As we get close to the state tourney

[Moch77]

There has been a little talk about the change of state tourney format. Once again, the big schools dominate what happens with the smaller schools. Because the big schools can't draw a crowd, the small schools suffer. Let's take a look at the number of kids who really get hurt in this thing:

1. There are obviously the players themselves.
2. How about the kid who can't make the team, loves to be part of it and becomes a manager or a scorekeeper. The opportunity for them is lost too.
3. The cheerleaders. These kids work hard as well and what a great time for them to strut their stuff.
4. Band kids. There have been some great bands playing their hearts out and doing well! No longer.
5. Little brothers and sisters. sorry, WIAA says you have to stay home and not get that experience.
6. Schoolmates and friends. The school spirit of the smaller schools is much more evident, but not for 8 schools, each level, for each the boys and the girls.
7. Kids in the schools of the city hosting the tournament. North Mason players went to the school where my wife teaches. The kids there STILL talk about how cool it was to have the team warmup and give them a little pep talk and give a few autographs.
8. Host families. There are kids that got to sit sideline, go to team meals, hang out with their teams they hosted. These opportunities are lost.

Rough estimate of # of kids at each level that would lose an opportunity to have an experience (again this is a rough estimate):
8 teams, boys and girls, 2A, 1A, 2B, 1B. 12 team members, 2 managers, 2 scorekeepers, 10 cheerleaders, 25 band members, 100 relatives, 300 elementary kids from host city, 15 host family kids. Approx. 465 kids. Times 2 because of both boys and girls = 940 kids. Multiply times 4 for the 4 levels = 4700 kids. Let us just say for arguement sake 4000 kids will lose the experience of state basketball. Aren't we in the business of creating opportunities, experiences, memories for our children? I guess the almighty dollar supercedes the growth of our children.

The loss of dollars does not only effect the WIAA. When Yakima lost the tournment, it cost the community (restaurants, hotels, etc) in the area 4 million dollars. That is $4,000,000!! Take away half the teams, take away half the money. A $2,000,000 hit can be expected. This is far less important when comparing it to the loss of experience a kid is missing on, but this is still a HUGE area of concern.

 

[statewide]

so the small schools had no input by their athletic directors in how this change came about. Why would the big schools care what happened in the small schools? It would make no difference to them and the changes to their tournaments. Am I missing something that you can clear up for me.

 

[HockSports]

Yawn.............

 

[Moch77]

I am sure the small schools had just as much input as the big schools, but this was a WIAA decision, no that of the schools. When the state reclassified and made the 6 classifications, the big schools all whined that they weren't getting the same chance to make the playoffs because there were more 4A schools than any other division. So the statein all it's wisdom put Quincy (10-12 enrollment of about 400) with Selah (10-12 enrollment of about 800). Tough for the Quincys of the world to compete with schools twice the enrollment. It just seems that the state makes decisions based on the needs of the big schools not looking at the whole picture.

As for Hocksports...did someone steal your account? I used to enjoy reading your opinion on things. Your posts have become childish.

 

[statewide]

It seems to me your arguments are hinting conservatives vs liberals, big school verses small.
Doesn't it make sense that it would be important to give the larger schools a better chance to make it to the tournament. After all, that is where the majority of the student athletes are located and the WIAA has to give weight to the numbers in the larger schools. There are always going to be classification problems no matter where you draw the line. Wouldn't more divisions help not hurt the numbers difference between schools in the same classification. Prairie was in 4A for years with one of the smaller enrollments and it didn't seem to hurt them all that much competing against schools with double the enrollment. I stated elsewhere that I think it would have been better to leave the 1A schools and 2A schools as is and I also mentioned that I could not understand why the City of Yakima along with the Chamber of Commerce did not make an investment in the cost of the tournament inorder to keep all the business they say it brought to Yakima. Me, I will wait to see how this all shakes out knowing that none of this is written in stone. I can't wait to attend a day of semi finals for both girls and boys in the 4A and 3A classifications all in one location. It should be a great day. If attendance is not there for this day's event, I am at a loss at what the WIAA is to do to increase attendance. There is no doubt that in the larger classifications in larger towns, high school sports is not the center of the community as it is in small towns across the state. It all makes sense to me that it is the way it is in the larger towns and smaller towns. I wish the WIAA goodluck but I think it is a tough tough problem that they will have little impact on.

I was a sales rep for Jostens a number of years ago and my territory was part of Eastern WA and the Idaho panhandle. I am well aware of the importance of sports in small schools and the difference in larger schools. Thinking back though to that time period, there was no internet, no espn, and no mass number of cable channels. All that has had an impact on the rise of the importance of college sports and the fall of popularity of high school sports. Washington is not alone on this issue.
This post was edited on 1/31 8:18 AM by statewide

 

[Moch77]

The classification issue came about because there were 78 4A schools and 52 2A schools. The big schools arguement was that they had a lesser chance of making the playoffs. This was true. The state did the percentage split as it is today. The small 2A schools are the ones who got hosed because of this. There was actually a 6 classification system as we have to day on the table that would have evened the chance to make the playoffs and at the same time made the splits more fair as far as enrollment. The decision was made in the best interest of the big schools. Once again, the rationale of reducing the number of state tournament games has to do with the loss of revenue at the big school tournaments not in what is the best interest of kids. This is my point...we now have a system that is taking experiences away from many kids.

 

[statewide]

I get that about the lost experience for kids. I went to a very large high school in Texas and if you were not a near college material athlete your chances of participating in sports was very slim. It was one of the things that I enjoyed about calling on the small schools in Washington for Jostens. You got to play and you could be just a good athlete and have the experience of playing varsity sports. Wow, little school in Eastern Washington I could have been a star rather than a spectator. We had 1200 freshman when I started high school.

In the end, it always comes down to money. Well, at least it does nowadays. Just watch for the day when school districts are in such dire straits financially that they finally decide that they can no longer afford high school supports and everything becomes an out of school activity.