First Day of Practice Numbers ‘26

[Gridiron60]

Anyone know numbers for 

Princeton

Tazewell

Mount View

Pikeview

Bland

George Wythe

Rural Retreat

Fort Chiswell 

Marion 

Giles

Narrows 

Honaker 

Trying to think of schools in area that haven’t been mentioned. If these have been shared already, my apologies. 

[tornado99]

49 minutes ago, Stelley said:

Been hearing Lebanon has 24

Do you think the same thing is happening at Lebanon with football? I know they have 1 team. I think essentially, though you only play a single game, football has kind of become a travel sport.

[Gridiron60]

Southern Gap First Day of Practice at SGHS 

The facility and field look great! Congratulations to those kids! Good luck to them as they make history as the first group to play for their new school. 

[Stelley]

1 hour ago, tornado99 said:

Do you think the same thing is happening at Lebanon with football? I know they have 1 team. I think essentially, though you only play a single game, football has kind of become a travel sport.

Not too much in the know on this subject, but I do know Lebanons youth teams have been solid ever since the class that just graduated came through. This is probably close to the amount Lebanon would have had the past 5 years had it not been for Reece and co’s giant class 

[Stelley]

14 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

Southern Gap First Day of Practice at SGHS 

The facility and field look great! Congratulations to those kids! Good luck to them as they make history as the first group to play for their new school. 

Dang that looks like it might just be the best venue in the area.

[tornado99]

37 minutes ago, Stelley said:

Not too much in the know on this subject, but I do know Lebanons youth teams have been solid ever since the class that just graduated came through. This is probably close to the amount Lebanon would have had the past 5 years had it not been for Reece and co’s giant class 

I think this is what I mean by my comment. If I’m not mistaken, they have had one good team with the best players concentrated on that team. I might be wrong, but prior to this season, Richlands had multiple teams. I know population is a factor combined with specialization with the numbers declining. My rough comparison is the shift from multiple teams (rec league/little league competition and talent) into the one team (travel team talent and competition). 
 

As a result, from the sky view, I think it mirrors the trend in most places. For a history lesson, in my youth, Lebanon had 3 teams who competed with 5 Richlands teams one season. From my 2 coaching stints, Richlands went from 4 teams to 2. (There was a 10-year gap.)

Richlands has other issues right now, but overall this is my oversimplified opinion of the trend, combined with the outside factors mentioned earlier (specialization, etc.). As other communities began competing in the league, as they dropped to one, some became harder to compete with year after year. If you prioritize competing, as some posters have said, you make decisions to develop one small core group of players to win a championship and a lot of kids getting little attention or playing time. Those turned to other sports or simply lose interest.

It’s funny (or sad), looking back now, one of the Blues advantages under Vaught and Mance was depth. Those second half performances were often a combination of halftime adjustments and fresher players, particularly the linemen who rotated. From personal experience, I eventually became a one-way starter. Only our absolute best had to play both ways.

[tornado99]

I know some areas have true population issues more than others. I’m not intending to throw grenades. I think for others the fundamental question is whether to develop your best or develop the most? I simply fall into the latter camp due to seeing more kids playing and learning from football while not losing late bloomers, but I understand the other argument.

Sorry to take it off trail, but Richlands looked about 30 to me.

[cityofRaven]

4 hours ago, Minj3 said:

This was around the time of Aaron Lowe’s heavy influence in the system.

Nope.

[Gridiron60]

2 hours ago, Stelley said:

Dang that looks like it might just be the best venue in the area.

Unfortunately, it practically sits in Kentucky 😂😂😂 but I agree. It’s very impressive. 

[Tigerman10]

4 hours ago, tornado99 said:

Do you think the same thing is happening at Lebanon with football? I know they have 1 team. I think essentially, though you only play a single game, football has kind of become a travel sport.

29 is what I have heard for Lebanon

Honaker at 26 give or take a few 

[Stelley]

2 minutes ago, Tigerman10 said:

29 is what I have heard for Lebanon

Honaker at 26 give or take a few 

I heard 29 at the start of two a days, but have dwindled down a bit after them

[redtiger]

19 hours ago, Gridiron60 said:

Southern Gap First Day of Practice at SGHS 

The facility and field look great! Congratulations to those kids! Good luck to them as they make history as the first group to play for their new school. 

And its a dedicated football venue. No disrespect to any other sport but why have track or soccer at a big facility thats 99% empty.  Let Track/Soccer have a facility that suits them (including their own locker rooms) and have a true football stadium.   Ridgeview has a all-in-one setup and its basically terrible for all sports involved 

[tbgfan]

Football Preseason Preview: Richlands Blue Tornado Embrace Underdog Role Again Heading into New Season

 

Seeing the players and their words of expectation, MUCH RESPECT FOR THESE BOYS!!!   Hearing the words of the Coach say he wanted to do "3 days a week and the boys wanted to do 4 days a week, so we are doing 4 days."  IMO this statement by him is a telling sign.  He spoke of the adversity the boys  have faced in the previous years, the different  head coaches, the different OC's.  Those are the facts, but as the new coach your motivation to these players is "it's tough, but we are here working together to make this season a continuation of last year's progress.  So we're all in 24/7 with a determination to have a winning season."  The taste left in the team's mouth shouldn't be the community will be disappointed if there isn't a winning season.  

Best wishes to the young men.  You have the support of long time fans, who have sat in the stands at Ernie Hicks Stadium many years watching family, victories, sad losses, the  24/7 dedication of players and coaches.  It is a new season, but the foundation is there.  Shake off the heavy bands of  what you see, and have a vision for what you can achieve.   

 

 

 

 

 

[Real Sasquatch]

Appears that numbers are down at quite a few schools in the area this season.  

[Gridiron60]

2 hours ago, Real Sasquatch said:

Appears that numbers are down at quite a few schools in the area this season.  

Kids of today aren’t the same as yesterday. In my opinion, the downhill slide was accelerated during Covid & after especially with a lot of schools on remote learning. It just did a number on kids, socially, emotionally, educationally, etc. 

[Unchained]

2 hours ago, tbgfan said:

Football Preseason Preview: Richlands Blue Tornado Embrace Underdog Role Again Heading into New Season

 

Seeing the players and their words of expectation, MUCH RESPECT FOR THESE BOYS!!!   Hearing the words of the Coach say he wanted to do "3 days a week and the boys wanted to do 4 days a week, so we are doing 4 days."  IMO this statement by him is a telling sign.  He spoke of the adversity the boys  have faced in the previous years, the different  head coaches, the different OC's.  Those are the facts, but as the new coach your motivation to these players is "it's tough, but we are here working together to make this season a continuation of last year's progress.  So we're all in 24/7 with a determination to have a winning season."  The taste left in the team's mouth shouldn't be the community will be disappointed if there isn't a winning season.  

Best wishes to the young men.  You have the support of long time fans, who have sat in the stands at Ernie Hicks Stadium many years watching family, victories, sad losses, the  24/7 dedication of players and coaches.  It is a new season, but the foundation is there.  Shake off the heavy bands of  what you see, and have a vision for what you can achieve.   

 

I have seen the "our backs are to the wall" mindset make more than one team overachieve. I'd love to see this proud program get it turned around. I want that Union-Richlands rivalry to start back and have the wars that we've had.

 

 

 

 

[tornado99]

I know there are lies and statistics. I think the quote below does apply here. However, it seems I’ve read articles on a national scope that high school football participation has increased or recovered since the pandemic. I’m sure it’s driven by particular areas, such as Texas or population growth in the South or West. I’d ask JDHoss or SWVAOG among others what it really is like outside our corner of the country.

1 hour ago, Gridiron60 said:

Kids of today aren’t the same as yesterday. In my opinion, the downhill slide was accelerated during Covid & after especially with a lot of schools on remote learning. It just did a number on kids, socially, emotionally, educationally, etc. 

 

[Gridiron60]

2 hours ago, tornado99 said:

I know there are lies and statistics. I think the quote below does apply here. However, it seems I’ve read articles on a national scope that high school football participation has increased or recovered since the pandemic. I’m sure it’s driven by particular areas, such as Texas or population growth in the South or West. I’d ask JDHoss or SWVAOG among others what it really is like outside our corner of the country.

 

Schools in Texas & Florida weren’t shut down  like the ones in Virginia. They stayed open as normal.  I would agree both Texas & Florida have seen exponential population growth though which helps. High school football in Texas is king. Some high school stadiums rival university set ups. I don’t believe high school football will ever see a decline in Texas in the near future. 

[SwvaOG]

Sooooo.......no one gonna address the continued attack on "masculinity" in certain societal circles and how that has affected the football participation rates of middle class white males? I'm willing to bet that in the white community football is overwhelmingly aligned with one particular political party.  I would love for someone to do an non-biased in depth analysis of it.  I ran into this is FL....noticed that a lot of kids were being steered toward soccer by, particularly, their mother and you could almost always align them to a particular political persuasion.   At one point, I was on a multi-plex field and was lamenting how we were one WR short of being hard to handle and I looked around and we were playing football on two of the 10 fields and the other eight field were all soccer......with loads of WRs running around kicking a ball. 

"Not my baby,"  

[Sixcat Adjacent]

Youth football decline doesn't have a "one size fits all" problem nor is it limited to youth football.

• Soccer is the most played sport worldwide and has been for a century. It was only a matter of time before it made its way to the US.
• Flag football has risen in popularity exponentially in recent years. Statistics show, it also tends to steer kids toward soccer more-so than traditional tackle football.
• Many larger areas have transitioned to "pay for play" football leagues, which is exponentially more expensive than any other sport. 
• Screens have changed society in ways we are still learning about. It's the leading cause of reduced everything (workforce, sports participation, gym memberships, social interaction).
• High schoolers in politically conservative states participate in tackle football at roughly 1.5 times the rate of those in progressive states, where safety concerns have more significantly altered local sports cultures.

This isn't a "one size fits all" problem so the solution isn't "one size fits all" either. There's a reason other countries are placing mandatory restrictions on screen time for their youth. Social media sites have restrictions in most of the developed world. Austria, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, France, China, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, Thailand, and the United Kingdom all have some form of a ban on social media for anyone under 16. In the brief period this has been in place, participation rates have skyrocketed. Across Europe, participation rates in reading for fun increased 53%, core after school activities such as youth sports have increased 85%, music participation 85%, art participation 70%.

I was asked to attend a "career day" at a local high school a few years ago. I was shocked to learn that the overwhelming majority of students wanted to be an "influencer" or major in "social media marketing" in college. The odds of playing WR for the Michigan Wolverines is probably statistically higher than any of these kids earning a living that way. Those college avenues are this generations "art history" majors. It's useless and adds little to no value to society. We don't like being told what we can and can't do in the US but this may be an area we have to explore if we're going to survive. 

[redtiger]

Off the wall thought related to the popularity of Soccer in the US. As Soccer grows(and it is and will) does football go back to its "smash mouth" roots as fewer and fewer skill players choose the game?  Hard to find 4 good WRs when 3 play Soccer and end up focusing on it. 

[Sixcat Adjacent]

35 minutes ago, redtiger said:

Off the wall thought related to the popularity of Soccer in the US. As Soccer grows(and it is and will) does football go back to its "smash mouth" roots as fewer and fewer skill players choose the game?  Hard to find 4 good WRs when 3 play Soccer and end up focusing on it. 

In the short term, I think that's a possibility. Maybe even a probability. 

In the long term, i don't think it will matter. Public school sponsored athletics aren't going to be around in the not-too-distant-future without a litany of social and political changes. Insurance for example, will eventually become so expensive, public schools will no longer be able to justify that expense in order to field a football program. We're closer to that becoming a reality than many people realize. 

[Union_Fan]

Central...

https://archive.is/20260806125259/https://heraldcourier.com/sports/high-school/football/article_42d76669-4186-4280-a5f4-0afe740bf815.html

[tornado99]

The soccer influence has brought up some interesting points whether masculinity or economics which brings up a great point about playing the two sports, and that’s size. In looking at the recent World Cup rosters the average size of the players virtually mirrors the average population barring the obesity epidemic in developed countries. Football mostly consists of specialized body types or attributes. Those that thrive are on one or both ends of the extremes. It helps certainty have both size and speed, but often those are opposite qualities. I know it’s not always the case, but roughly half of the positions are the biggest kids and the other are the fastest kids. In soccer, you have a lot more room for average to above average. While speed is never a disadvantage, size can be. Just being honest, you don’t see many big, fat kids who are in shape playing soccer. You’re more likely to find more of the skill position sized players finding a spot on the pitch. 
Admittedly, I’m a football guy, but I certainly see the appeal if you or your kid is athletic enough or of average size to be a role player. A very average receiver/running back has the opportunity to be an excellent soccer player through practice and skill development. They might be a poor lineman as well simply due to size and frame. (I know it helps for a big man to be agile and in shape. I can still take the biggest kid who may not be athletic and he still occupies a position because he’s harder to move out of the way at the youth level simply from eating and genetics.)

[Bcats]

I'll say this the section of Bristol i live in I'm probably closer to John Battle and Tennessee High football field than Va High field, so I'm not over that way a whole lot but I did drive by the football field on Saturday and the shopping center parking spaces was filled and I looked inside Va High stadium and I never seen so many people in there before besides the Vt-game. It was packed, I didn't have a clue what was going on, then at look at the field and seen it was a soccer game. I still don't know much about the soccer teams that were playing but I can go ahead and tell you that will be the largest crowd this year at Gen Malcolm stadium (if it's still call that) since the vt-game isn't there this season. Soccer is rising in America