BleacherCoaches.com

I found very interesting a series of posts on this site about a week ago about the Juniata Valley turned AAU girls Basketball program and did some research. With Guilfoyle’s program constantly under attack for the “R” word my interest in this situation was raised. I have to admit that with our brand name and our outstanding head coach people on the outside recruit us, not vice versa. Many come here, and find they cannot crack our lineup. But on to my findings.

Apparently there are 4 known outsiders who have shown up at Juniata Valley in the past year and a half. They all happen to be very good basketball players and play on the same AAU basketball team. Coincidence?

Only one of these is ever listed in the PIAA District 6 minutes as having been approved. The minutes from all meetings are listed at this site - http://www.piaad6.org/6comm_minutes.htm

On Sept. 1, 2013 one of the AAU athletes was approved at what appears to be a hearing. All the other approvals over the last year and a half were done, it appears, via the typical Principal to Principal signoff route that renders an athlete immediately eligibile and the District committee then rubber stamps it.

None of the other 3 AAU players were ever approved by the District 6 committee. There are hundreds of approvals on the district 6 minutes from the last year and a half but NONE of these 3 athletes appear in a hearing or even as a principal to principal signoff. Did Juniata Valley even follow protocol and request the signoff from the Principal of the sending schools. I raise this question because I asked a person who works very closely with the D6 committee about these transfers earlier in the week and I got a genuine what are you talking about, response and look.

Either Juniata Valley or District Six has really dropped the ball here. These AAU players have to be approved and haven’t been. After years of hearing about Private Schools recruiting and the unfairness are the powers to be now going to turn a blind eye and not follow rules for a public school? Even if these AAU players transferred because of the superior academic programs in the JV School District they still have to be approved. If you smell smoke, there is probably a fire!

And good luck to the AAU versus BG the next couple years. The general basketball population may actually be rooting for the private rather than public school that is an aau team in disguise.

Time to hit 22 to Ebensburg to see the Lady Marauders!

Are you telling me that your District 6 friend doesn't know that these girls are going to Juniata Valley? If that is the case then he must have his head in the sand. Also, are you telling me that BG never makes the first contact to potential players? I'm not sure I believe that. I have heard that they have people, maybe on their own, that does the talking for them. I was told that a person who runs a certain rec league made a comment a few years talking about 5th and 6th graders and their potential of coming to BG. The school itself keeps its hands clean, but other do their recruiting for them. Whether it is a private school or a public school, what is going on at BG or JV isn't right.

Marauder 66 is correct about the D6 minutes and lack of approval. It's was funny to hear that these girls were new and just "showed" up buts it funny when all of them were met by the varsity coach for a "tour" before anyone of these girls had a schedule. It was like a bad scene from a cheesy basketball movie where the school tries to get the player to come play for them by showing them around and telling them how good it was going to be. Of course in the movies the players are in college. True story I saw it happen

Before all of this speculation gets out of whack and has any merit, D6 does not need to approve when a family purchases and physically moves from one district to another. If said families have the resources to pull off such a move to benefit their kids, I applaud them for being able to and doing what is right for their kids. I would absolutely do the same thing (and can for that matter) for my kids, however my kids have chosen to stay with friends they made, even under the bad conditions they have been given.

Since Marauder is up on public fact checking, take a look at the tax roles for the district and look for last names of said transfers. Cant really do that at BG now can ya :) Get the public school vouchers out now and get on with things. The bone head district teachers/coaches will get weeded out and starve on the vine while keeping the best of the rest for our public school kids to enjoy. If you want to save public $$$ by school consolidation and cant figure out how to carve things up evenly, I cant think of a better way then to make their very existence performance based.

The whole idea D6 or the PIAA needs to approve anything is just, uh just stupid!. Toothless puppets with titles that have their own list of personal agendas also.

d6footballfan wrote:D6 committeeToothless puppets with titles that have their own list of personal agendas also.

I am just truly amazed at how much time and effort people put into complaining about high school sports. You would think that kids are there to play sports and if they happen to get an education on top of it, then that is great. WRONG! Sports are there to build team work, instruct students on how to work with others that they may or may not like or blend well with. Sports build compassion and dedication. There is so much more than winning. Winning is great, but I would rather take a losing team that produces outstanding men and woman as adults than a winning team of a bunch of pricks that thinks the world owes them. The current JV boys basketball coach gets it and hopefully in time you will to. As for the girls coach.....she has a lot to learn about respect and how to treat people...ALL people, not just the ones with the fat wallets. Also she has spoke many times that she is only there to WIN. I shake my head at the whole thing.

shoelessjoe wrote:I am just truly amazed at how much time and effort people put into complaining about high school sports. You would think that kids are there to play sports and if they happen to get an education on top of it, then that is great. WRONG! Sports are there to build team work, instruct students on how to work with others that they may or may not like or blend well with. Sports build compassion and dedication. There is so much more than winning. Winning is great, but I would rather take a losing team that produces outstanding men and woman as adults than a winning team of a bunch of pricks that thinks the world owes them. The current JV boys basketball coach gets it and hopefully in time you will to. As for the girls coach.....she has a lot to learn about respect and how to treat people...ALL people, not just the ones with the fat wallets. Also she has spoke many times that she is only there to WIN. I shake my head at the whole thing.

A lot of what you say is true. Now what are we teaching kids when we show them it is alright to break the rules and let aau teams come together at one school to form allstar teams and pound the schools that do it the old fashioned way, work with what they got? I do find it ironic someone from BG pointing fingers when they obviously are the worst offender in the area!

Regarding JV girls basketball- this isn't a question of legality but more a question of morality. This didn't happen overnight. This was planned and calculated. The family from Juniata Valley didn't have the money the other families do and they ones with money came to them. This family has other issues (which we all know about) and proves yet again with this little coo that they "WILL WIN" no matter who they have to trample on. In this case it is all of the true blue juniata valley kids who were born and raised in the district - one of which is their own daughter who can't compete with the new recruits but starts to appease them but is pulled out quickly and replaced by a fantastic 9th grader from Altoona. You may ask why they would want to bring the aau team here then if their daughter can't keep up? Well, they have another daughter in 7th grade and that is really why the recruits came to JV. So you see, this is not a question of legality. Yes, the fat wallet families have either bought or rented in the district and that makes it all legal according to our school board but...... This little recruitment venture will effectively destroy girls basketball for JUNIATA VALLEY girls for years to come. But hey, the coach loves to WIN and doesn't seem to care about the division on her team, and doesn't seem to care about building a long term program. So yeah it may be legal but certainly not moral.