Champions Do Not Forfeit Games!I had the opportunity to meet Randy Ragsdale, Head Softball Coach, for West Orange Stark High School (WOS) this weekend. We were attending the first ever Angelina College Fall Classic softball tournament. Playing in that tournament was an 18 and under team from Orange, Texas. Orange Crush Gold. Ragsdale bragged on those girls all day Saturday. And rightfully so. They were awesome.
I am at work tonight......it is slow......so I googled the Orange Crush Team. In my surfing.......I came across a few articles that blew my mind.
The short story is.....8 of the 11 WOS varsity volleyball players are also Drill Team Members and/or Cheerleaders. This is common in smaller districts.
What is not common........is choosing to forfeit a volleyball game to attend a football game.
Another thing that is common in smaller districts is........parents are influential in District Activities and tend to tell administrators how it's gonna be.
Please visit the
WOS District Website It says,
"Home of Champions!"Champions Do Not Forfeit Games!WOS Head Volleyball Coach Gwen Kelly-Hall has to be stewing in her own juices right about now but her official comment is " No Comment" I don't know her personally but she must be one class act!
If I were her.....I would have several comments and a JV team that just got promoted to Varsity. But wait.....it is small community........we must be careful what we say and do.
Hooks either approves of these girls forfeiting, which I seriously doubt, or the tail is wagging the dog here folks.......and I suspect the latter. Looks to me like a few influential parents have told the District Leadership the way it's gonna be this Friday Night.
No way Coach Gwen condones this. Volleyball is her job. She wants to win. No way Hooks condones this........he is a Football coach.....he could care less if he had cheerleaders and a drill team. He wants a defensive line that could stop anything and an offensive line that blows holes in the opponents defense.
Hardin-Jefferson could not reschedule the volleyball games for Saturday due FFA activities and some other activities so they offered to move the volleyball start time from 5:00pm to 4:00pm Friday. WOS balked.
The Football game doesn't start until 7:30pm and with halftime at least an hour later.......I can't see the forfeit! They would still have almost 3 hours to get from Hardin-Jefferson to Brookshire-Royal.
What ever happened to committment? The Cheerleaders are not going to loose Friday and the Drill Team probably won't loose either. But I guarantee you the volleyball team will loose if only 3 girls show up.
This looks so much like a teenage decision. What I can't understand, is why the parents are allowing this to happen? They must agree with it. I have to ask again, "What ever happened to committment?" What about the 3 players who have no teammates? Sad, Sad, Sad!
Shame on Whoever is to Blame Here!
You are teaching you kids committment means nothing. Everyone knows it's tough on Fridays to get to both Varsity Volleyball and Football. In my mind.......Distict Volleyball trumps Non-Disctict Football every time!
Champions Do Not Forfeit Games!Did I mention.....The Football Game Means Nothing.......
it's Not a District Game. Yes I Did.
Anyway read these articles for yourself!
http://www.orangeleader.com/hssports/local_story_273135443.html?keyword=topstoryhttp://www.orangeleader.com/hssports/local_story_273175217.html?keyword=topstoryhttp://kogt.com/WOS%20forfeits.htm
