Loss of Games Due to Budgets?

[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