Week 6: Gallia Academy (2-1) @ Fairland (3-1)

[superblue]

Thanks for the info justy, didn't realize that.. I don't agree with doing that but every school looks at it differently....

[JChipwood]

The young people in our system have seen teams with successful seasons; playoffs, very few losses, contending for league titles, players being offered opportunities to continue playing ball after high school. Hard to wrap my head around non participation at this time. Easy times to have pride in being a Blue Devil. I understand our declining population, lots of very capable athletes not playing a fall sport and several good football players switching sports or quitting before the varsity level. It’s not as if we’ve had a mass exodus from our community. Something is not adding up. I have witnessed our youth program go from 120+ grades 5-6 to one team grades 5-6. This years senior class still had 3 teams from Gallia when they were grades 5-6. After that the youth program changed, following year had 2 Gallia teams then became 1 team. Point is that change put the nail in the numbers coffin at GA and this issue is just beginning and will most definitely get worse. Certainly not the only issue with our numbers but definitely a huge contributor.

[MR305]

Its evident that numbers are dropping, but what, if anything is being done about it?
1. Why are we not talking to the kids that used to play? Not in a group one on one.
2. Why are we not being innovative when it comes to our marketing like other schools?
3. Why do we not have a teacher/counselor that is meeting with players about what steps they need to take to further education?
4. Why do we not have a coach that sets up a summer football camp schedule for current prospects and helps them with recruiting?
5. Why are we not attending team lineman and skill camps?
6. Are we educating our players on what its really like to go college, attend classes and have a full football itinerary and social life?

What separates us from other schools? Lets face it and that's hard for some to do, but we are in a time where the above things matter along with much more. Are we really trying to find out why kids are not playing or do we just want to speculate? Again, a lot of people may have to deal with hurt feelings, but it is what it is. I personally feel like Gallia Academy is in a hole that they can not dig themselves out of for the foreseeable future. Times have changed, you cant just roll out the Blue Devil helmet and expect to have a roster full of players. Not going to happen. I'm not buying the excuse of other sports. Plenty of big bodies in the stands at games that would look great in a football uniform. Please save me the BS, I know for a fact several schools in the OVC due the above mentioned things. Time to put up or shut up.

[transplant]

Well said. Same goes for a lot of schools in the coverage area.

[svac83]

Its evident that numbers are dropping, but what, if anything is being done about it?
1. Why are we not talking to the kids that used to play? Not in a group one on one.
2. Why are we not being innovative when it comes to our marketing like other schools?
3. Why do we not have a teacher/counselor that is meeting with players about what steps they need to take to further education?
4. Why do we not have a coach that sets up a summer football camp schedule for current prospects and helps them with recruiting?
5. Why are we not attending team lineman and skill camps?
6. Are we educating our players on what its really like to go college, attend classes and have a full football itinerary and social life?

What separates us from other schools? Lets face it and that's hard for some to do, but we are in a time where the above things matter along with much more. Are we really trying to find out why kids are not playing or do we just want to speculate? Again, a lot of people may have to deal with hurt feelings, but it is what it is. I personally feel like Gallia Academy is in a hole that they can not dig themselves out of for the foreseeable future. Times have changed, you cant just roll out the Blue Devil helmet and expect to have a roster full of players. Not going to happen. I'm not buying the excuse of other sports. Plenty of big bodies in the stands at games that would look great in a football uniform. Please save me the BS, I know for a fact several schools in the OVC due the above mentioned things. Time to put up or shut up.

i agree with a lot of these points and find them interesting and a lot of them probably true. First when you say other OVC schools do these things how many of them do everything on your list or any of the things on their list? that is just a question i have no actual idea. i didn't even know some schools did some things on your list.

I would also ask a couple of other questions how many schools in OVC or in southern ohio have a pay for play athletic fee to play? How many other schools in southeast ohio or ohio have a athletics department that is totally self sufficient that no money comes out of the school districts funding? for all sports?

I am just saying if we are going to ask questions about why we aren't doing certain things shouldn't we be making sure we are comparing apples to apples and see if we should be blaming a coach or a athletic director or a school that can't pass anything to even properly have a budget let alone fund a athletic department?

Secondly i would look at total athletic participation. this is just a estimate i have no idea what numbers actually are because it has really been 3 years since we have had a good count but lets say gallia academy has 270 male students 9th thru 12th grade. I would say 40 of these kids are enrolled at buckeye hills and at that point the athletic participation rate is usually low. You probably have 30 kids enrolled at the university of rio grande that really are never at the high school. so this gives you a pool of about 200 kids. you have approximately 30 who started football like 32 plying soccer i think 12 running cross country and like 9 on golf team. plus probably a dozen or so in the band. that is basically 50% of your kids participating in a fall sport or activity a lot of schools would die for that high of participation rate.

I get that this is a football thread. But it is also really a thread then about the parents and kids in the school right now. I haven't had a kid on the football field or a daughter cheer leading since 2014 or 2015. but i still attend pretty much every game at home and on the road. The people i saw at games in 2006 through 2010 most of them i haven't seen at a game or athletic fund raiser since. They don't have kids or grand kids participating now. The people i set in stands with when my kids were in high school don't come to games anymore because their kids aren't participating.

There are very few people that follow a team when they don't have kids participating there are a few people that have probably be following longer then me there are a few people that i see every week and i have for 15 years. We don't really have that feeling and most schools don't that it is the communities team and in the fall you follow football. We have a lot of people in the community that could care less.

[JChipwood]

Community support has been the biggest change in my years. Not referencing fundraising support but just overall “go blue” on the signage in town and folks attending games out of pride and support for their community. That support lives on in our surrounding communities from what I have observed. I agree it’s a hole that will require big changes to dig out of. To your points 305, we may never check all the boxes but we should be able to check some or most and we fall short on those topics.

[Foosballs]

Gallia cancels and escape with another avoided L. Fairland by 21 or more if they play. Too many things going on both on and off the field for blue right now.

[MR305]

Its evident that numbers are dropping, but what, if anything is being done about it?
1. Why are we not talking to the kids that used to play? Not in a group one on one.
2. Why are we not being innovative when it comes to our marketing like other schools?
3. Why do we not have a teacher/counselor that is meeting with players about what steps they need to take to further education?
4. Why do we not have a coach that sets up a summer football camp schedule for current prospects and helps them with recruiting?
5. Why are we not attending team lineman and skill camps?
6. Are we educating our players on what its really like to go college, attend classes and have a full football itinerary and social life?

What separates us from other schools? Lets face it and that's hard for some to do, but we are in a time where the above things matter along with much more. Are we really trying to find out why kids are not playing or do we just want to speculate? Again, a lot of people may have to deal with hurt feelings, but it is what it is. I personally feel like Gallia Academy is in a hole that they can not dig themselves out of for the foreseeable future. Times have changed, you cant just roll out the Blue Devil helmet and expect to have a roster full of players. Not going to happen. I'm not buying the excuse of other sports. Plenty of big bodies in the stands at games that would look great in a football uniform. Please save me the BS, I know for a fact several schools in the OVC due the above mentioned things. Time to put up or shut up.

i agree with a lot of these points and find them interesting and a lot of them probably true. First when you say other OVC schools do these things how many of them do everything on your list or any of the things on their list? that is just a question i have no actual idea. i didn't even know some schools did some things on your list.

I would also ask a couple of other questions how many schools in OVC or in southern ohio have a pay for play athletic fee to play? How many other schools in southeast ohio or ohio have a athletics department that is totally self sufficient that no money comes out of the school districts funding? for all sports?

I am just saying if we are going to ask questions about why we aren't doing certain things shouldn't we be making sure we are comparing apples to apples and see if we should be blaming a coach or a athletic director or a school that can't pass anything to even properly have a budget let alone fund a athletic department?

Secondly i would look at total athletic participation. this is just a estimate i have no idea what numbers actually are because it has really been 3 years since we have had a good count but lets say gallia academy has 270 male students 9th thru 12th grade. I would say 40 of these kids are enrolled at buckeye hills and at that point the athletic participation rate is usually low. You probably have 30 kids enrolled at the university of rio grande that really are never at the high school. so this gives you a pool of about 200 kids. you have approximately 30 who started football like 32 plying soccer i think 12 running cross country and like 9 on golf team. plus probably a dozen or so in the band. that is basically 50% of your kids participating in a fall sport or activity a lot of schools would die for that high of participation rate.

I get that this is a football thread. But it is also really a thread then about the parents and kids in the school right now. I haven't had a kid on the football field or a daughter cheer leading since 2014 or 2015. but i still attend pretty much every game at home and on the road. The people i saw at games in 2006 through 2010 most of them i haven't seen at a game or athletic fund raiser since. They don't have kids or grand kids participating now. The people i set in stands with when my kids were in high school don't come to games anymore because their kids aren't participating.

There are very few people that follow a team when they don't have kids participating there are a few people that have probably be following longer then me there are a few people that i see every week and i have for 15 years. We don't really have that feeling and most schools don't that it is the communities team and in the fall you follow football. We have a lot of people in the community that could care less.

Between Ironton and Fairland they cover all the above mentioned items. Makes you wonder why their participation numbers are greater even though they are both smaller than Gallipolis? Pay to play, well there are plenty of people that will step up like my parents and I have along with others and take care of equipment costs and fees. Also, doesn't cost a thing to talk to prospects inside the school.

[JChipwood]

If a player really wants to play the participation fee is not an issue.

[svac83]

Community support has been the biggest change in my years. Not referencing fundraising support but just overall “go blue” on the signage in town and folks attending games out of pride and support for their community. That support lives on in our surrounding communities from what I have observed. I agree it’s a hole that will require big changes to dig out of. To your points 305, we may never check all the boxes but we should be able to check some or most and we fall short on those topics.

Besides point pleasant and ironton wheelersburg and maybe Jackson I don’t see the support. I mean even when it comes to traveling maybe ironton brings half the people on the road to Gallia as what they used to bring.

If you think financially the athletic department has the same financial support it had for years your crazy. As recently as 2004 the athletic boosters had over 200 members and a waiting list to become a booster. Now there are only about 40 boosters and like 10 that it is more then a check they write.

The athletic boosters bank account goes down every year. Because we spend more money then we bring in. This has been the case for years and isn’t getting any better.

[svac83]

If a player really wants to play the participation fee is not an issue.

When I had 3 kids involved in sports i was paying over a $1000 a year in athletic fees. Thank god when I talked to a coach I found out if I needed help there were people who would take care of it.

Thank goodness I am in a different financial situation a day and I get a call usually once a year when theee is a need for a fee to be covered…. But how many parents don’t know this and discourage their participation because of it. I am sure it is not a high number but if you don’t think it effects participation your crazy.

I can’t tell you how many kids show up and start to participate in junior high activities and that participation form goes home and the coach never sees the kid at practice again

[MR305]

If a player really wants to play the participation fee is not an issue.

When I had 3 kids involved in sports i was paying over a $1000 a year in athletic fees. Thank god when I talked to a coach I found out if I needed help there were people who would take care of it.

Thank goodness I am in a different financial situation a day and I get a call usually once a year when theee is a need for a fee to be covered…. But how many parents don’t know this and discourage their participation because of it. I am sure it is not a high number but if you don’t think it effects participation your crazy.

I can’t tell you how many kids show up and start to participate in junior high activities and that participation form goes home and the coach never sees the kid at practice again

Not crazy and I don’t disagree with you. So whose responsibility is it to get this information conveyed to those individuals in need? It’s not the responsibility of the person in the stands to get the word out. That’s why have coaches and an athletic department

[svac83]

My son almost didn’t play junior high soccer. He had played youth soccer all his life basically and he became a 7th grader will Gallia started junior high soccer he was excited. About the time school started he said he wanted to quit. Made no sense to me and I would not allow my kids to quit any sport finally after 3 days he told me he didn’t want to play because he had heard me and his mom talking how we couldn’t pay our bills and that we were falling behind.

So he just wasn’t going to ask around not be a burden on the family.

[MR305]

My son almost didn’t play junior high soccer. He had played youth soccer all his life basically and he became a 7th grader will Gallia started junior high soccer he was excited. About the time school started he said he wanted to quit. Made no sense to me and I would not allow my kids to quit any sport finally after 3 days he told me he didn’t want to play because he had heard me and his mom talking how we couldn’t pay our bills and that we were falling behind.

So he just wasn’t going to ask around not be a burden on the family.

That is something that is between you, the parent and the Coach or athletic department and it would have been handled. No issues or questions.

[svac83]

I get it in a society of all the food stamps and everyone getting things for free. That some people still have pride and shame. But I still know some people on food stamps that go to grocery store at 7 am hoping that no one sees they are on financial support. Of course those are the people that figure out a way to better their life and get off assistance.

My kids weee all told their was help but they paid no attention. When I was able to attend parent meetings I was told there was help. But to be honest with you I was too proud to ask for years.

I finally had a coach and the athletic director approach me outside of a school setting and they just came and told me don’t worry about your fall athletic fees. A donor has taken care of them. When I went to take in a check for winter sports I was told no your athletic fees were taken care of for the year.

I felt really blessed because I had never talked to anyone about it. About a year later me and my wife had better jobs and I went into pay and I was told they were taken care I told them to take my check and pay someone else’s then.

After that I talked to some people and like I said I didn’t have a request last year but most years since then I have donated at least one athletic fee.

[svac83]

But it is not like it is just that easy if every parent said they couldn’t play the athletic fee Gallia would have a lot less sports in the first year and very little would survive. When mr sims was athletic director at a parents meeting he put a slide up because people were complaining about the athletic fee. The chart showed for year that they collected about $350k in athletic fees and the transportation costs for all sports for the year was like $420k. Let alone everything else

[superblue]

Great discussion.. just a couple points of clarification. Around 2000 my wife and I were involved with the boosters. We never had a waiting list to join the boosters.. we did have a 200 club,. You had to pay extra to be a member and we called them super boosters, that was limited too 200 people.. back then no student who wanted to play sports was left behind because of the participation fee. We had. People in the community who would take of the fee. My next comment is no reflection on this years coaches. 20 years ago all the football coaches were teachers, they saw these kids every day, they did some of the recruiting.... They knew the kids that needed assistance and took care of it... Now we don't have that, not saying the coaches are bad but they have no idea what's going on in school.

[svac83]

Great discussion.. just a couple points of clarification. Around 2000 my wife and I were involved with the boosters. We never had a waiting list to join the boosters.. we did have a 200 club,. You had to pay extra to be a member and we called them super boosters, that was limited too 200 people.. back then no student who wanted to play sports was left behind because of the participation fee. We had. People in the community who would take of the fee. My next comment is no reflection on this years coaches. 20 years ago all the football coaches were teachers, they saw these kids every day, they did some of the recruiting.... They knew the kids that needed assistance and took care of it... Now we don't have that, not saying the coaches are bad but they have no idea what's going on in school.

you are correct it was the 200 club good catch

[svac83]

on the origional topic of this thread look around the state almost every team that has a covid issue on wednesday or late all lose two weeks of season. if they cancel on monday or tuesday they have a chance not to miss that second game. So lets not make this just a numbers issue there are even D! programs with 70 kids being shut down for two weeks.

Now if they dont play against coal grove then we can open up the debate about what else is wrong.

[MR305]

I will be surprised if we play another game.