http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120920/OPINION03/709209966/0/HSFOOTBALL
Opinion | Commentary
Building a team in Springfield
September 20,2012
I think we all are aware of the “problem” with the current model of our “varsity” football team. I will summarize for those who may still be unclear: Springfield has 34 players. Twenty-five of them are freshman and sophomores. That leaves nine juniors and seniors. Of these nine, only five are experienced players. It doesn’t matter if we have “big” guys. If they don’t know how to block and tackle yet, they are not ready for a varsity team. The two games we did play, we put the nine players out there with a few experienced freshman and sophomores. Unfortunately, they were not safely compatible against our opponents who were greater in number, size and experience. It wasn’t about the scores; it was about the safety of all the players on our team. No matter what anyone thinks, we can’t have four seniors, two juniors and five freshman and sophomores competing with 17 seniors on another team in a contact sport. The second a player gets injured we have to replace them with even more inexperienced, younger players, which creates even higher risks.
With that said, now we need a solution. The solution was to forfeit the varsity season — for this school year. Next year, if they all stay, we will have 11 juniors and four seniors, and they will be in Division III, which has a similar make-up of players.
So what do we do with our five seniors this year? Four of them have been playing since sixth grade and this is supposed to be a big year for them.
Two thoughts were:
1) See if they can join another varsity team, in state or in neighboring New Hampshire.
2) Allow the seniors play on the JV team, limited.
In regards to suggestion 1: The school administrators looked into the idea of them joining another varsity team. Unfortunately, the Vermont Principals Association felt that they would have an impact on the league because they would be “beefing up” another team, and possibly putting current players of another team in a position of not being able to play, which, understandably, would not sit well with the families and community in that school district. After all, it’s our problem, not other schools’.
In regards to suggestion 2: We did have a JV game on Monday, Sept. 17. The opposing team was aware ahead of time that we have seniors who would be on the field, primarily two at a time. The opposing team had the right to say no, and we wouldn’t have played the experienced seniors. By saying yes, they had the opportunity to add more experienced players to their team to even the playing field. And yes, this would mean that a few JV players would play less, but not at all. The JV players who were not playing, would not have been playing if the seniors weren’t there. There is a lot to be football-ready on a field because it can be dangerous and coaches need to take in consideration who is ready to be out there and who isn’t. Age and size don’t make for a team.
So who is giving up what here? The seniors have been battling for two years to play football at a varsity level with fair competition. The VPA was well aware last fall where this team was headed. We did ask to be put back into Division III because we knew that we didn’t have enough players after last year’s experience with only five seniors on the team. We were told that the once divisions are devised, it stays that way for two years. The fact that the coach and players still made an attempt to come out and play varsity ball in Division II, knowing what the odds were, is commendable. They started in the spring trying to recruit. They had spring practices, two weeks of summer football camp and began their season practices in early August. They prepared as best as they could to be ready for football, but you just can’t squeeze oranges and make apple juice. We don’t have enough players to build — yet. It is coming, and Springfield will be back in the future. This is what we have, so let’s all work together and create a plan that is acceptable. Maybe not the ideal, but we are beyond the ideal option now. Let’s take what we have and do something with it.
If it means that a Cosmo freshman or sophomore loses 10 minutes of playing time, then so be it; the seniors lost their entire season and will have no senior stats when they go to college and want to play football. The underclassmen have two to three years to play. It’s a small sacrifice compared to the amount of playing time the seniors have given up. Let them be welcomed in their own town, on their own field.
Barbara Vandeburgh of North Springfield is the parent of a Cosmo senior.
Are you ready ??? For Some Football ???
ReplyDeleteTake Notes.
Give every single Student on the Springfield Football Team a VARSITY LETTER. Including every last freshman.
Plan on giving EVERY SINGLE PLAYER a VARSITY LETTER FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS...
Tell all of the 8th graders and let every other Town hear about it too...
It is a once in a life time chance for some to play on VARSITY as Freshman... If your good, you may even start. PLAYING TIME is GOOD
Build 4 year LETTERMAN. Anyone staying back can have 5.
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If you can't field 2 teams. Varsity and Junior Varsity. Then you are stuck with just Varsity and no J.V. Families will actually move here for playing time.
You need to terminate the coach. His glass was half empty and not half full. Sorry Coach.
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It is time NOW for people to step forward. Building a team goes hand in hand with building a Town all across the United States. Let Springfield be a shining star of modern history.
Springfield..... Get a LIFE
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I agree with your statement about the need to terminate the coach. There is also a need to terminate those that hired him. Time to be responsible. No more excuses for failure. Right Babs?
Deleteyeah, seriously.
DeleteLet everyone know that Springfield hired a REALLY bad coach...
and that their is some room on the team if any Football Families would like to consider moving here. It is possible their kids might not only get good playing time, but are also very wanted by the team and the town
yeah !!! Holy POOP !!!
Deletewhat a great documentary film this would make.
SAPA STAND UP !!!!!!!!!
Be.
Do kids even care about Varsity letters?
DeleteThis isn't the 50's. I haven't seen a kid wearing a letterman jacket in a very long time.
@ 9:19
DeleteEvery singly kid looking to go to college cares about their Varsity Letters.
Were you really around in the 50s ?? wow your old.
Scholarships come from Multiple Varsity Letters
Film Student, if you would like to create a documentary SAPA TV is more then willing to train and provide equipment for you to use to create this documentary. SAPA TV is not a production studio like Mr. Ken Burns across the river is. We do not have funding or assets to produce shows. Most shows and content created for SAPA TV are created and produced purely by volunteers. If you are really interested in documenting this, you can contact us on our website.
DeleteBabs: Obviously the coach failed in recruiting. It also appears that he actually drove away some of the potential players that were coming back.
ReplyDelete"Twenty-five of those 32 players from a year ago are coming back and 28 freshmen have signed up."
He also failed in properly training the players that did show up to play. Blaming playing in Division II versus Division III is really not relevant and is just an excuse. The team wasn't properly prepared to play in either division. When a coach can't recruit enough players and does not know how to properly teach them how to play safely and successfully any football program will fail.
re: "Every singly kid looking to go to college cares about their Varsity Letters."
ReplyDeleteB.S.!
BFD, you're bigger or faster then most of your class mates for a couple years. While you're making a coach look good, the smart kid is boosting his GPA, preparing for SAT exams and working after school and weekends to save for college. Varsity letters are totally meaningless as an indicator to succeeding in university academics.
Show me anyone locally that's amounted to Jack Squat because they got a varsity letter? Bar stools are crowded with these dolts.
I agree; if you are talking about scholarships because the kid shows they are active and participate in extra curricular activities, fine, but if you are talking about an athletic scholarship, B.S.
Deleteyou get a better chance at a scholarship with a well rounded education.
DeleteA good student always looks better with Varsity letters.
I also don't know to many athletic scholarships given to athletes who do not have multiple letters.
so go get 'em
Mike Bosa from Keene,Nh. went on to the pros ,along with his best Friend from Boston college ,Doug Flutie. I have met them both,as My Grandparents babysat Mike !
DeleteIn recent history? There is an article above about Brandon Boyle and Grant White.......
Delete@anynomous 9:58: okay, let's say it's all the coaches fault. What do we do now with the 4 seniors who want to still play varsity ball? All the suggestions on these blogs are focusing on what should happen in the future. I am guilty for trying to explain, what has been explained to me, as to why we got into the position we are in. I realize that has been as useless planning the future. The season is short, I would love to hear suggestions as to what can we do to save the present situation. All of the juniors and down can continue playing JV teams this year.
ReplyDeleteIt's too late for your son and the other seniors. What should have been done was to replace the coach and his staff as soon as it became obvious he was incompetent. It also would have been better to not forfeit the entire season. A new coach might have been able to convince some of those that did not return to play to come out. It is now too late to cry about this season. What has been done is behind us. It's time to bury the dead and move on to next year. Unfortunately it appears the school wants to repeat the same thing next year. I feel badly about your son becoming a casualty of bad coaching and bad management. If I had a successful football player in high school that was a sophomore or a junior I would be looking to move to another school district. I would not be rolling the dice that somehow Springfield will turn it's football program around by making the same mistakes next year.
Deletemove to another school district just for football... #thisisvermotnright?
ReplyDeleteActually football isn't the only reason to move to another school district. It is just one of many....the most important is the school system is badly broken and no one is trying to fix it. The busted football program is just another failure in a long litany of mistakes and continual degeneration of the school system while the students, their parents, and demographics get the undeserved blame.
DeleteAnonymous ,You said name one person that went anywhere locally,TRY MIKE BOSA from keene ,Nh.
ReplyDeleteuh... wouldn't that be Keene High School.
Deleteand wouldn't that be in Keene.
That is, as you say, not even in Vermont
Its local !
DeleteMY Father made it to the big league in baseball from Springfield (Oakland). My Uncle could have gone into NBA but went to war instead for Our Country !He still has records that are unbroken ! What is Your expertise in the sports field?????????????
DeleteCOMMENTATOR on local sports . If Your so knowledgeable on sports ,why dont You anonymous People help out rather than judge Someone else.
If You used Your head and thought about the safety and welfare of the Kids playing instead of blaming the Coach ,who is looking out for the Team that can transpire into a winning team that will continue to build the football spirit in this Town.
If You feel as strongly as Your say , You should have the balls to put Your name on Your artwork.
Think Coaching Is EASY , TRY IT !!!!!!!!
CHRIS KOLEDO
I don't know the coach, but it looks like many of you are placing the blame on the coach, how about the players who didn't make the team due to POOR grades. You DON'T get into college with varsity letters, you get in with good grades. Look around people, there are only so many gas stations to employ our failing youth now that the shops are closed. Yes our youth are failing and you can't blame it all on the teachers! Look at yourself, when football is more important than school, no wonder Springfield is in the shape it is. If they cancelled soccer, would everyone be making this noise, I think not! Face it, football is history, many schools are cancelling their programs due to injuries. I'm glad we had a coach smart enough to realize safety is first.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Instead of fairly placing the blame on those responsible for this football meltdown it somehow gets twisted back to falsely blame the students, the parents and the demographics. In the meantime the incompetents continue on with their jobs and their inability to function and the school system continues to slide downhill.
Deletea few years back the most storied program in VT. MSJ came upon hard times in football and they found themselves in Div. 1. What did the proud Mounties do? quit and forfeit against their opponents who had many more players? no the proud Mounties of MSJ played through their entire Div. 1 schedule and lost every game but they played them on the field!! then they went to Div.3 and have not had much luck there either but they continue to play every week. how come the Cosmos couldn't continue playing? the difference between Springfield High and Mount St. Joseph is trememdous, so sad the Cosmos just threw it all away...so very sad!!!
ReplyDeleteThey did that last year. They played the entire season. Lost every game , kids got hurt because there were 9th graders going against 12th graders, but they played the whole season in the wrong division. We got a new coach and tried this year. I think most of the kids came back, but we ended last season with only 4 juniors and 4 sophomores; which resulted to 4 seniors and 4 juniors. We actually picked up 2 more seniors, but they aren't experienced. The intent was to ride out this year , but the type of injuries that were occurring, for whatever reason, were putting in the freshman and sophomores which makes up 75% of the team. They haven't thrown out the program. They will continue to play other teams who have the same make up of players.
DeleteOops, that was me. I hit anonymous instead of my name. I like to state who I am so if anyone has questions or thoughts outside these blogs, feel free to approach me at games or in public.
DeleteEither you are mistaken or the coach was because in March this was his story: ""Twenty-five of those 32 players from a year ago are coming back and 28 freshmen have signed up."
DeleteAnonymous is apparently embarrassed to publish Their real name to show Their real intelligence level to the public , and has no respect for others.Our Children and the welfare of all children should come before everything . If You cant understand something as simple as that ,take up sewing ,not football
ReplyDeleteNice try Chris but most of the anonymous posters here are spot on with their opinions and observations about what is going on in this town or better put, what is not happening in this town. Smearing those that post anonymously won't fix the problems. It just makes you look stupid. Try dealing with reality and actually making recommendations to fix the problems. Holding those in charge for this fiasco is the first step. Guess what, it isn't the students or their parents that are getting paid to perform nor are they to blame. It is all about accountability for one's job. No one would hire a coach to fail and no one should continue to employ one at the expense of the students and tax payers that is a proven failure. They deserve more. Time to move forward and actually try to fix the problem instead of making excuses for failure.
DeleteBecause I wrote the public letter that initiated this blog, I'd like to clarify my remark about seniors giving up senior stats. That wasn't meant in hopes my son would earn a football scholarship ( we're shooting for math!). I just thought that if a student wanted to play in college, they needed to have some type of high school stats.
ReplyDeleteSpringfield continues to be a basket case because of its extremely weak governmental institutions - municipal government and school system. These problems are SYSTEMIC and things are only going to continue to get worse until key leaders are held accountable for their abysmal performance - meaning fired and replaced with competent, experienced, and motivated leaders who will not settle for the apathy, lethargy, complacency, and incompetence that has plagued Springfield for a generation (or two) now!
ReplyDeleteWell put.
DeleteI think everyone is missing the big picture here. Sure the coach isn't the greatest but at the varsity level the kids should know what is expected of them... fundamentals. The reason they are so bad now is because there isn't any Pee-wee football anymore. This flag football crap makes me sick! How is the varsity suppose to be good when the kids start playing football when they get there? From 3rd to 8th grade is when you learn the basics of the game. Then it is up to the high school level to bring them to the next level. Its time to man up and play football the way it is suppose to be played, rough. It isn't two hand touch, its FOOTBALL. If the kids knew how to take a hit and how to hit, then there wouldn't be as many injuries. The next thing is the reason they don't have enough players is simply because the kids don't have the interest when they get to high school. If they are given the opportunity to play when they are younger more likely than not they will play when they get to the high school. Does any one else feel the same way?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with more and the AD is looking into a pre-wee program. My son wrestled from 1-6 grade. He learned how to take down and accept the physical contact. I always said that is why he does well in football because he learned those fundamentals early.
DeleteEXACTLY!....why a town of this size cannot muster a Pee-Wee/intermediate/traveling team type of football program is disgraceful. How the heck are children supposed to get interested and learn the fundamentals of the game.....when they get into High School????? PLEASE! What's the matter with Parks and Rec. Asleep at the wheel I'd say!!!!
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