LETTER: Show support for MCHS sports program

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LETTER: Show support for MCHS sports program

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Letter to the Editor

in Opinions

Saturday, November 8. 2008

Comments (19)

Dear Editor:

Here are a few words for the teams of the Madison County High School sports program. Thank you for your achievements and hard work.

Congratulations to Coach Doug Kesler and the Lady Raiders for the great year they had in softball. Going 3-1 on the last day at the state sectionals showed a lot of fight and class for this team.

To the players of the MCHS football team: If Loganville and Apalachee can turn things around from their losing seasons of last year, the Raiders will be back next year. So keep playing with the fight that this team has shown all year.

If Coach Owens has done anything wrong in the football program at MCHS, with the quarterbacks or something else, the school board needs to look into it. The players shouldn’t have to put up with more off-the-field problems next year.

MCHS’s football program has come a long way in becoming a winning program in the last few years. So, this should be just a bump in the road, not the start of a slide from success.

Madison County can be proud of the faculty and students of MCHS for their hard work in making MCHS a great school. So give and show your support for the school system.

Sincerely,

Terry Adams

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#1 Anonymous on 11/08/08 at 12:43 PM [Reply]

MCHS needs to focus on academics, not sports. Maybe too much emphasis on playing instead of learning is why MCHS has a huge dropout rate. When ALL of the students graduate, and when ALL of the students qualify for college upon graduation, then we can support sports. Until those goals are met, we should consider discontinuing all sports until MCHS makes adequate improvements in academics. Money going into sports is wasted money that could have gone towards academics.

#1.1 Marty Hatfield on 11/10/08 at 10:22 AM [Reply]

Yeah, that will work! Getting rid of extra-curricular activities will help the children academically. I don't think so. If you want to increase the drop-out rate, teen pregnancy, teen drug use and teen crimes, you can do it by cutting out the school's sports programs and extra-curriculars. These sports programs not only keep problem children at bay, they also teach discipline while promoting teamwork. In addition, the red-raider football program promotes high academic principles. This years' team had better than 25% of its Student athletes with GPA's better than 3.0. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!!!!!!!!!

#1.1.1 Anonymous on 11/10/08 at 12:00 PM [Reply]

Well, I put it in my pipe and smoked it and it's not so good...quite harsh...actually made me gag a little.

You just stated that 75% of student athletes could not even maintain an average GPA (3.0) which only proves the point that playing sports takes away valuable study / academic time, resulting in lower grades, resulting in students who aren't qualified for collegiate studies. I was only guessing that sports distracts from academic studies and results in poorer academic performance...thanks for the statistics that prove it. Clearly we should stop wasting tax dollars on playing games and sports until we have a 100% graduation rate, and ALL students can maintain AT LEAST a modest 3.0 GPA.

Common sense: less time playing, more time studying = better grades, better students, better citizens.

When we achieve the goals outlined above, then we can talk about reinstating sports.

Or, let those parents who want their children to play sports at the expense of their academic performance allow them play on THEIR TIME as long as those parents pay the expense of their childrens' equipment and facilities. Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize "sports academies," especially for students who can't even maintain a 3.0 GPA.

#1.1.1.1 GPA on 11/11/08 at 08:10 AM [Reply]

FYI last year's High School Softball Team had a team GPA of 3.734. That is a cumulative GPA for all players on the team. Over 50% carried 4.0 GPA's. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association had them ranked #3 in the nation behind two private schools.

#1.1.1.1.1 Anonymous on 11/13/08 at 01:23 PM [Reply]

But what about the real sports?

#1.1.2 Anonymous on 11/10/08 at 12:49 PM [Reply]

3.0 is low B average. In other words, 75% were C students or below. Real impressive academics!

#1.2 anonymous on 11/10/08 at 03:17 PM [Reply]

But it is O.K. to spend taxpayer dollars on a new sports facility rather than building a new school and keeping all the schools close together NO we have to build a new middle school off in B. F. E.!!!!!!!!
Even better we have our commissioners wasting tax dollars on expanding the rec. dept. I am sorry but that rec. dept should be self supporting as many years as it has been there !!!!!!!!! There is just NO EXCUSE for this type of wasteful spending by our elected commissioners!!!!!!!!!
They want to say oh this is for our children BE FOR FREAKING REAL !!!! Let me tell you there is no telling at the fights and the cussing that goes on between parents not children YES you read it right it is the Parents they have taken the children out of it!!!! So no wonder why our academics have fallen the way they have. Stay out all night so called playing ball and listening to the parents fuss and cuss each other this is what you end up with plain and simple and it will only get worse the longer it goes on!!!!
Sports has it's place but not at the expense of one's education!!!!!!!!!

#1.2.1 Sardonic Veracity on 11/12/08 at 11:29 AM [Reply]

A new middle school in BFE is better than another school in the middle of the congested mess that is the Danielsville School Complex. Have you ever tried driving through Danielsville at eight in the morning? Madison County needs more, smaller, schools in more locations.

Granted, the parents who live closer to Nicholson or Banks County may have wanted the school placed nearer to Hull or Ila, but I am sure that those parents who live closer to Elberton, Comer or Royston are happier than they would have been if that had happened.

The Recreation Department is the closest thing that Madison County has to a park. Parks are not self-supporting. Using that line of thinking, you could say "roads in Madison County should be self-supporting as long as they've been here! ELected officials need to stop wasting money on repaving roads!"

What took the place of your education? What were you doing when you should have been studying your English homework? Perhaps people should stop blaming sports for Madison County's poor academic showing and place the blame where it belongs - parents.

#1.2.1.1 anonymous on 11/12/08 at 03:55 PM [Reply]

Well one mess is better than several messes!!!!
And as for your PARKS not being self supporting get it right that is not a Park it is the RECREATION DEPARTMENT!!!!
Which is a WASTE of tax money!!!!!!!
And as for roads if they did not repave them you would be belly aching because your happy a@# would not have a smooth ride to the store so get over it and get yourself a life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#2 Marty Hatfield on 11/10/08 at 03:29 PM [Reply]

Excuse me. The 3.0 was a typo. It actually was a 4.0. I THINK THAT IS IMPRESSIVE! Common sense: less time playing= more time to get in trouble. You and I agree to disagree on this matter! My children are gifted in both athletics and academics. AND academics come first in our household.

#2.1 Anonymous on 11/11/08 at 12:19 PM [Reply]

You stated:

"This years' team had better than 25% of its Student athletes with GPA's better than 3.0"

If 3.0 was a typo, and it was supposed to read:

"This years' team had better than 25% of its Student athletes with GPA's better than 4.0"

you are most certainly making this up, as one cannot have a GPA "better than 4.0" because the scale tops out at 4.0!

BUSTED!

#2.1.1 Anonymous on 11/12/08 at 08:04 AM [Reply]

get a life mr anonymous. At least mr hatfield has the guts to post who he is.

#3 Anonymous on 11/11/08 at 07:50 AM [Reply]

I guess the people who want the sports to end is so their kids in the band dont have to show up and watch it.

#3.1 Anonymous on 11/11/08 at 01:09 PM [Reply]

No, it's just that academics affect these kids after (if) they graduate. For the vast majority, sports is only during high school. It's just an issue of priority and commitment. I believe that athletics and other extracurricular activities are important but they need to be secondary to the core academics. I think a lot of times kids would have better grades if they just did their homework, which is frequently neglected due to the time required by extracurriculars.

#4 Sardonic Veracity on 11/12/08 at 11:19 AM [Reply]

Extra-curricular activities give students a tie to their school. Whether it is sports or chess club, band or field trips, extra-curriculars give all students who participate another way to connect with the academic institution.

Drop-outs do not play sports except on video game systems. Kids who are on sports teams are required to pass academic classes in order to keep playing. They are not required to excel, no, but they are required to take an interest in their education in return for having an opportunity to participate in athletics.

Athletics should never be "at the expense of" academics. However, judging from Madison County's athletic performance over the years, with a few outstanding exceptions, anyone would have to come to the conclusion that "being number one" in athletics is low on the priority list.

If you writers want something to blame for poor academic showing in Madison County, I would humbly suggest you look to something else... perhaps to yourselves as parents for not being involved in your child's school.

#5 Marty Hatfield on 11/12/08 at 05:05 PM [Reply]

Well spoken Sardonic Veracity! I couldn't agree more.

#6 Anonymous on 11/13/08 at 10:19 AM [Reply]

Do they still have that "Gay Club" to support homosexual students at the high school?

#6.1 Sardonic Veracity on 11/13/08 at 10:28 AM [Reply]

The Gay-Straigt Alliance? Why, did you want to become a member?

#6.1.1 Anonymous on 11/13/08 at 11:47 PM [Reply]

How can I join? Can adults from the community join as well?

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