Striving for mediocrity
OK I have been putting this off for way too long.
Not sure what kind of a welcome I will receive the next time I cover something at that Catholic school in Countyline Street in Fostoria.
When I covered the St. Wendelin-Riverdale football game this fall, that’s when I realized how far my alma mater has fallen. Both teams had 20-some game losing streaks on the line and the Mohawks eked out a 6-0 win in a game that was scripted out of something from the Twilight Zone.
After the win they celebrated like they had just won the Super Bowl complete with pictures taken in front of the scoreboard after their streak-snapping win.
Today’s blog isn’t to denigrate any kids or coaches. I have to tell you I have known SW football coach Mike Cool for more than 20 years and I empathize with his situation and he has done more and worked harder to reinvigorate the SWHS football program than anyone else possibly could have after the school had to cancel its final two games in 2003 because of a lack of players.
Right now there’s a push for medocrity in the athletic programs at SWHS. That’s right, they aren’t striving to be the best, they are striving for medocrity.
Maybe it’s because the school has had 4 principals in the last decade and there’s no continuity, coaches have come and gone and the demographic makeup of the school has changed greatly in the past decade.
If they are competitive, they are happy. Parents, athletes and some coaches. That wasn’t good enough even 5 or 10 years ago.
I remember back in the 1980s when I was in school we had just come off three seasons where we won 31 football games. We went 5-4-1 my junior year and there was at least one time when we were booed by our own fans because they didn’t think we were getting the job done. If the Mohawks went 5-4-1 today, they’d receive a ticker-tape parade through the streets of downtown Fostoria.
But the make up of the school has changed. Over the past 15 years there are less and less blue collar kids walking the halls. Part of it has to do with the makeup of the community. Fostoria gets a little worse off socioeconomically each year. Factory jobs are long gone and people have less money to pay toward tuition so they opt to send their kids to public school. Many of the kids that would have ended up at SW are open enrolling their kids at places like Hopewell-Loudon and Arcadia where their kids will still get a good education but don’t have to pay tuition.
Plus, the school hasn’t helped itself in recent years because it seems to have pushed out some of the fringe kids that would have attend the school in the past. It’s moving more toward a prep-school type of atmosphere. It’s great for academics, band, drama but athletics particularly boys sports need those hard-nosed kids St. Wendelin seems to be weeding out. Now that I think about it, there were a lot of kids on those SWHS football team I played on that probably wouldn’t be attending the new SWHS today…I might have been one of them because I didn’t fit the mold either.
That’s one of the reasons I stopped coaching there. I was discouraged at seeing so many of the kids we helped develop in elementary and junior high move on to other schools. I just couldn’t take it anymore because the school was doing such a crappy job at retention especially of boys.
Right now the girls basketball program is back on an upswing after a decade of down years and the softball program continues to do well. But until the school finds a solution to its enrollment problems and stops settling for medocrity their sports teams will continue to struggle.
Tomorrow…think there should be separate Private-public tournaments in Ohio…Think again.
NEWSWORTHY:
NW OHio Wrestling Stories and Results
Findlay Courier's Wednesday Sports
Trojans cruise past Elida
Defense sparks Kalida’s win over P-G
Tuesday’s Lima sports roundup
Tiffin area Tuesday basketball roundup
Chieftains roll Rams
Outmanned Bryan falls at Tinora
Bucyrus area prep roundup
Tuesday’s Marion area prep roundup
Shelby girls upend Lexington
Mansfield area prep roundup
Not sure what kind of a welcome I will receive the next time I cover something at that Catholic school in Countyline Street in Fostoria.
When I covered the St. Wendelin-Riverdale football game this fall, that’s when I realized how far my alma mater has fallen. Both teams had 20-some game losing streaks on the line and the Mohawks eked out a 6-0 win in a game that was scripted out of something from the Twilight Zone.
After the win they celebrated like they had just won the Super Bowl complete with pictures taken in front of the scoreboard after their streak-snapping win.
Today’s blog isn’t to denigrate any kids or coaches. I have to tell you I have known SW football coach Mike Cool for more than 20 years and I empathize with his situation and he has done more and worked harder to reinvigorate the SWHS football program than anyone else possibly could have after the school had to cancel its final two games in 2003 because of a lack of players.
Right now there’s a push for medocrity in the athletic programs at SWHS. That’s right, they aren’t striving to be the best, they are striving for medocrity.
Maybe it’s because the school has had 4 principals in the last decade and there’s no continuity, coaches have come and gone and the demographic makeup of the school has changed greatly in the past decade.
If they are competitive, they are happy. Parents, athletes and some coaches. That wasn’t good enough even 5 or 10 years ago.
I remember back in the 1980s when I was in school we had just come off three seasons where we won 31 football games. We went 5-4-1 my junior year and there was at least one time when we were booed by our own fans because they didn’t think we were getting the job done. If the Mohawks went 5-4-1 today, they’d receive a ticker-tape parade through the streets of downtown Fostoria.
But the make up of the school has changed. Over the past 15 years there are less and less blue collar kids walking the halls. Part of it has to do with the makeup of the community. Fostoria gets a little worse off socioeconomically each year. Factory jobs are long gone and people have less money to pay toward tuition so they opt to send their kids to public school. Many of the kids that would have ended up at SW are open enrolling their kids at places like Hopewell-Loudon and Arcadia where their kids will still get a good education but don’t have to pay tuition.
Plus, the school hasn’t helped itself in recent years because it seems to have pushed out some of the fringe kids that would have attend the school in the past. It’s moving more toward a prep-school type of atmosphere. It’s great for academics, band, drama but athletics particularly boys sports need those hard-nosed kids St. Wendelin seems to be weeding out. Now that I think about it, there were a lot of kids on those SWHS football team I played on that probably wouldn’t be attending the new SWHS today…I might have been one of them because I didn’t fit the mold either.
That’s one of the reasons I stopped coaching there. I was discouraged at seeing so many of the kids we helped develop in elementary and junior high move on to other schools. I just couldn’t take it anymore because the school was doing such a crappy job at retention especially of boys.
Right now the girls basketball program is back on an upswing after a decade of down years and the softball program continues to do well. But until the school finds a solution to its enrollment problems and stops settling for medocrity their sports teams will continue to struggle.
Tomorrow…think there should be separate Private-public tournaments in Ohio…Think again.
NEWSWORTHY:
NW OHio Wrestling Stories and Results
Findlay Courier's Wednesday Sports
Trojans cruise past Elida
Defense sparks Kalida’s win over P-G
Tuesday’s Lima sports roundup
Tiffin area Tuesday basketball roundup
Chieftains roll Rams
Outmanned Bryan falls at Tinora
Bucyrus area prep roundup
Tuesday’s Marion area prep roundup
Shelby girls upend Lexington
Mansfield area prep roundup
posted by --J-- @ 7:26 AM
6 Comments:
At 11:04 AM,
Anonymous said…
I went to a perennial powerhouse catholic school in Columbus. It was and still is a prep-school type of atmosphere (assuming your talking about college prep and kids with parents that having some money). Also note Columbus public schools were an open enrollment system.
Personally I think your barking up the wrong tree. Maybe the poor athletics is one of the reasons drawing kids to other open enrollment schools (feeds on itself). I’m not convinced it’s the money. Most Catholic schools have assistance and I would assume so does St. Ws.
Your point about the turnover at key positions in the school may be more valid. The lack of commitment to athletics is more of a result of those who wish to invest into it. That includes school board, parents and such. I wouldn’t blame economic issues.
At 12:48 PM,
Anonymous said…
I have to think economics play some sort of role. My wife and I send our child to St. Wendelin, but since we're not parishioners (neither Catholic nor members of St. Wendelin Catholic Church), tuition is more expensive for us than other families. It is sometimes more than a challenge to pay it off, and our child is in one of the younger grades at the moment.
Granted, becoming parishioners would help with the cost, but we're not Catholic. We chose the school for a few reasons, with a good education being one of them. But as our child gets older and we have to pay more for tuition, looking at other schools will become an option.
At 11:51 AM,
--J-- said…
Being a native of Fostoria, a graduate and former coach at the school but money is a big issue.
St. Wendelin is a small parish-based school in an econnmically challenged small town. Money is an issue for the declining enrollment, but so is being bordered by good rural public schools as well other factors.
At 7:17 PM,
Anonymous said…
I went to school w/ you. A few years older. I agree w/ MOST of what you said. The challenge of the town, possibly the direction in which the school administration wants w/ regard to fence walking kids. I agree..MOSTLY. After talking w/ some kids from Carey/Findlay that have chosen to finish their high school at SW I believe that winning would w/out a doubt bring more athletes to the school. The fact that St. Wendelin High School is Findlay St. Michaels, Our Lady of Consolation (Carey), and St. Pete's of N. Baltimore's Catholic High School w/in the Toldeo Diocese I strongly believe you must challenge the parents and students of these grade schools to FINISH their Catholic education at their Catholic Diocese chosen High School. Winning WILL help that!Somewhat challenging thought but as little as 3 ATHLETES per class from these schools would give you 9-12 more kids for the fall sport you speak of. Can you get 3 more additional? I think so. Athletes now....that would help (there is still a numbers challenge of keeping what you have however Tiffin Calvert, Fremont St. Joe, and Sandusky St. Marys all suffer declining enrollment as well.
I say MOST of what you said simply because........the hard nosed kid you speak of turns soft for one paragraph. I have no ax to grind w/ anyone as well. But you have one paragraph where you fail to call a spade a spade. Who scheduled the Riverdale game?? I do not beleive it was the AD, isn't that HIS job? When you give up 60+ points I think the fact you scored on a state ranked team holds little consequence, honestly, don't you think? (Are you playing to win? Otherwise I don't get it nor Do I EVER want to!) Shooting for mediocrity? Absolutely! And it ain't changing unless changes are made! Stand up and tell it how it is Bubba! Make me proud like I was 24 years ago!
P.S. Your ALWAYS welcomed in my book! Just tell it how it is!
At 6:06 PM,
Anonymous said…
Jamie try putting yourself into the situation of the kids on that team, or at least the ones that worked hard to try to compete. I garuntee that some of those athletes lifted and prepared just as hard as any athelete from Hopewell, Arcadia, Fostoria, and probably as hard as you and other players on your team "back in the day" worked. Now there wasn't very many of those people, but there were some. Those kids did not have the luxary of 40-50 other kids on the team doing the same thing to back them up. If you personally worked that hard all the time and still went 0-20 or 0-whatever, wouldn't you be celebrating like you just won the Superbowl? I think there is something to be said for those guys who did give it their all, all the time. It shows great loyalty to the school when they are willing to work that hard, get your ass pounded, and get back up on your feet to play next week, and never say "screw this, I'm going to Hopewell".
At 12:06 PM,
Anonymous said…
There are two points I would like to make. First, St. Wendelin’s low enrollment is not related to any educational factors, like one poster implied. Second, and more importantly, the lack of competitive spirit at St. Wendelin is, like Jamie said, is related to problems with coaches, parents, and administration.
It is a fallacy that St. Wendelin loses enrollment because of the educational opportunities at neighboring public schools. St. Wendelin has a reputation for being an excellent academic institution. An average student at St. Wendelin will get accepted to most colleges. By comparison, a good student (A-B average) at Hopewell will often score too low on standardized tests (ACTs, etc.) to be admitted. Similarly, Fostoria High School is an academic nightmare. These are just two examples but more could certainly be given. This speaks to the fact that students who choose to leave St. Wendelin do so for reasons other than academic opportunities. As Jamie references in his article, the primary motivator for kids to leave the school is the refusal of St. Wendelin to work with those who might be considered “fringe” students, whether it be academically or behaviorally.
St. Wendelin definitely suffers from a lack of competitive spirit. This is precisely what Jamie’s article is about. Fortunately, the previous two posters give us a perfect example of the two different ends of the spectrum. We have a poster who represents the problem and another who represents the attitude that will lead to solution. In one post, we see a poster who takes the “we are all winners” approach that has led St. Wendelin into their current situation. He asks rhetorically, “If you personally worked that hard all the time and still went 0-20 or 0-whatever, wouldn’t you be celebrating like you just won the Super Bowl?” No, I would not and neither should you. It would be one thing to celebrate a win over a ranked opponent, a rival, or at least someone who regularly appears on the schedule. There is no glory in winning a game where the coach goes out of his way to schedule a game with a team worse than his. What kind of message does that send about what you are trying to accomplish? This is an important point that I think the other (more competitive) poster would agree with. He goes on to mention the emphasis that seems to be placed on “moral” victories. I assume he is referencing comments made in the newspaper about the coaching staff’s excitement of scoring on a state-ranked opponent. The final score of the game was 68-13. Now, I’m a proponent of staying positive, but c’mon.
Some of this non-competitive mindset that certain coaches are supporting is born at home with the parents. Parents no longer support coaches who ruffle feathers in an attempt to help players realize their full potential. When did yelling on the sideline become taboo? The adage used to be that if a coach took the time to criticize a player it meant that they were concerned with their improvement. It was when they stopped yelling that the player should be concerned. Now, it seems that parents are more accepting of a coach who loses but doesn’t yell or scream than a coach who uses more intense techniques in their pursuit of victory.
But, coaches and parents aren’t entirely to blame. The current administration is also at fault for fostering, and sometimes even demanding, the non-competitive attitude which surrounds St. Wendelin athletics. For example, I understand that the current administration is attempting to promote “good sportsmanship.” Well, I think that is a great idea; however, good sportsmanship does not entail turning a sporting event, like a basketball game, into a church-like atmosphere. I have been to two home games this season and have noticed that students appear to be discouraged by the administration from cheering against the other team in any form (e.g. no yelling when the opposing team is shooting free throws). Mind you, I am not encouraging personal attacks or profanity. Yet, there is a reason that people call it “home-court advantage.” Schools such as Calvert and St. Joseph’s have two of the best atmospheres for high school athletics. These schools are Catholic, but their administrations have not gone overboard.
Everyone has their own opinion about how to go about correcting these problems. Personally, I believe it starts at home. Parents need to go back to giving the coach the benefit of the doubt until he is proven to be in the wrong. And I think that if parents show a renewed sense of competitiveness, the administration will follow suit. And coaches who strive to be the best will be supported, while those who are content with losing will be shown the door.
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