Top 10 reasons to worry about high school sports

FROM KEITH GROLLER

A few teams in softball, baseball, volleyball, lacrosse and soccer are still left.

But by and large, Memorial Day weekend signifies the end of another high school sports season.

2009-2010 was another outstanding year for Lehigh Valley athletics. We've probably had better years and certainly have had years with more state titles, but there were still plenty of terrific performances individually and by teams.

However, there are dark clouds looming on the high school sports horizon.

I've talked to a lot of coaches and a lot of athletic directors and they are worried about the future of the high school sports scene. What is going on in Easton with the cutting of programs is just the tip of the iceberg and tough decisions are coming everywhere.

Here are some things that concern me, and many others, as we look to the future of Lehigh Valley high school athletics.

1. Dwindling attendance. Less and less people are coming out to the games. More and more, the truth is if you don't have a son, daughter, niece or nephew, grandson or granddaughter playing, you don't go to the games. The days of going to games to support your alma mater or your town's team are long gone. And if you care about them and they're doing well in a marquee sport, you are probably content to stay home and watch your favorite team on TV. Revenues were way down at the state basketball finals at State College again. Lots of reasons for that, but one is that private and charter schools are dominating and they don't have the widespread appeal of schools from one specific town.

2. Athletes are still moving around too much. The biggest joke in high school athletics is the rule that states you can't transfer for athletic reasons. My estimation is that 95 percent of all transfers involving athletes are made at least, in part, for athletic reasons. And yet, most of these transfers happen without challenge from the schools involved. Proof is difficult to come by because the lies are so compelling. And everybody is afraid of lawsuits. So, unless you can impose an automatic rule -- like maybe anybody who transfers after he or she begins 9th grade must sit out 50 percent of his season's games -- you might as well take the rule off the books and allow complete free agency and movement.

3. More emphasis is on travel teams, and other non-high school related teams. Baseball is the latest sport where travel teams are becoming common. Kids don't want to play on their local legion teams anymore. They would rather play on all-star teams with kids from all over the place. Some don't see this as a negative and would argue that travel teams offer the best chance for kids to improve as individuals and get more exposure to college coaches. That very well may be, but the rise in popularity of these teams in all sports are taking away from the cohesion of the high school programs.

4. If you're not starting, you're not happy. Coaches are feeling more and more pressure from parents, who are spending a lot of money on camps and the aforementioned travel teams with the expectation that they are buying their kids playing time on their high school teams. When their dollars don't translate into playing time, the parents and kids get upset. Especially the parents. No one wants to be reserves or role players any more. Everybody wants to start and play their positions they were groomed -- often by their own parents -- to play.

5. School boards listening to meddling parents and using their influence. We've lost a bunch of quality coaches over the years because disgruntled parents got to school board members who were more eager to get re-elected than do the right thing.

6. Coaches expecting their kids to be committed to them all year long. The tug-of-war that exists between coaches over multi-sport kids continues to be a major problem and causes rifts among the coaches, the kids, and even teachers. Too many kids are put in a bind about what they should be doing and who they should be pleasing. If it's out of season, coaches can't expect kids to be there for everything. And it would be a good idea of they just let the kids alone for at least a brief period of time, like a month.

7. Coaches need to push academics more. Some, if not most, do a great job, but others put wins and championships ahead of doing what's right and that's making sure kids are getting things done academically. There are still those out there who think athletic scholarships fall from the trees, but they don't happen without strong academic credentials. The classroom needs to be emphasized as much as hitting fastballs in baseball and softball, hitting holes in football and hitting foul shots in basketball.

8. Schools need to get more creative. When the East Penn Conference broke up, the five schools that were left did a lot of creatitive things to fill out their schedules. They had to because they had just four other league members and lots of open dates to fill on their schedules. You saw some unique tournaments and challenges that brought in schools from outside the area. I don't see the same creativity from ADs these days. Instead, it's too easy to merely arrange nonleague dates with other teams in the league even when most coaches and kids crave outside competition. Some would say ADs and principals should also get more creative with their coaching choices and give young, unproven guys and girls more opportunities rather than just recycling coaches who have had success in the past.

9. Where's the money going to come from? Feeder systems are being gutted and you wonder when programs in their entirety will be sliced. You hope it doesn't happen, but more and more cuts are coming and new revenue sources may have to be explored like sponsorships or pay-to-play policies. It's clear that the money isn't going to come from great attendance because the interest just isn't there as it was in most sports five, 10, or especially, 20 years ago.

10. Being on a high school sports team isn't as important as it once was. When I was a high school student, I would have given away my most prized possessions just to make the high school basketball team. I would have loved just to make the roster, get a uniform and get to run out of the locker room for the layup drill. I actually did get to experience it just last year as a member of the Washington Generals against the Globetrotters, but oh how I wished I could have experienced that at Dieruff in the late 70s. But I wasn't big enough or good enough to make it on the team back then.

In this era, I don't think the kids feel the same sense of pride when it comes to making their high school teams. Some do. I don't want to taint everybody. But we live in a "It's all about me" era. Kids don't play high school sports because it's a source of community pride to represent their school. They play high school sports, primarily because they think it could lead to a college or pro career. Sitting the bench doesn't accomplish that. And we see more and more kids unhappy, and if they're unhappy, you can only imagine how distraught their parents are. And that leads to transfer talk and pressure on coaches and some of the other negatives on this list.

I am told that teachers face the same problems as coaches in the classroom. If things don't go well, it's the teacher and no the student that are held accountable.

I do wonder where we will be five, 10, 20 years, from now. If high school sports are still around in 2030, I wonder what they will look like. I have a feeling that they won't look nearly the same.

I see plenty of erosion on a variety of levels, including the amount of coverage newspapers, including this one, give the high school scene. We, too, face challenges in coping with declining interest and tightening economy.

Let's hope better times are coming, but my fear is that many of the things on this top 10 list will only get worse.

FROM KEITH GROLLER