Hardwood Happenings

I recently received an e-mail from Von Perry, the girls basketball coach at West Carter, and she was asking for some input from other girls coaches concerning Title IX. She states that she recently attended a newly-established Advisory Committee at the KHSAA where the main topic was Title IX. She said that much of the discussion took place in regards to this topic and she posed the question to the association if they had ever polled the coaches on Title IX. Guess what the answer was? You guessed it—NO!!

Coach Perry took it upon herself to poll coaches on their feelings on this issue and to take the results back to this advisory committee. Coach Perry heard back from 82 of the girls coaches across the state, including yours truly. She is currently putting these responses in a packet to be sent to Bridget DeVries, Larry Boucher and Julian Tackett to see how the STATE really feels about this.

Results!

Here are some legitimate responses and questions that we all have:

* Boy/Girl doubleheaders are killing our JV schedules.

* Girls are embarrassed by the crowd leaving after the boys games.

* Why does football not play on Thursday night to allow soccer and volleyball Friday nights?

* Difficulty in scheduling freshman games.

* Girls are getting the leftover officials on prime time nights.

* Attendance at girls games is declining.

* Sunday afternoons should not be considered prime time nights.

* Parents should not have to pick between which child they watch if both are playing on the same night at different locations.

* Gaps are created in the schedule where we may go an extended period between games.

These are legitimate concerns that all girls coaches encounter. Some of the questions I have are as follows:

It would help a lot if they would make prime time nights on Thursday nights instead of Sunday afternoon. I have been coaching girls’ basketball for 11 years and I have never and don’t plan on playing on Sundays. If I could count Thursday as prime time, my scheduling would go much smoother.

I have another question for the KHSAA. Several years ago we played in the LIT in Louisville (about as prime time as you can get) but since it is an away game you can’t count that as a prime time game – I don’t understand that at all!! Why can’t a high-profile game home or away be considered prime time? We have played in the Fifth Third Tournament at Lexington Catholic, probably the most prestigious girls tournament other than the Sweet 16, but yet it does not count as a prime time game.

We are always compared to boys basketball, yet football is not compared to anything — why is that? Title IX is suppose to help when boys sports have more than girls. I am sure that happens and I know it used to happen all the time, but I think we are getting ridiculous with all this. I also don’t like when I hear that a baseball team or some other boys team can’t have certain things that they have worked very hard to obtain, because the girls teams don’t have that kind of money. The way I look at it is there is always opportunity there for a boys or girls team to make money - it is just about how willing or how hard to you want to work to be first class. Don’t punish a boys team because the girls team chose not to work or raise funds for what they want.

Mercer!

I will say that ever since I have been here at Mercer (8 seasons), we have had an outstanding booster club and we have always raised the funds necessary to run a first class program. I do think sometimes what if we were the boys program and we raised these kinds of funds each year and the girls’ team did not, we would not get to spend our money that we have worked so very hard for! Boys coaches — I feel for you! I don’t get it either when some girls teams don’t think they can raise the money. I have coached both boys and girls and let me tell you, girls will work circles around boys when it comes to selling or working a fund raiser. I am not saying that it is like that here at Mercer, but I know it happens at a lot of programs across the state.

I just think if we took a more common sense approach to this it would be a lot better for everyone. We should operate on a need basis verses a want basis. I like to use baseball as a example because it seems to happen a lot in this sport compared to softball. What if a baseball team needs new dugouts and they spend several years raising funds, achieve the money necessary but can’t use it because softball does not have that amount of money? I have a problem with that, because maybe baseball needed new dugouts and were willing to work to raise the money themselves, but the softball team was perfectly satisfied with their existing dugouts. Not only does this not seem fair but it creates animosity between the two programs. This happens in every sport except football, because there is nothing there to compare! Keep in mind these are just my opinions and I can see how boys coaches can get just as miffed as girls coaches.

Back to the way it used to be

I bet if you asked girls coaches when they would want to play their basketball games they would tell you the way it used to be! That being playing on Monday and Thursday nights with an occasional weekend game. Some don’t like Monday games because they force you to practice on Sundays, but the KHSAA can’t use that excuse because they consider it a prime time game day! If you counted Thursday as prime time then you could solve the scheduling nightmare basketball coaches are encountering now.

Did not really pay attention

I really did not pay attention too much to this until last year when my schedule had gaps in it where we might play 3 times in one week and then go 10 or 12 days without a game. This is a killer. The last straw for me was at our last regular season game at Southwestern where we played the PRIME TIME second game. The boys game went into overtime and was very exciting and drew a good crowd. When our game started you could hear yourself thinking, the crowd was so bad. EVERYONE LEFT AFTER THE BOYS GAME!

How is that Title IX rule helping girls basketball? If we had been allowed to play Thursday night, we would have had a decent crowd! Girls coaches could go on and on about this issue, but we will see if the KHSAA listens to Coach Perry and her colleagues or if they turn a deaf ear. I know what my guess is and I will keep that to myself.

Come on Summer Break! Remember, players are made in the off season!!