Gridiron60

Lot of good information here.
https://www.swvasports.com/ipb/index.php?/topic/46230-district-membership-history/
 

I know for Lebanon the biggest key has been “daddy ball”. People can hate on it all they want but it’s needed at the youth level, not needed in HS, but definitely youth. I’ve noticed since about 2015 all of the good HS baseball teams all have had a group of dads get a group of 7-8 year old kids together and going to play travel ball. Granted it is a lot easier to do this whenever you constantly give the youth levels motivation with consistently having a good HS team. All of these kids that you see today that are good, 99 times out of 100 their parents have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on lessons and team fees. Lebanon is going on about their 5th or 6th straight group of kids like this, with about 3 more already in line. This has been the case at Battle and Abingdon too, with BSG also starting to see that come to fruition, which is also why East TN schools are usually light years ahead of SWVA in baseball, Johnson City and Kingsport are travel ball hotspots. Same thing applies in softball. Baseballs not like Football or Basketball, HS coaches very rarely play a role in the development of players, usually you can already tell who can end up contributing at the high school level pretty early and easily.
So I’d recommend if you wanted your school to become a good baseball program, don’t worry about the highschool players. Get parents that have some knowledge of the sport and get them to organize a team and just go play. It’s a lot easier said than done but it’s theres not a secret formula to it

Since the ‘21 season Lebanon has went a clean 50-0 in regular season district play and 59-1 against district opponents (upset loss to chilhowie in ‘22 region final). Overall since then they are 120-27 (8 of those losses being this year) however, if you only count teams not named Tennessee High, Abingdon, or Daniel Boone they are 116-8 (split with Tn high last year, split with Boone in ‘24, and beat Abingdon both times in ‘23). If the Pioneers can somehow make it through district play unscathed next year, possible considering what Richlands and V High is losing, I see that streak continuing to grow because the middle school team is very solid but they all are being held back, pair that with dropping back to 1A who knows what else will happen. 
 
It also isn’t talked about enough the fact that if the 2020 season was played they would have bumped up that streak by a lot more and they would have a lot less room in the trophy case. Would have had all but one starter from the ‘21 team plus a couple of key pieces from the ‘19 team that made it to the state championship game. 19-0 was impressive in ‘21 and 26-2 was impressive in ‘23 the only thing that could top those two seasons is 28-0, and I would not have been surprised if that’s what that team would have been. The ‘20 team would have easily been a top team in the history of SWVA.

Would you mind letting us know if any of these games feature any top prospects? That would be cool, to see how any of those top ranked kids produce. 

Lebanon boys finish  10-0 to win SWD baseball title. Lebanon girls beat a Richlands to clinch SWD softball championship. 

As far as I know the players aren’t discouraged from competing in other sports. I think a couple play baseball, several soccer, and maybe a couple do track. 

@tornado99 George Aiello has coached boys’ team for well over a decade. He really has built a strong program. The players have most likely played together since they were younger in the East River Soccer League. I’m not sure if any play the travel ball circuit. Cambel Fix plays travel soccer but did not play for Graham this season. I heard he wanted to focus on travel soccer and strength & conditioning, camps for football. He’s a remarkable soccer player. 

10yrs ago that's insane and it's not about to end anytime soon

2016 was the last time Graham lost a regular season SWD game. Richlands beat them 31-24 in 2016. In 2017, Graham won 20-13 and in 2018, Graham kicked their dominance in high gear beating Richlands 38-10. 

Me…I thunked it! 😂😂😂😂

Congratulations! In my first year in watching high school soccer, JV specifically, a school’s ability to emphasize a particular sport in a season is critical to success. 
What I’m about to say is not critical, but an observation. Graham obviously had the best athletes on the pitch compared to the others. My experience with what I know at Richlands, is one of the better athletes being spread amongst sports, particularly divided between baseball/softball and soccer. I’ve not seen much emphasis on track and field, so there may be exceptions. I’m aware that Graham typically struggles with baseball and softball, but WOW soccer is good. Since soccer has entered the region as a sport, particularly as a spring sport, baseball has not been as strong at Richlands. While softball has a recent title, and is successful, soccer has siphoned away a few of those girls. Except for the largest of schools (Abingdon), it is really hard to be exceptional at both. I’m sure there’s a lot of WHY’s at each place, but just sharing the observation.
Great job by whoever is in charge of the soccer program at Graham and the players.

Graham Boys & Girls secure regular season champions for SWD. Host SWD Tournament next week. 

The 7 on 7 is a big deal here, but we’re going back to Kingsport next month and July to see family.

Kind of jealous we still have another month before 7 on 7s even start. 

Not having. Coach Young or Coach McDaniel on staff, I look for Tazewell’s discipline issues to get worse. I hope I’m wrong but looking at the list of assistants, I’m not seeing anyone who will hold players accountable, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

I’ll take “Things that will never happen for $100 , Alex”!

Not having. Coach Young or Coach McDaniel on staff, I look for Tazewell’s discipline issues to get worse. I hope I’m wrong but looking at the list of assistants, I’m not seeing anyone who will hold players accountable, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

I think Saunders will regret getting back with the EX

The two from central have a bright future in basketball, stay away from getting a knee blown out with a weak team ! Hayes is the best player in southwest Va. be crazy to play football !

Okay, I didn’t even have to chew on it! Tazewell will be content to be mediocre under Harris. They’ll still be undisciplined and lose even when they have talent, no one will care. Virginia High, ehhhhhh…they’ll be okay. That leaves a hard nosed old school coach going into a lair of whiny parents who want their babies coddled. Central wins the 🏆! 
 
As always, I could be wrong. 😂😂😂😂😂

What a great thread topic! 😂 I’m really going to have to chew on this for awhile before I decide. 😂

Saunders shared a post from Central regarding student physicals.
Seems to be a cryptic tell if you ask me.

Listened to this and most hilarious part was Coach Baker talking about a group of middle school girls sitting behind Graham’s bench during playoff game at Central Wise and every timeout they would scream to the top of their lungs. Perhaps, maybe use a different tactic next time to distract GMen. 😂😂😂 It was funny to hear him recount that story. Now I’m going to have to go to the NFHS broadcast and listen during one of the timeouts.
 
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3d99dEnK4RrSneNecto4NP?si=Ik9PG8fAQdeS24djZ15Awg
https://district2sports.podbean.com/e/the-gold-standard-of-southwest-virginia-g-men-state-championship-review/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gold-standard-of-southwest-virginia-g-men/id1546174200?i=1000767231188
 

The SWD and Highlands coexisted for many years. There has been a Southwest District since Noah put a basketball hoop on The Ark.

Anybody who can get kids to focus on something for more then 30 seconds now a days is working miracles.