FinFangFark: From what I understand, HS is only for the basic skills. If a thrower can hit a certain velocity, and if a batter has a certain combo of swing and power. If they see a basic foundation, it's all retaught at the next level, whether it's in rookie ball in the minors, or in college, right?

Not retaught. Refined. A pitcher or hitters mechanics takes a lot to change. Tweaking can be done but making major changes takes months of work to do.

For pitchers, they either throw hard or they don't. They have good control/movement or they don't. What colleges tend to look for is repeatable mechanics. If the kid has good form with decent velocity and control, he can play.

For hitters, they either hit the ball or they don't. Again, they look at form. Can a kid identify pitches? Does he have good plate discipline? Is he able to hit pitches other than a fastball? Can he hit to all fields and pitches in every zone?

What got the attention of the JUCO coaches was a) my son's performance last summer (.388BA/.500OBP/2HRs and 23 RBIS/12Ks and 12 walks) as well as the video I made of him hitting/swinging at different angles and different types of pitches from the mound. The pitcher also had a radar gun and was throwing upper 80's while my son was clobbering the ball. They were impressed that he was hitting not only the fastball but curves, sliders and change-ups (the pitcher wasn't tipping him off either).

Additionally, he's added probably 15-20lbs of muscle in the last year (he works out 2-3 hours a day 4-5 days a week). No he's not doing steroids....he just matured physically. So he's 6' and 195lbs of muscle. If he hits like the did last year, I'd expect more HRs/RBIs. NOT playing his junior year hurt him getting more college attention so playing JUCO can close that gap. If he plays well this summer and in JUCO he may do better than D2. That's a HUGE IF that I'm not counting on.

cuzsis: Then there is his weird rant about coaches not being employed as teachers. Yeah, you might be a kickass baseball coach with 3 state titles, but that hardly makes you fit to teach chemistry. I would rather see schools hire coaches separately instead of trying to turn teachers into coaches and coaches into teachers. They are both, when done right, complicated disciplines that can't always be found in one person.

I dunno about that, I'm not sure that HS sports need to be taken so seriously, especially with the private option for people who are all about trying to go pro. I think you can get some people to at least teach PE courses and coach.

/if we hadn't gotten rid of PE from most schools

Most asinine ideas in the article:

"Stevens explains in the piece that, for the best athletes, club sports might cut down on their notoriously high costs. That might be true, but what about kids who are good but not great, and whose families don't have money? What about kids who want to try a sport, and whose families don't have the money? "

Look, the government has an obligation to educate you through high school. It doesn't have the obligation sponsor sports.

Babwa Wawa: Look, the government has an obligation to educate you through high school. It doesn't have the obligation sponsor sports.

Indeed. And you can't learn anything in sports. And physical education is worthless, as is promoting healthy lifestyles.

/goddammit why the hell are kids so damn fat! It's those video games' fault!
//no, Johnny, you can't play games with your friends, you might get hurt!
///dammit, Johnny, stop being so fat and lazy!

I'm pretty sure that a significant chunk of high school graduates only actually graduate due to no pass/no play policies. Athletics are the only reason they're in school.

IAmRight: Indeed. And you can't learn anything in sports. And physical education is worthless, as is promoting healthy lifestyles.

Are you saying that you can't teach children healthy lifestyles without engaging them in expensive traveling sports programs? Are you saying that you need to engage in an expensive traveling sports program in order to have a complete education? Are you saying that replacing traveling sports programs where only a fraction of the students get to participate with intramural sports programs where more students get to participare would result somehow in fewer people being physically fit? Are you saying that high school sports are the thin blue line between a US half-filled with fatties and a US wholly filled with fatties?

I'm sure you're not, because that would be, well, just wrong, as evidenced by the complete absence of high school sports in Europe, and its accompanying lower obesity rate, and general state of superior health. And you can't be wrong, because it says right there in your handle that you're right.

Sports are great - I participated in a variety of them throughout high school and college (and continue to participate in adult leagues). It's just a bridge too far to claim that public high schools are obligated to fund these programs. And it's not entirely clear to me that they provide anything that club sports can't provide.

Physical Education? Hell yes - public schools should absolutely be teaching it - they don't do enough.

Babwa Wawa: I'm sure you're not, because that would be, well, just wrong, as evidenced by the complete absence of high school sports in Europe, and its accompanying lower obesity rate, and general state of superior health.

Thanks for throwing the "but Europe" thing in. As I said earlier, any time you want to complain about something in America, just throw out the "if we did things like Europe..." as though Europe is super-successful and happy.

I think there's plenty of room for all of those things - the elite athletes can go and play on their AAU teams and we can have PE teachers and other teachers who like sports as coaches for sports. Traveling is really, really fun - since you can't go on field trips much anymore, it's a great way for some kids to actually get out of town and see new places and meet people their own age from different places.

They provide things that club sports can't provide in that many places can't sustain a club sports program.

IAmRight: Thanks for throwing the "but Europe" thing in. As I said earlier, any time you want to complain about something in America, just throw out the "if we did things like Europe..." as though Europe is super-successful and happy.

I never said we should do things like Europe, you tard.

If you could comprehend what you read, you'd realize it's just evidence that high school sports f*ck-all to do with levels of fitness or obesity in this country.

And yes, traveling on a team in HS is fun - I know because I did it. But public schools are not obliged to provide it, and given the budgetary constraints schools are under, it should be one of the first things under the axe. Way in front of education.

Oh, and traveling for club sports is a lot of fun as well.

steamingpile: My freshman year of high school I was cut from our high school baseball team, I was stunned but another booster told me later I was cut because I didnt play with them on their teams a few years earlier and kept playing with my cousins in florida, it just so happened that one of the coaches on that team had asked me to stay at home that year to play with them, seems he held a grudge about me telling him no.

I still think he bad mouthed me to colleges my other coaches had sent tapes in hopes of even landing a partial scholarship, what a farking tool.

I had the pleasure of having to do part of a 2nd interview for a job he applied for, now hes fat as hell and unqualified for anything since he lost his teaching certificate(didnt find out why), whats ironic is that I didnt even give him the worst marks for his interview, another guy just wrote that he was too dumb for the position and didnt know basic terminology. Needless to say he didnt get the job and I was highly upset, it would have been nice to make him do menial tasks for a while.

I don't know why my son bothered going out for the HS team his senior year as I don't think he had any intention on playing for the team. I don't know why he was cut because he can hit the ball (you can improve defense but by the time you that level of HS you can hit or you can't). I think he was still bitter over being cut the previous year...but he overlooked one important thing. Being cut made him work harder on his physical conditioning and preparation. He still needs to get his defense above average (not so much mechanics as consistency).

I think he takes a bit of a perverse pleasure knowing that nobody on the HS team can hit as well as he can (nobody is hitting above .325) and that he beat out the starting first basemen easily on the travel team (which is a far better team).

I think NOT playing HS this season has been good for him. He's been true to his word in terms of working out (lifting 2-3 hours a day 4-5 days a week). If he was playing HS, he wouldn't have time. That being said, it still comes down to him playing well this summer.