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Graham Tazewell Va High John Battle Richlands Central Honaker Lebanon JIB Eastside Lee Those teams will be at the 7v7 today.

Richlands beat Graham in championship game.

I heard they left their upperclassmen at home. Afraid Graham would try to poach them 😅

Considering Tazewell lost in the tournament semifinals to Virginia High, in OT, with one marquee player injured, I’d say they didn’t.

Tazewell holding out there players again? Asking for a friend

I agree on the talent, but I think it has always been there to an extent in this area. I'm not saying we are South Florida, but I believe the recently increased talent and kids in the area playing college is largely due to interconnectivity of society. From internet, recruiting videos, NFHS and live streaming, social media, and massively increased interaction of players from different schools and coaches at summer camps, 7 on 7s, the ability with one click to sell yourself to a recruiter at Liberty or Wake Forest, etc, has basically Included SWVA into the mix and brought it out of years of isolation. Kids in the past got "missed" by recruiters everywhere, all over the country and it happens, but I still believe SWVA is one of those few regions in the country where kids got missed on at higher rates (per capita) than the overwhelming majority of other regions in the country. Technology has changed that. Could this be just a half decade or so of good luck? We will find out. I don't think it drops off. This will be the norm in my opinion.

The real question is: Why are coaches even “recruiting” at all? By the letter of the law, so long as the kids’ addresses change by virtue of the parents’ move, the kids are allowed to play immediately, without penalty. However, far more families in this area rent than own their homes. The rental market is so robust that it’s simple to jaunt across the boundary lines at will. This leads to situations where Richlands (circa 2010) becomes little more than the Coalfield All-Stars and where Graham (circa today) becomes little more than the Southern West Virginia All-Stars. It’s a juicy ethical question whether or not coaches should induce families to make those sorts of moves solely for the purposes of sport. I come down as a hard NO on it for a multitude of reasons. I would love to see the VHSL come down hard in imposing transfer limits upon kids. Absent a written petition and exception made by the VHSL, beginning with a child’s 6th grade year, a 1st transfer should result in the loss of 2 months’ participation in sport. A 2nd or subsequent transfer should result in the loss of 2 consecutive semesters participation in sport. At some point, the tail has to stop wagging the dog.