity to develope themselves to this level.
Like you Rod, anything that helps put in place a program to provide kids an opportunity to become well rounded, confident, and capable citizens has my wholehearted support.
Let's face it, virtually no high school athlete will ever make a living playing sports. But every one of them has to go out into this world, compete for a job and make a living.
The physical aspects of a program of this type are obvious. What is not as obvious, is the mental and physiological results. The confidence, the poise, the communication skills learned through a comprehensive approach such as proposed by Mr. Hanson, give our kids just that much better of a chance.
We have been fortunate here at Dinwiddie. We have had coaches, faculty, and staff that have informally embraced this concept of a comprehensive development program. And head football coach Billy Mills has put in place, a program that any school would be proud of.
I was very fortunate to be asked by Coach Mills to be a part of a committee to help evaluate and grade the candidates for team captain. WOW, what a penominal group of young men. Honestly, I was blown away with how bright and articulate these guys were.
After all was said and done I gave Coach Mills, what from me, was an ultimate compliment. I told him that I would hire every one of those young men immediately for my company. This may not sound like a big deal on the surface, but it is nearly impossible to get a job working for my company. They were that impressive.
In no small part, Coach Mills' complete and comprehensive program gave these kids the resources, guidance, and opportunity to develope themselves to this level.
Like you Rod, anything that helps put in place a program to provide kids an opportunity to become well rounded, confident, and capable citizens has my wholehearted support.
Certainly can't say no to a program that seems to be setting proper goals for the right reasons.
But life and the world has made me quite cynical. To me, this reeks of alterior motives and political gain. However, the barest glimmer of idealism that remains in me can't be against it.
The cynical side is that the program is just a way for the coaches to try to add to their win totals and gives the kids "easy" classes where they can boost their GPA's.
There will be teachers in those buildings that make that complaint.
"To date, it does not appear to have negatively impacted athletes playing multiple sports as some feared that it would as most coaches, looking at the data from pro athletes, see the advantages in having players actively compete in other sports."
I'm going to disagree with this statement. From what I've seen it has greatly affected the number of high school athletes who are competing in multiple sports. At the very least it has cut them from participating in three sports per year down to two.
I know for a fact, having heard them say it with my own ears, that coaches are encouraging players to play other sports. The coaches realize that keeping the kids involved in sports builds that competitive edge and that there are things a kid can get from one sport that he won't get from another.
But with the ability to now practice openly year round, baseball/basketball/football/softball/soccer/ players are focusing on their particular sport all year. If they want to be the best, that's what they have to do. They have too because the other guys are doing it and they have to do the same to keep up. The AAU/travel team business is booming.
Before the rules changed, I could watch kids go from football to basketball and then on to either baseball or soccer in the spring. Some of them would also double up in the winter and spring by competing in track and field on the side. Now, at least from what I'm seeing, many of the kids are focusing on one or two sports only. In many cases they focus on one and will use track and field to help them with speed, jumping ability or strength.
I can look at the PC basketball program and give a good example of how this is affecting things. I can name off at least five football players (Thomas, Brewster, Allen, Church and Bryant Grubb) who IF they had continued on with basketball would have been key players, if not starters. Those five names equal two seniors and three juniors. It should also be noted that those five names equal two potential big forwards and three guards.
Now as happy as I am with the fact that Pulaski County is currently 12-4 with big wins over Salem and Cave Spring last week, imagine the possibilities if those five were on the bench to provide depth. Of course it could also cause chemistry issues within the team just as quickly, but we'll never know because they didn't play.
It's affected other sports as well. In the few years since the rules changed I can think of several talented athletes who ended up picking other sports over football, basketball or baseball. It's always discouraging when I take a crowd shot during a football game and see two or three kids that could be real difference makers standing out in the student section instead of being on the field.
In the end, the bottom line in my opinion is that the rules were changed to put all of the other sports on a level playing field with football. Now football is the only sport that can't practice the way they play year round, at least not without the fear of losing players to injuries.
I'm going to disagree with this statement. From what I've seen it has greatly affected the number of high school athletes who are competing in multiple sports. At the very least it has cut them from participating in three sports per year down to two.
I know for a fact, having heard them say it with my own ears, that coaches are encouraging players to play other sports. The coaches realize that keeping the kids involved in sports builds that competitive edge and that there are things a kid can get from one sport that he won't get from another.
But with the ability to now practice openly year round, baseball/basketball/football/softball/soccer/ players are focusing on their particular sport all year. If they want to be the best, that's what they have to do. They have too because the other guys are doing it and they have to do the same to keep up. The AAU/travel team business is booming.
Before the rules changed, I could watch kids go from football to basketball and then on to either baseball or soccer in the spring. Some of them would also double up in the winter and spring by competing in track and field on the side. Now, at least from what I'm seeing, many of the kids are focusing on one or two sports only. In many cases they focus on one and will use track and field to help them with speed, jumping ability or strength.
I can look at the PC basketball program and give a good example of how this is affecting things. I can name off at least five football players (Thomas, Brewster, Allen, Church and Bryant Grubb) who IF they had continued on with basketball would have been key players, if not starters. Those five names equal two seniors and three juniors. It should also be noted that those five names equal two potential big forwards and three guards.
Now as happy as I am with the fact that Pulaski County is currently 12-4 with big wins over Salem and Cave Spring last week, imagine the possibilities if those five were on the bench to provide depth. Of course it could also cause chemistry issues within the team just as quickly, but we'll never know because they didn't play.
It's affected other sports as well. In the few years since the rules changed I can think of several talented athletes who ended up picking other sports over football, basketball or baseball. It's always discouraging when I take a crowd shot during a football game and see two or three kids that could be real difference makers standing out in the student section instead of being on the field.
In the end, the bottom line in my opinion is that the rules were changed to put all of the other sports on a level playing field with football. Now football is the only sport that can't practice the way they play year round, at least not without the fear of losing players to injuries.
I remember a time when a football player would wrestle or play basketball in the winter. The only one I remember from last year that also wrestled for Salem was Kirklend Smith. There were 2 a couple years before that did both, Devin Smith and Quan Lee. In Basketball there was Matt Hill and Alex Light a couple of years ago, Isaiah Parker and Austin Coulling last year. QB often times will be a pitcher for the baseball team as Coulling and Beckley have. Several football guys have done lax in the spring- Fox, Harris. I think the biggest sport as far as duel participation is track and field. The speed guys do the track events and the bigger guys do shot put or javelin.
Generally speaking though participation seems to be down for multiple sports. The era of the 3 way sports star is not dead, but it's going in that direction. I think playing multiple sports keeps a guy in shape, & hones many skills that apply to other sports. One of the down sides is injury. I miss the 3 star athlete, that was a real badge of honor. I guess it still happens, more so at small schools I would think.
What I miss in this thread is that these are kids and there are so many things in life to experience. Especially at this age. Why in the world would anyone want a child to limit themselves to one thing? Go for it all. Education. Travel. The world is SO much more. The word I don't see here, in any of these threads, is FUN. Isn't that what young is about?
Damn, that's scary Shaunty. This is about three times lately that I have agreed with you.
DinwiddieProud, wanted to comment on the total program you all have at Dinwiddie. I got the opportunity to go down and see Coach Mills' off-season program in action one day and take a look at the amount of hardwork and detail he and his staff put in over at Dinwiddie. Talk about a program that I think any high school would envy in terms of developing the full person as not only an athlete but as a person, and as for the leader. Coach Mills is a phenomenal person and an outstanding, hard working football coach. Not trying to come over here and blow smoke up your butt because I am sure you already know it, but that man runs his program like a college program, but cares about his kids like they are his own, as I am sure many successful high school coaches are doing, but I just wanted to drop that little bit in there about Coach Mills and his program, because I got the opportunity to see him in action a little less than 2 years ago, and even though I only got to see his program for a brief 8 hours or so, it had a major impact on me and how I look at coaching. Dinwiddie has a great one in Coach Mills.
On behalf of Coach Mills, and all of Dinwiddie, thank you very much.
Because of obvious privacy concerns, a lot of what goes on between Coach Mills, (and his staff), and the kids, is never made public. I know that most all good coaches do the exact same thing for their kids. But Coach Mills is so involved in every aspect of these young men's lives, I do not understand how he does it all.
The point is, as you stated, Dinwiddie is extremely lucky to have a Coach that is just as concerned about the character of the kids,as their ability to play football. He will bench or discipline his super stars just as quick as a slacker at the other end of the spectrum. But that is the way it's supposed to be. These kids will never earn a penny playing football, but every one of them needs to make his way in life. The lessons in being of good character trump the fundamentals of football techniques 10,000 to 1.
The Coach is the foundation of every good and consistent program in the State. It's true of anywhere you go. IMO.
But good Coach's can take time to develop. Mistakes WILL be made. Personally, I think one of the biggest errors Schools make is not looking for the young and hungry and then being patient. Youth, desire, knowledge, fit and enthusiasm will pay off but it can take time. If more schools hung tough and provided support for awhile, good things will happen when a good man is at the helm. This philosophy has always worked for me in my hiring practices (although I paid far better).
Congrats to Dinwiddie and many others for finding a Coach who fits and loves what they're doing. Guiding our young people. These are special individuals that all deserve a tremendous amount of credit and our thanks.
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Follow up article re: community support
http://m.roanoke.com/community/bote...b5b-b936-50f6-981c-8c826dfc496c.html?mode=jqm
http://m.roanoke.com/community/bote...b5b-b936-50f6-981c-8c826dfc496c.html?mode=jqm
I cannot be against this. It's worth a try. But I also read about the girl who tore her ACL playing softball and the parents think this has to do with the muscles in the back of her leg not being strong enough. She has my every sympathy but this is a kid and Softball is a sport without many circumstances of undo stress on the legs. Her injury, though tragic, is genetic. IMO.
I do believe any program that helps instruct on the benefits of physical fitness and nutrition is good. I also think the belief this will reduce injuries overall is beyond idealistic. But, if it reduces the count by only one and presents a foundation for future physical fitness among our youth, I can't be against this.
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