Underclassmen leaving the team....

[BeaverHokie 35]

I mentioned this in the Bluefield-Graham thread last night. Bluefield lost their kicker from last year, he was only a junior, right? Asher Sexton?

 

Also, I remember seeing the roster last year, and seeing several kids who would have been 11th and 12th graders, who were big and could step in on the line....now they're gone from the roster. Where did they go?

 

Why do so many underclassmen disappear from the Bluefield roster? Do they burn out? Get tired of the hard work? Something else at play? Is this common on other HS teams?

[GetMoney55 11]

I know that Asher Sexton left because of a lack of interest. He is now playing soccer and golf for the Beavers.

 

Kevin Davidson, who as of a week ago was starting at tackle for the Beavers, left the team for the same reasons. I talked with him a lot this week and he said his heart just wasn't in it anymore.

 

I don't know who else you were thinking of that has left, but as for Asher and Kevin I wish them the best of luck in whatever they do.

[hokie07 11]

Bluefield also lost a very good lineman in senior Nic Williams a couple years ago when he decided to forego playing football after his sophomore season. He would, in likelyhood, have been your starting center the past two seasons.

[GetMoney55 11]

Yes Nic was a very big loss. Two way starter his sophomore year, he definitely would have contributed a lot last year and again this year. However, like Kevin and Asher, Nic lost interest in the game. Can't blame him for folllowing his heart.

[BeaverHokie 35]

Yes Nic was a very big loss. Two way starter his sophomore year, he definitely would have contributed a lot last year and again this year. However, like Kevin and Asher, Nic lost interest in the game. Can't blame him for folllowing his heart.

 

I'm wondering if this is a generational thing. I hate to use the old tired line about PlayStations, Myspace, etc, but kids seem to have too many other distractions these days. Just a couple of decades ago, playing football for Bluefield was considered a big thing, and I can't imagine many kids just giving that up.

 

I can speak of myself a little bit...I gave up football at the 9th grade level. I was more of a thinker, and didn't have the mental toughness at that point. Too bad I can't transfer my attitude back in time...I am far more foul-tempered and persistent these days.

 

I'll drag out an old story. I used to work in Saint Albans WV, and I was at the Taco Bell one day for lunch. Several of the HS players were there, in the middle of two-a-days, eating lunch, goofing off, cracking up. Back in the day, lunchtime was a chance to drink your big bottle of Gatorade, eat your sandwich, and rest for the rough afternoon session. You were too tired to goof off, cut up, etc.

[Bulldogs52 484]

I'm wondering if this is a generational thing. I hate to use the old tired line about PlayStations, Myspace, etc, but kids seem to have too many other distractions these days. Just a couple of decades ago, playing football for Bluefield was considered a big thing, and I can't imagine many kids just giving that up.

 

I can speak of myself a little bit...I gave up football at the 9th grade level. I was more of a thinker, and didn't have the mental toughness at that point. Too bad I can't transfer my attitude back in time...I am far more foul-tempered and persistent these days.

 

I'll drag out an old story. I used to work in Saint Albans WV, and I was at the Taco Bell one day for lunch. Several of the HS players were there, in the middle of two-a-days, eating lunch, goofing off, cracking up. Back in the day, lunchtime was a chance to drink your big bottle of Gatorade, eat your sandwich, and rest for the rough afternoon session. You were too tired to goof off, cut up, etc.

 

I don't know how far you have to go back in your days, but its been 10 years and dude I felt the same way as you spoke, even at times when you get home in the late afternoon and it was dinner time, I remember times I was too tired to eat. But the rules have changed on the practice's now since then, I know here in VA, during two-days if they can only have one hard practice a day, shit when I played they were rough for about 8 to 10 hours a day.

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

I don't think it's really that much different in some players just losing interest, I had 2 friends who were good football players who just never went out in high school, and another good friend who was tough as they come and just never played, but would whoop some butt in sandlot football and was very fast, I bet most schools are filled with talent that never materializes, but, it takes a lot of dedication to play football, the 2 a days weren't easy then and I doubt they are now and not everyone wants to play football bad enough to committ themselves to that.

I recall in '95 when bluefield had a track star, I guess this was the '96 track season, who was tops in the state in the 100 meter and had an increadible long jump, 6 -1 very muscular, a natural, never played football. Football simply isn't for everyone.

Come to think of it I had another good friend who up and quit a few days into practice our senior year, to work at hardees.

[rabidbeaver 90]

I don't think it's really that much different in some players just losing interest, I had 2 friends who were good football players who just never went out in high school, and another good friend who was tough as they come and just never played, but would whoop some butt in sandlot football and was very fast, I bet most schools are filled with talent that never materializes, but, it takes a lot of dedication to play football, the 2 a days weren't easy then and I doubt they are now and not everyone wants to play football bad enough to committ themselves to that.

I recall in '95 when bluefield had a track star, I guess this was the '96 track season, who was tops in the state in the 100 meter and had an increadible long jump, 6 -1 very muscular, a natural, never played football. Football simply isn't for everyone.

Come to think of it I had another good friend who up and quit a few days into practice our senior year, to work at hardees.

 

 

My son is 6'5" 210lbs. at the age of 14 and everybody thinks just because I played sports that I should make him play but I told him if his heart isn't in it and is not willing to give 100% then I would rather he not play.

[GetMoney55 11]

Thank you for not being an idiot parent.

[rabidbeaver 90]

Thank you for not being an idiot parent.

 

Thanks...I told him as long as he makes good grades, stay out of trouble and becomes a productive member of society that is all he has to do to make me proud of him.

[tom 10]

i was forced to quit after my 7th grade year at Central to pursue other interests and it was the worst choice that i/my parents couldve made and to this day, i still regret not continuing on. i guess since my attitude is such, i cant understand anyone losing interest, but to each there own!

 

Rabid, as big as you are, i hope you have many other kids comin up thru the system! haha

 

BeaverHokie, i lived in St Albans for 8 yrs and ate at your taco hell many times (and Tim hortons for dessert)..just wondering how you got stuck down in that hole??

 

one good thing tho is that i use to go over to Nitro and watch JR House practice and chat him up occasionally not to mention catch games from both him and Moss..and House couldve been the man had he stayed in football..he was incredible! ok, just ranting now

[BeaverHokie 35]

My son is 6'5" 210lbs. at the age of 14 and everybody thinks just because I played sports that I should make him play but I told him if his heart isn't in it and is not willing to give 100% then I would rather he not play.

 

My former brother-in-law was about 6'3" and 240 in high school (he went to Graham), and we convinced him to try football. He decided pretty quickly that it wasn't his thing (that was back in the 1992 range, he was good friends with Jeremy Carbaugh), and never gave it a second though.

 

Heavens knows I wasn't all that big...I was about 5'8" and 210 as a HS senior, but the big point is the nasty attitude. Some big guys don't have it, some little guys have plenty of it.

[BeaverHokie 35]

i was forced to quit after my 7th grade year at Central to pursue other interests and it was the worst choice that i/my parents couldve made and to this day, i still regret not continuing on. i guess since my attitude is such, i cant understand anyone losing interest, but to each there own!

 

Rabid, as big as you are, i hope you have many other kids comin up thru the system! haha

 

BeaverHokie, i lived in St Albans for 8 yrs and ate at your taco hell many times (and Tim hortons for dessert)..just wondering how you got stuck down in that hole??

 

one good thing tho is that i use to go over to Nitro and watch JR House practice and chat him up occasionally not to mention catch games from both him and Moss..and House couldve been the man had he stayed in football..he was incredible! ok, just ranting now

 

I was on the first combined team at Bluefield Jr High, the year Fairview and Central came together. I enjoyed it in a lot of ways, but at least one coach really rubbed me the wrong way...he was awful about playing favorites (he wasn't even my position coach, Freddy was), and I was the recipient of his wrath. I remember once, just getting really mad, cussing him out in practice, and throwing my helmet in his direction. I quit not long afterward...I had enough of that politics.

 

I worked in St. Albans from 1994 until 1999, at an engineering firm in town. They are in the renovated old post office, if that rings any bells. We moved there in 1995. The Taco Hell was just across (under) the tracks, as was the Tim Horton's. I'd often stop at Tim Horton's for a bagel in the morning.

 

I never went over to watch House, but kept up with him. He was really a spoiled kid (not saying it was his fault, but with his dad owning car dealerships...), getting to go to Florida in the spring to play baseball down there. If he would have put his mind to it, he could have been a heck of a football player.

[beaverborn 10]

Kids leave the program for a variety of reasons. Some cannot make the grades and become ineligible, some just don't want to work and devote the time necessary to play at a Championship level. Others just lose interest and move on.