New Coaches

[psycho]

When there was competitive football in the area 9th graders NEVER EVER played varsity or even jr varsity football. NEVER EVER. The thinking was that it was not a good idea for a 13-14 year old BOY to be playing against 18 year old young MEN. That went for all sports, not just football. They were simply not mature enough physically to do so. Still are not. This was a good rule as there is for sure a huge difference in 13-14 year olds and 17-18 year olds. You are talking almost 5 years difference in age in some cases. School districts had this RULE to protect the health of the young student athlete.

This all changed when enrollments in the piss ant pitiful westpac schools began to plummet. Since football is the most important activity of any nature (for the parents) - academic arts or athletic - in these schools, they CHANGED THE RULES just so they could field a football team. By changing the rules they placed the health of their ninth grade boys in jeopardy -- just so they could field a football team. INSTEAD OF CONSOLIDATING AND GAINING VIABLE NUMBERS FOR A FOOTBALL TEAM (not to mention some competition in academics and other sports as well as huge cost savings)THESE SCHOOLS ARE PLACING THE HEALTH OF LITTLE, IMMATURE 9TH GRADE BOYS AT RISK JUST SO THEY CAN "RETAIN THEIR IDENTITIES" AND KEEP THEIR TROPHY CASES. It is a sad, sick, pitiful thought process that has led to the willful exposure of little boys to injury at the hands of men just so a school district can stay independent. For once a school cannot field a football team -- the district's viability is gone.

[El-Moldo]

I believe that according to PIAA rules, a student-athlete is allowed to play 4 years of varsity football. Guess that means playing varsity from 9th Grade to 12th grade IS acceptable in Pennsylvania schools, no matter WHAT classification a certain school is in. Years ago, the only reason Bill Fralic didn't play varsity in 8th grade, was because if he did, he wouldn't have been able to play varsity football as a senior. No one said that 9th graders had to play VARSITY football. In reality, some may be able to. (Dave Poldiak played QB for the Rangers in games 8 and 9 of the regular season and in the playoffs in 1996 ). But most 9th graders who aren't playing junior high football are playing JV football with other 10th graders at their school, and against OTHER 9th and 10th graders at opposing schools. I sure that not many 9th graders are actually playing against 19 year old kids on a regular basis.

[cleaverstuart]

At one time is was much rarer for 9th graders to be moved up to varsity but alot of local schools did have very gifted player who was moved up. I'm talking even late 50's thru early 80's when ALL Schools in d 5-6 area had about twice the enrollment as now. I agree with Pycho that this is occuring way to often nowadays. Some states especially in the south field teams much in the same way as the West PAC, but often the JV team is only 9 & 10 graders that do not play varsity (but some will be moved up) and the JV has much less contact with the varsity

[davesandstorm]

Sometimes the bump is necessary to keep the program going, but if schools have healthy roster sizes, I'd avoid placing my 9th graders on varsity teams.

[southpaw]

At one time is was much rarer for 9th graders to be moved up to varsity but alot of local schools did have very gifted player who was moved up. I'm talking even late 50's thru early 80's when ALL Schools in d 5-6 area had about twice the enrollment as now. I agree with Pycho that this is occuring way to often nowadays. Some states especially in the south field teams much in the same way as the West PAC, but often the JV team is only 9 & 10 graders that do not play varsity (but some will be moved up) and the JV has much less contact with the varsity

Ditto on southern states that have bonafied JV programs for fresh/soph and JH is 7/8 grade. Wish PA did the same but we are still stuck in the past. btw cleaver not all schools in d5/d6 lost half of their enrollment the bedford county schools for the most part are the same size now as they were 25 years ago.

[Manfred]

I agree with Moldy. (What else, right?) There -ARE- kids physically or mentally ABLE to compete on a varsity level. It's uncommon, but not unheard of. The Ferens kid from Penns Manor comes to mind, most recently. The PIAA rule likely was instituted because some well meaning folks wanted their "little" Johnny or Bubba to be allowed to play as a frosh. I don't have a problem with that. If the frosh has the tools to compete and beat out a regular varsity kid, so be it. Maybe the displaced kid will get a fire in his butt to practice and perform better.

[psycho]

It's all relative. When you no longer play competitive football such as in the westpac where band kids have to be summoned to play on the football team in several schools (and march with the band at hallftime instead of joining teammates and coaches in the locker room), you might as well bring up 7th graders. At that point football has become a joke. But back in the day when schools had more kids, coaches were allowed to coach, lots of kids wanted to compete and band kids didn't have to play football in order for the school to have enough kids to field a team - bringing up a 9th grader to even JV was totally unheard of.

The question is when did area football stop being competitive? I'm, going to go with the early- mid 80's. There have been some good teams since then, but overall competition had plummeted as the piss ant schools scratch and claw to hang on to their turf and trophy cases. Since then the whole definition of what is an "interscholastic sport" has been redefined by politically correct influences so that in many places the concept of "competition" is no longer part of the definition. Now it's OK not to be competitive -- it doesn't mean that much anyway so don't get bent out of shape. It's OK to go through the motions as long as you are "participating" in your sports "activity". AYSO mentality (disease) has infiltrated and infected high school "sports". Just look at the lack of D1 kids from western PA. Class of 2011 has the LEAST D1 signees EVER. Why? Lack of competition in all but maybe two handfulls of schools.