Why are numbers so low?

[tornado99 345]

These are the excellent points. My only explanation for some places (like Riverheads) would be prioritization. I can’t speak to Riverheads’ other sports, but compared to Galax under Dixon, compared to now, but in each case of a smaller school football was or is the primary focus. 
In many schools with travel sports, baseball/softball appears to be the primary focus with many SWVA schools. In others, it may be basketball. 
Redtiger, Sixcat, and Cousin Hoyt are correct on all accounts. Some are blessed with good athletes to cross over somewhat and have success, but generally with football, which is more dependent upon numbers is emphasized primarily in communities such as Bluefield, Big Stone Gap/Appalachia, and Clintwood/Haysi. Everywhere else, results are cyclical.

[sixcat 2,920]

4 minutes ago, tornado99 said:

Galax under Dixon, compared to now, but in each case of a smaller school football was or is the primary focus.

My only push-back to this is Dixon encouraged kids to play multiple sports. Almost demanded it. He was even the varsity boys head basketball coach for a year and assistant coach for the duration of his time at Galax.

When Dixon came to Galax in 2010, Galax only had state championships in Golf and boys Tennis. Within short order, Galax won state championships in baseball (2012), basketball (2011 & 2012), Cross Country (2013 & 2014), Football (2015) and Soccer (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022). In large part, because Dixon implemented a weight and exercise program throughout the school and encouraged kids to be active and participate in anything and everything they could. Numbers rose in virtually every sport. That's all gone now. Coaches are now infighting to keep kids off other sports.

[SwvaOG 601]

13 hours ago, JDHoss said:

Lacrosse and soccer (at the high school level) are winter sports down here, so they really shouldn't factor in. I'll give you baseball, as it's a year round sport and the local sports complexes have tons of baseball fields, with games going on all year. I think one thing that factors into it (as tornado99 pointed out) is that at the better programs, you might only see 50-60 players on a roster with an enrollment of 3K+, but every one of those players look like they belong on a football field. It's probably that some of these schools cut players. In addition, July workouts/7 on 7 and August practices are just brutal here in South Florida with the heat and humidity. I can walk outside at 9 AM and it's like opening an oven door. Still, you'll see some schools with enrollments between 1500 and 2000 that will have less than 40 players. 

I think you are discounting that both of those sports have morphed into travel, camps and year round training as well.  I bet that there is almost zero cross over for the All-Region/All-State soccer kids and football.  Same with lacrosse...those dudes are hunting scholarships.  Baseball is the worst of them all in demanding year-round development.  Its so bad that if your kid is only playing from March to June, they not only are behind...they are almost not safe on the field.  

[SwvaOG 601]

2 hours ago, Cousin_Hoyt said:

Probably been around a lot longer than most of you. Seen a lot of changes in high school sports. Matter of fact, I’ve seen 31 high school football teams play that no longer exist due to consolidation. We can also add a few basketball teams to that number like G.W. Carver. In ways, Consolidation has hurt numbers due to increased travel for some kids. However there are several other things also.

Redtiger hit the nail on the head with this year round practice. A lot of Coaches only want kids playing their sport. Also travel ball, I know someone who has one kid on 2 travel teams and their other kid on another travel team (3 different sports). My opinion, this travel ball leads to burnout for some kids and parents with all the practice, travel, and expense.

Another problem down through the years and some of you have probably seen it also, is Little League or Daddy Ball. Do I need to really explain this? There is a need to better organize youth leagues and make it fun for all not for a few. I’ve seen this Daddy Ball carry over into high school and what problems it can cause, especially with the numbers of players. 

Another problem today, kids have more things to do, lack dedication, and lose interest quickly. They are not as physically fit, they are softer and are use to an easier life. When some of us were growing up, high school athletics was the biggest thing in our lives, that not the case with a lot of today’s kids. So numbers are going to be low and will slowly continue to decrease for a lot of schools. 
 

Just our opinion.

 

 

I didn't expect Daddy ball to be so bad when I came back to the region.  It is everywhere and at every level and in all sports, to include high school. Throw in nepotism like I've never seen.  This region almost has a bubble around it that protects these practices.  Qualifications seem to be frowned upon in preference for someone "who understands the area".  Player development (in specific sports domain and in personal/character) should be THE penultimate goal followed by winning. There is no third on the list....maybe empowering community and school spirit.  Player development is severely lacking which is why the area is under-recruited and those that are recruited don't last long.   Our kids get to college and are just so far behind the development curve. 

How do you fix it?  Join leagues that require affiliation and coaching certification (Pop Warner, USA football, etc.).  Set up camps and have open competitions for positions.  That will stop a lot of this Daddy Ball BS. When "coaches" who never played, aren't certified, think concussion protocols are hooey and have never coached at any organized school-sponsored level start showing up in middle school, JV and high school....we have problems.  This is why DBs aren't taught basic press or off-man coverage, why WRs and QBs don't understand modern passing concepts and gunners don't cover split outs on punt formations. 

[tornado99 345]

2 hours ago, sixcat said:

My only push-back to this is Dixon encouraged kids to play multiple sports. Almost demanded it. He was even the varsity boys head basketball coach for a year and assistant coach for the duration of his time at Galax.

When Dixon came to Galax in 2010, Galax only had state championships in Golf and boys Tennis. Within short order, Galax won state championships in baseball (2012), basketball (2011 & 2012), Cross Country (2013 & 2014), Football (2015) and Soccer (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022). In large part, because Dixon implemented a weight and exercise program throughout the school and encouraged kids to be active and participate in anything and everything they could. Numbers rose in virtually every sport. That's all gone now. Coaches are now infighting to keep kids off other sports.

Thanks for the rebuttal and explanation. My post wasn’t intended to insinuate any negative practices by Coach Dixon, but (credit to Dixon) football became more of a focus. I was also under the impression that other sports may have suffered somewhat (I can’t reference the thread that comes to mind), but that clearly wasn’t the case. Galax may be somewhat unique compared to most of SWVA.

[sixcat 2,920]

3 minutes ago, tornado99 said:

Thanks for the rebuttal and explanation. My post wasn’t intended to insinuate any negative practices by Coach Dixon, but (credit to Dixon) football became more of a focus. I was also under the impression that other sports may have suffered somewhat (I can’t reference the thread that comes to mind), but that clearly wasn’t the case. Galax may be somewhat unique compared to most of SWVA.

I think Galax was somewhat unique at one time, but that time seems to have passed. Unique in the sense that, every coach in the school system followed coach Dixon's lead and encouraged kids to play multiple sports. Sadly, that's no longer the case. Galax is now right in line with what everyone else seems to be doing in trying to force specialization and the drop-off in participation bears that out. Hell, Galax began football practice back on February 27 for this fall. They called it "optional conditioning" but everyone knew it was neither "optional" nor "conditioning."

[JDHoss 249]

On 9/12/2023 at 10:54 AM, SwvaOG said:

I think you are discounting that both of those sports have morphed into travel, camps and year round training as well.  I bet that there is almost zero cross over for the All-Region/All-State soccer kids and football.  Same with lacrosse...those dudes are hunting scholarships.  Baseball is the worst of them all in demanding year-round development.  Its so bad that if your kid is only playing from March to June, they not only are behind...they are almost not safe on the field.  

Soccer is popular here, but how many of those kids would be playing football anyway? I'm guessing not many. As for lacrosse, Some of the public schools have a team, but it's mostly a private/prep school deal here. I can't recall driving by any of the sports complexes here and seeing lacrosse being played. 

[NaugistBigsby 20]

On 9/12/2023 at 10:14 AM, sixcat said:

My only push-back to this is Dixon encouraged kids to play multiple sports. Almost demanded it. He was even the varsity boys head basketball coach for a year and assistant coach for the duration of his time at Galax.

When Dixon came to Galax in 2010, Galax only had state championships in Golf and boys Tennis. Within short order, Galax won state championships in baseball (2012), basketball (2011 & 2012), Cross Country (2013 & 2014), Football (2015) and Soccer (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022). 

Yo quiero Taco Bell!

[TnT+h 9]

So i guess next question is , Has consolidation made it harder to keep more players out because of travel and location?  Small areas usually have big bonds and trandtions with sports, Like wise county .

[Gridiron60 2,555]

1 hour ago, TnT+h said:

So i guess next question is , Has consolidation made it harder to keep more players out because of travel and location?  Small areas usually have big bonds and trandtions with sports, Like wise county .

Bland County consolidated a few years back with adequate numbers in football and the team is struggling to field 15 players this year after canceling last season. I believe 1/2 of the 15 have never even played varsity football. 

[honestjohn 90]

On 9/12/2023 at 8:53 AM, LacesOutDan23 said:

Riverheads was 1A for the longest time, barely had enough to bump to 2A. But they are dressing and traveling in the 70s, if not 80s with a smash-mouth brand of football. Sometimes it is just hard to explain. 

Barely had enough you say.