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Northview, Jay, Other Schools Consider New Independent Sports League
April 23, 2009
NorthEscambia.com Exclusive
Northview and Jay high schools are among about 20 high schools in the Florida Panhandle that have met to discuss forming a new independent athletic league outside of the Florida High School Athletic Association, NorthEscambia.com has learned.
“We all just want to see our teams have a level playing field,” Northview Principal Gayle Weaver told NorthEscambia.com.
The problem lies with smaller schools in the FHSAA that are forced to compete at the playoff level with private schools and academies. Those private schools are able to recruit the best players with scholarships and other incentives, making the chances of a small public school winning a state playoff unlikely.
“Sometimes out students say we are playing for second best,” Weaver said, “because they know that they could never win state.”
In addition, the current FHSAA brackets had the Chiefs on the road for over 1,200 miles last football season. The team’s game in Blountstown was a nearly 350 mile round trip.
“It is a hardship during the regular season for families to follow our teams,” Weaver said. “And it takes away from our community because there are no local rivalries.”
The smaller independent league would mean more games closer to home for most member schools.
In addition, schools like Northview and Jay lose financially when hosting an event like a football game where the opponent is from a long distance away. A long distance for the visiting teams equates to poor attendance, and poor attendance equals money lost.
There are about 20 small rural high schools from Northview to Sneeds that are considering the formation of the independent athletic league and the separation from the FHSAA. They range in size from Monroe High School with 106 students to Walton with 699 students. Northview has 554; Jay has 200. Baker, at 435 students, is the only other Escambia or Santa Rosa County school currently in talks about the new league.
Weaver said that it would be hard for a school like Northview to get past the quarter finals in a state competition when paired against private academies that recruit so heavily that they are considered “feeder schools” for college teams.
“It is disheartening to see our kids unable to complete on that level playing field,” she said. “We want what is fair for our students. We don’t want them to be beat by teams that are almost like semi-pros.”
An official from the Florida High School Athletic Association was at Wednesday’s meeting, Weaver said. That official promised the group that the FHSAA would form a committee to address the small schools’ concerns, and that committee would also take a look at how small schools fit into the statewide athletic associations in nearby states.
The small schools, including Northview and Jay, will meet again soon to discuss the formation of the independent athletic association.
Weaver said the independent league is not likely to be formed before August, so Northview, Jay and the other schools will likely play under the FHSAA one more year.
“After that, we’ll just see what happens,” she said.
“The schools would still be members of the FHSAA. The membership carries a lot of resources, but it also would require the schools to follow the FHSAA rules. The FHSAA Handbook is published each year, and the handbook explains things such as eligibility, sports seasons, rules for officials,” Weaver said.
Schools that are considering the independent league are (along with the student population of some schools):
- Monroe (106)
- Graceville (214)
- Cottondale
- Wewahitchka
- Jay
- Franklin Count
- Liberty County
- West Gadsden
- Freeport
- Port St. Joe
- Sneads
- Vernon
- Blountstown
- Baker
- Holmes County
- Bozeman
- Northview (554)
- South Walton
- Chipley (616)
- Walton (697)
Pictured above: Northview Head Coach Cody Keene prepares the Chiefs before last year’s season opener against Catholic High. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
27 Responses to “Northview, Jay, Other Schools Consider New Independent Sports League”
Wow at the debate over what road is best for your school. I know some aint going to like this, but here goes it.
One of the best things Alabama’s sanctioning body ever did was to require the private schools to play up or play in their own division. Did this solve all of the problems? No. But it did allow the public schools to pick up some of the palyers that the private schools were getting. Thus the feeling of a more level playing field so to speak. No matter what players a school has or can get, they all become that schools players, and then it is up to the program to make the best use of those players.
I seen a comment on here comcerning the making of a one man show team, and I believe someone may be referring to the use of a talented player in every way you can, versus centering you whole game plan around that player, either way both are dangerous buisness. You see alot of this in small schools though. Mostly because of the lack of student participation in sports in general in those schools, and the fact that not all students are interested in sports. Almost any school is going to have an approx. 20% participation from the total student body of both boys and girls, and that is if your programs are really working well. So at 20% of a 500 – 600 student school you might have 50 – 75 kids that want to play football, and a coach has to make a varsity team and then if able a j v team. Most of these kids will be average, then maybe 2 – 4 will be above average, and maybe 1 – 2 will be great. Break it down like this and you will see real quick why a coaches job is most of the time difficult. This applies to almost any school in almost any division.
Now you might say thats impossible, those other shools in higher classifications are always better. They always have better players, and that is why they win so much. Well sorry to break it to you, its not that simple. The reason these schools win so much is the whole package is fine tuned. Everything is working together to bring about one thing, WINS. These programs don’t have to recruit, players want to play there, so they move there, and they want to play for programs that are doing things well, which in turn gets them noticed, and the coach and the program get noticed, and the whole process starts over again.
Can a small school have a program like this? Yes they can on the scale that their school and community want it to be. Like some of the posts here have said, you can either make excuses for it, or you can do something about it. It appears that your school is at that crossroads, you just have to make the right turn. Hope it works out for your school.
From the sideline- how many teams in class 2B have you seen dress 60 players other than maybe Florida High at Tallahassee,that recruits heavily in that region? Baker, Jay, Freeport, South Walton,all dress about 25, even Walton who is 2A doesn’t dress but about 30. Mariannna dressed about 25 last year and has almost 900 students.
Get real Northview. A new league will not solve Northview’s problems. Northview is not a Daddy coached team like peewee ball as it was just a few years ago. We need to ask questions like why do kids transfer to other schools to play sports?Why do we only have 26 or so players when other schools dress out thier best 60 players? why do we focus one player to do every thing. We will not win in a new league with the same ole one man team approach. We need to fix Northview’s problems first then address league problems.
I played on the team in 2001 under Coach Williams. We had one of the best teams to ever go through Northview ever, we went undefeated the whole season beating nearly every team we played by at least 35 to 40 points or sometimes more. I say all that to say once we reached the 2 nd round of the state playoffs we were beat by madision county prep school which dressed out there best 60 players. We only had 26 or so players and some of them were jv. So i dont think we wver had a fair chance to play for the state championship. So if all the schools can make this leauge happen i think it would be the best thing that could happen for the school and athletes. I hope it works out. Go Chiefs!!!!!!
It sounds to me like the point has not been understood. Century Blackcats, Jay Royals, Ernest Ward Eagles, Flomaton Hurricanes, and Baker Gators……..Those times were great and full of wonderful memories. When these teams played, the stands were full on both sides and on the sidelines (the fans that lined up the fence). The support was amazing for all sports. The kids for the most part all knew each other and the parents from what I remember did not criticize each other. If the ???fans spent more time giving support the kids, the bleachers would not be empty. We have a great group of parents and kids. Our kids are the important ones and respect is what is needed.
Ms Weaver, the teachers, the coaches, and the players(for all sports) need the respect from everyone. More important: respect and consideration for each other.
I support Ms Weaver. We as parents that have to work-appreciate the financial part(money for the schools and travel hardships); the ability to go support our kids(traveling); etc.
God Bless The Northview Chiefs We Love You
Well it is unfortunate that your view of posts that have words of encouragement and information is angled at certain individuals. That shows a lack of understanding of sports and of the sport that is being discussed. As some of the persons posting have said, its all our responsibility to support the teams in any way needed to help them succeed.
“How” can we say we support our teams if just simply say, oh well if we lose we lose, as long as we played that is all that matters. As long as we play schools that are of low caliber and we win those games we are ok? It is evident from posts on this site that there are several supporters who agree we are capable of competing and beating all our opponents. Even if we don’t win that particular game at least we can give them a game to remember. Not a game they blow us out in, but a game we kept them close all the way through. Don’t tell me this can’t be done. I know it can be done. I am speaking from experience. Nothing happens by chance, you have to earn it, you have to work at it, you have to be willing to sacrifice and put whatever takes into the program to make that happen.
Give you an example, Coach Keene has been trying for the last couple of years to get support and funding for a much needed Field House for Northview High School. This has pretty much fell on deaf ears, not just with the school board either, it is held up by all involved, mostly because no one was involved. Will a new Field House make us win Championships? Not by itself, but it is a very important part of it, and the PRIDE it instills into our programs would be monumental. Can we do it? Yes we can, and hopfully with some renewed involvment we can make it happen.
In Alabama, the private schools enrollment is counted differently than for public schools. They have to count something like 1 1/2 for each student instead of just 1. Does anyone know if the FHSAA has a similar system in place?
I just want to toss a note in here that we would love to have help with our sports coverage here at NorthEscambia.com. Email news@northescambia.com for more info. Totally off topic, but I know a lot of sports fans are following this article and comments. William
We need more emphasis on younger players. JV tends to get cast aside alot to focus on varsity. Both are important. Start working hard with fresman and you will end up with better seniors. We have talented players, we need to get the best out of them. Our coaches (esecially baseball) need assistance weather they want it or not. You can’t play JV 12 games a year , miss practice every time varcity has a game and expect them to develop to the best of there abillity.
onyr, There are very few if any 4A and 5A private schools, the majority are in the 1and 2 clasifications. I can’t remember Pace playing a private school but I may be wrong, just wonder who it was.
Nobody said anything about “luck” by our girls beating Catholic.The softball team is well coached and the girls work very hard. I take nothing away from them. You seem to think we are crying poor pitiful us. We are not . We play with the kids we have and that is it. Most high schools don’t recruit but the ones that do makes it hard on the ones that don’t. Sure we will have good years and we will have bad years but we do it with our kids. A couple of years ago we had a good baseball team that was crippled by many injuries,something you could not help,but we could not go out and bring in another player. A winning season turned into a losing season. As far as players reading these post,and they read comments made by you about coaches and what they do wrong and how it should be done so rake around your door before you start on someone else.
IF we are speaking on fairness. I dont believe any student who is “out of district”, say Atmore. Should be able to play on Northviews teams if we go to this new group. I mean you know fair is fair. We might not be recruiting them, but I do know several/many students who come from out of state so they can get playing time here at Northview. Which takes away from my friends who actually live in Florida. That goes for cheerleaders as well.
Hey, it is a decent idea to play in a smaller league. But if we want fairness, we hvae to be fair ourselves.
NV06
RDB and Funny are both right that all teams can be beat. Look at the New York Yankees, they go out and spend millions of dollars to get the absolute best players in Alex Rodriguez ($275 million contract), C.C. Sabathia ($161 million contract), Derek Jeter, Mark Taxeria, etc. and they havent won the world series since 2000, but with their loaded team they should be winning ever game. I know that all of you are going to say that that is a completely different topic but its not b/c guess what it involves recruiting. So it all goes to show that even the best teams can be beat. Another big factor that has a lot to do with the kids winning is support from family, friends and the community, which around here it is decent but could be a lot better. Look at the powerhouse high school football teams in Texas, the small towns shutdown and go lights out to go out and support their teams. Now why cant it be that way around here?? The boys and girls know that they are supported but they dont see it. So show your support through not only good times, but tough times and losing streaks to let the kids know that you are behind them. But the bottom line is that all teams can be beat whether it is Catholic or some other private academy. Oh another prime example, Jay made it to, I believe, the final four in the state baseball playoffs a couple of years back and they were playing private schools and academies that can recruit. Look at Pace, so what if they are a 4A or 5A school they still CANT recruit, the boys and girls have been going very far in the playoffs playing private schools and academies that can recruit, but you dont hear them complaining when they dont win the title. Why dont they complain b/c they have the support, dedication, and WANT to win.
Amazing how everyone is so caught up on beating Catholic. There is a full roster of other teams that we play. When we beat everyone except Catholic, then you may have an argument. Until then, all I hear is excuses why we can’t do something. What snack do we get after today’s game again ?
And “how”, are you saying that we only beat Catholic because they are not good this year, or could it have been because our Girls played well ? Hmmmmmmmmm
Boy put a slap in the face of our softball team. Thats just the thing that holds us back. Because whether you know it or not, the players read these comments. Even though they should not put any stock in comments like that, unfortunatley some do. We should always look for ways to get better and encourage hard work no matter who our opponents are.
Funny has a point. All the teams we play can be beat with the teams we have. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like we do. It is true that recruiting happens in all levels of sports, but that is not the only determining factor that makes them win. The next time you watch one of those teams that you are in awe of, watch everything they do very carefully, and notice all aspects of their program not just their players, and you will see why they are so consistant. Northview can compete with these teams and win, we just need to continue to push ourselves in the right direction. Northview is headed down the right road. We as supporters just need to stay on course. Because nothing gets you a championship except hard work and believing in your program, no matter what league you play in.
Actually A Baseball State Championship two years later. This is not a situation of a “blind hog” getting lucky. For YEARS, Century and Ernest Ward were consistantly strong teams in all they did. But now all we want to do is cry “poor, pituful us” , instead of putting the work in needed to accomplish what we want. Maybe other teams beat us because they actually work at it instead of just wanting it to happen. Maybe other teams beat us because they EXPECT to win, not hope that the other team has a bad day so we might win. Every success that Ernest Ward, Century, And Northview has enjoyed is because they were putting in the effort the other teams were not putting in. In other words, they worked to overcome obstacles to win, not sat around and made excuses why they couldn’t. Again, I bet Northview’s Softball team EXPECTED to win when they faced Catholic, and guess what… THEY DID !!!
Funny, How many state championships have been won since then. The point is that even a” blind hog finds an acorn ever now and then”!
Funny, you should work for FHSAA, you think like them. All public small YMCA schools should have to play the recruiting private schools. And by the way Catholic must not recruit softball players, they aren’t very good. We don’t want to play YMCA ball, we just want to play on and even field. You play “your” players and we will play ours, not some recruit. Also, I am taking nothing away from the NHS softball team, any day you beat Catholic, it’s a great day.
I think this is a good idea but if it doesnt fly then FHSAA should really take a look at the classifications. I played baseball at Northview and know that we the students could compete and hang with the other schools but only to a certain round in the playoffs (not much past the second round). I say that we could compete b/c when we went to Chipley in the first round of playoffs we should have won but we lost in the last inning to a couple of careless mistakes. I would be happy to see Northview do good and go far in state.
What’s worse is that some parents hold their boys back, not for academic reasons, but in order for them to have an extra year to play. For what purpose…to help the school win a championship? in hopes for better stats for potential college recruitment? for their ’self-esteem’? By the way, the independent association is a good idea…
Obviously neither of you stood on the field 30 years ago against Jacksonville University Christian, or North Palm Beach, both private schools who recruited heavily…. Maybe we can play all of the schools with less than 200 students, so when we win, we can feel good about ourselves….. I guess it is impossible to beat Catholic because they recruit… OH wait…what was it again our Girls Softball team just did, AGAIN…. didn’t we beat them last year in football ? Is Catholic the only team we play ?
If this is about travel and expense, say that… I can understand that… but don’t sit here and quote that we cannot compete… again, maybe we will be happy with YMCA rules.
Well said “how”. The current situation would be like letting the Pine Forest Eagles play the Pittsburgh Steelers. Catholic recruits like a pro team. Northview takes who they get honestly. So does Jay and the other schools.
IN 1979, when Ernest Ward won state like someone mentioned below, this did not happen. EW would not have stood a chance against semi-pros. This big private academy stuff did not happen 30 years ago.
Funny, Thirty years ago things were very different, the private schools didn’t recruit players like they do today. A small school has little chance today of winning a state championship because of this. No one has given up but sometimes you have to face reality. Pensacola Catholic has 3 division one baseball signees on their team this year with others that could play in college,how many does NHS or Jay have? They play and play hard with the students they have, they can’t go out and buy them a team!
Dec. 7 1979…. A small school named Ernest Ward Eagles completed it’s football year with a State Championship…. The players accomplished this by believing they COULD, not by saying that they couldn’t compete…. Maybe soon we will go to YMCA rules where we don’t keep score, both teams win, and everyone gets a snack after each game….
I see my best friend forever Joshua Mark Dorreity (:
This has been a problem for years. Not only private schools, but public schools that recruit and hide students as well. A simple answer would be to go to the format like the AHSAA. In Alabama, I believe, the private schools have playoff systems all there own. And if a private school wants to play in the public schools districts, then they would have to play up one or two classifications. It looks like it works for them, why not FHSAA.
I think this sounds like a great idea. Our boys put so much heart into their season and they could stand to win a few more games which would pump them up even more. That’s what I remember high school football being about…the community and the students having a time to remember for many years to come.