Loss of Games Due to Budgets?

[grunewar]

At some schools, budget cuts put the kibosh on sports - USATODAY.com

Anyone experiencing a loss of games yet in basketball or any of the sports they're doing due to the economy?

I've heard that our Middle Schools may be affected here in N VA, but I won't have a schedule for quite a while. (I know some of the V Officials already know all or parts of next yr's schedules).

Just curious.

[Adam]

Not a loss of games, per se, but a loss of officiating slots. Metro JV games were doing 3 whistle for the last few years. This year, they're going back to 2 at that level for budget reasons.

[SAK]

This is very troubling but what can the schools do. I would support the pay to play system. I think that the schools should not go without sports. What does it say about our priorities. Sports are good for students on several different levels from being a part of a team to the physical workout they provide.

Its very sad that districts are being forced to abolish teams and for others whole programs.

[truerookie]

So due to budget cuts. What will the price be for two v three whistle?

[JMUplayer]

They have already whacked the 8th grade/freshman games here in western VA.

[Mark Padgett]

Our local kids rec league is experiencing just the opposite. At the end of last season, we realized we made a decent profit. Since we're a non-profit, that's not what we're supposed to do. So, this season, we're dropping registration fees and actually increasing the number of games! If we still have some "extra" money at the end of this season, we'll donate it to the local HS basketball program.

Maybe we should be running the country.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by JMUplayer

They have already whacked the 8th grade/freshman games here in western VA.

Maybe some of the AAU and Rec Leagues will see growth as some of the school level players look for a place to play.......

[coach41]

No lost games last season and it looks like the public schools in my area have full teams (varsity and JV) for basketball, at least in the preliminary schedules.

Interestingly, the bigger concern is SCHOOLS not being able to field enough players to field teams. Thus, you may be scheduled get a game in October that is scheduled for January. However, the school realizes it doesn't have enough players (either JV or Varsity) and later drops the team. That has happened to me before.

It's a weird problem to have but interest at certain schools out here is fleeting from year to year.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by coach41

No lost games last season and it looks like the public schools in my area have full teams (varsity and JV) for basketball, at least in the preliminary schedules.

Interestingly, the bigger concern is SCHOOLS not being able to field enough players to field teams. Thus, you may be scheduled get a game in October that is scheduled for January. However, the school realizes it doesn't have enough players (either JV or Varsity) and later drops the team. That has happened to me before.

It's a weird problem to have but interest at certain schools out here is fleeting from year to year.

Coach, I've seen this over the years too, but mainly in girls' ball. Have you seen it with both, or just with girls?

[coach41]

Snagwells,

It was primarily girls teams that couldn't field enough players over here as well. It's really odd because my high school is among the smallest schools in the league (600+ students) yet they managed to get 8 to 10 girls a year for both JV and Varsity.

Other schools who are around the same size (or slightly) bigger have had trouble forming teams though. I can't imagine the sole problem is lack of interest. It could be some schools haven't established a good program and has difficulty attracting students to play. It's unfortunate, but the weaker teams in the league tend to get blasted by the top teams and that's not a good way to encourage players to come back to play.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by coach41

Snagwells,

It was primarily girls teams that couldn't field enough players over here as well. It's really odd because my high school is among the smallest schools in the league (600+ students) yet they managed to get 8 to 10 girls a year for both JV and Varsity.

Other schools who are around the same size (or slightly) bigger have had trouble forming teams though. I can't imagine the sole problem is lack of interest. It could be some schools haven't established a good program and has difficulty attracting students to play. It's unfortunate, but the weaker teams in the league tend to get blasted by the top teams and that's not a good way to encourage players to come back to play.

When I was in Des Moines, I noticed this with the large schools, too. The schools with well established success had no trouble fielding the full contingent of teams and then some. Schools with a history of mediocrity or worse were lucky to have a full freshman squad. This was strictly a girls phenomenon.

You're right about the top schools completely dominating the lower tier of schools, and the same schools were almost always at the top of the leagues. The turn over at the bottom was even more rare.

[JRutledge]

No such thing here. And I do not anticipate such a thing either. For one this is a constant expense and it is not like the fees to pay officials have been going up that much. Those fees may freeze at some point, but I do not see them cutting them. Anything is possible, I only have varsity games at this stage and I doubt those will be cut right now. Considering that post season is based on those games and I do not see them cutting back on those games in order to save a couple of hundred dollars.

Peace

[Tio]

In my area, the number of non-league contests have been trimmed considerably. In addition... the league is only travelling one official max to out of state games partnering with 2 locals. In the past, the league would travel at least 2 if not the whole crew depending on who the best available officials were that night.

[grunewar]

We were just informed that some schools would not be able to promise buses prior to 4pm, which, due to heavy traffic in our area, could result in some games not being able to begin until after the 5pm start times.

The ADs established the following in case teams can't arrive in time for the 5pm start:

Encouraging freshman teams to dress at their home site
Shorten warm-up times to 15 minutes
Begin games by 5:15 at the latest

Games that start after 5:15 will use a running clock so that we don't back up the JV and Varsity games.

Still no lost games that I'm aware of though.

[SAK]

Originally Posted by grunewar

We were just informed that some schools would not be able to promise buses prior to 4pm, which, due to heavy traffic in our area, could result in some games not being able to begin until after the 5pm start times.

The ADs established the following in case teams can't arrive in time for the 5pm start:

Encouraging freshman teams to dress at their home site
Shorten warm-up times to 15 minutes
Begin games by 5:15 at the latest

Games that start after 5:15 will use a running clock so that we don't back up the JV and Varsity games.

Still no lost games that I'm aware of though.

Will you know what games they are that cannot start till after 5pm or will you have to be at the games early and just have to wait for the games to start?