Hanneman Special: Another FHS GBC title
EDITORS NOTE: I want my boys in the sports department to add to this blog on occasion and finally after a little cajoling veteran Courier Sports Writer Dave Hanneman shares his thoughts about Findlay High School's dominance in some GBC sports. Dave has many interesting perspectives on a lot of sports related subjects he shares them with us on a damily basis at work. He is one of the best prep sports writers in the business bar none in my opinion!
Dave Hanneman's Entry:
Northwest Ohio is the Mecca for small schools. And the competition and camaraderie between neighboring schools in tight-knit leagues is found few other places in the state.
Among the big schools, however, there is a glaring disparity in several sports.
A perfect example is Findlay High. The Trojans are competitive but not necessarily dominant in many of the tradition sports that have been around forever — football, basketball, baseball.
But in some sports — like soccer, tennis and golf — the Trojans are in a league by themselves ... or should be,
Findlay has always been perceived more upper middle class than blue collar, kinda like the Park Place on the Greater Buckeye Conference Monopoly Board. Findlay parents getting their kids involved in athletics therefore have more means to get them involved at a very early age in suburbia/country club sports like golf, tennis, soccer, even swimming.
Now transpose that background on high school varsity competition.
Napoleon shocked everyone by winning the GBC golf championship this season. But Findlay had won seven straight league titles coming into the meet and 11 in the previous 12 years.
Findlay’s girls tennis team just won a fourth straight league title and did so easily. And as for the soccer teams, well both the girls and boys teams can basically name the final score in all but a few matches.
Things are so unbalanced in girls soccer that Findlay sends its varsity team to only one or two GBC matches all season. The rest of the time, they send the JV squad.
That disparity can cause some major headaches. When it comes time for all-league selections, for example, does a coach vote for Findlay’s best varsity players (who many of the coaches never saw play) or do they select the JV players they saw in action? From Findlay’s standpoint, the school’s best players, who would be obvious all-league selections, may get little recognition if the only post-season honors they are nominated or all all-league and all-state, when they are going against top-notch players from a much greater area.
Every coach will tell you that for a program to maintain a high-level of success, it must be tested by the best competition out there. In that vein, should Findlay leave the GBC in some sports to establish a more competitive schedule, or is it the responsibility of other GBC schools to try to boost some of their programs to try to achieve a higher level of competitiveness?
There is scheduling to consider, too. Athletic directors like the fact there are a certain number of league games necessary to fill out a season. Take five or six games out of the mix (if Findlay played a more independent schedule in some sports) and that’s five or six new opponents other GBC schools have to line up.
It’s a situation that’s been brewing, and some feel will soon lead to some significant changes.
NEWSWORTHY:
Prep Volleyball Poll
Coverage of the Browns win Sunday
Findlay Courier’s Monday local sports
Streaks cage Tigers
Trojans beat Ross in volleyball showdown
Dave Hanneman's Entry:
Northwest Ohio is the Mecca for small schools. And the competition and camaraderie between neighboring schools in tight-knit leagues is found few other places in the state.
Among the big schools, however, there is a glaring disparity in several sports.
A perfect example is Findlay High. The Trojans are competitive but not necessarily dominant in many of the tradition sports that have been around forever — football, basketball, baseball.
But in some sports — like soccer, tennis and golf — the Trojans are in a league by themselves ... or should be,
Findlay has always been perceived more upper middle class than blue collar, kinda like the Park Place on the Greater Buckeye Conference Monopoly Board. Findlay parents getting their kids involved in athletics therefore have more means to get them involved at a very early age in suburbia/country club sports like golf, tennis, soccer, even swimming.
Now transpose that background on high school varsity competition.
Napoleon shocked everyone by winning the GBC golf championship this season. But Findlay had won seven straight league titles coming into the meet and 11 in the previous 12 years.
Findlay’s girls tennis team just won a fourth straight league title and did so easily. And as for the soccer teams, well both the girls and boys teams can basically name the final score in all but a few matches.
Things are so unbalanced in girls soccer that Findlay sends its varsity team to only one or two GBC matches all season. The rest of the time, they send the JV squad.
That disparity can cause some major headaches. When it comes time for all-league selections, for example, does a coach vote for Findlay’s best varsity players (who many of the coaches never saw play) or do they select the JV players they saw in action? From Findlay’s standpoint, the school’s best players, who would be obvious all-league selections, may get little recognition if the only post-season honors they are nominated or all all-league and all-state, when they are going against top-notch players from a much greater area.
Every coach will tell you that for a program to maintain a high-level of success, it must be tested by the best competition out there. In that vein, should Findlay leave the GBC in some sports to establish a more competitive schedule, or is it the responsibility of other GBC schools to try to boost some of their programs to try to achieve a higher level of competitiveness?
There is scheduling to consider, too. Athletic directors like the fact there are a certain number of league games necessary to fill out a season. Take five or six games out of the mix (if Findlay played a more independent schedule in some sports) and that’s five or six new opponents other GBC schools have to line up.
It’s a situation that’s been brewing, and some feel will soon lead to some significant changes.
NEWSWORTHY:
Prep Volleyball Poll
Coverage of the Browns win Sunday
Findlay Courier’s Monday local sports
Streaks cage Tigers
Trojans beat Ross in volleyball showdown
posted by --J-- @ 5:47 PM
1 Comments:
At 6:07 PM,
Anonymous said…
Didn't the boys do that? An "elite" team that played independent and another that played the league games?
1. As for the conference as a whole you shouldn't be able to pick and choose which sport your in for.
2. Should Vanlue pull out of the BVC for football only? Do that and soon everybody would want out for one sport or another. Why have a conference at all?
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