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Post by coachray40 on Sept 2, 2005 15:47:26 GMT -6
Well, BTR was going to be stacked anyway, but now things have gotten really dicey. I contacted St Amant today about the influx of new registrations and was told that 38 new students had registered for classes. I was also told that they expected triple that # on Tuesday and Wednesday. Havent heard of any boys soccer players (just got a report on raw #'s), but I did hear from our athletic secretary (whose daughter plays for our girls team), that two girls players had come in--one was ODP state pool player from Chalmette. I was also told by my contact in the the guidance office that most of the students that had registered so far were from greater NO private schools. I expect to speak to the guidance office again at St Amant on Thursday to try and identify any soccer players incoming to our school, and get them into the pipeline.
I have also heard the same rumour about Jesuit players going to Teurlings and STM--though it seems a long way to go for players who might return to the Metro NO area within a year.
Some other items to ponder: 1) What will we do with dates scheduled with some NO teams? At St Amant we have games scheduled with Ben Franklin (Dec 7), Newman (Dec 20) and Hahnville (Dec 13)--though I do expect to play against Hahnville. My understanding is that Ben Franklin is located near UNO and is in the area that is flooded in the Lakeview section of town, and Newman is downtown (an area that will not see any habitation for at least a year)) Do we hold onto these dates, or should we schedule someone else? Any thoughts?
2) What will the playoffs look like now--not just for soccer, but for every sport? The metro NO districts are effectively gone, so will we just see byes for these teams, or will there be a restructured playoff bracket. if the bracket is restructured, how will that be drawn by LHSAA. Any thoughts?
3) Where will the DI & DIII finals be played at? Tad Gormley might very well be unusable (think of NO recovery and reconstruction items not just from the flooding standpoint, but from the public health issues arising from the death/corpse removal, chemicals, fuel, and sewerage waste left over from Katrina--cleanup will take 6-8 months...minimum). How does this impact a contractural agreement with LHSAA to use Tad Gormley, and where else might these games be played?
In conclusion my thought on the big gainers from this inevitable exodus: CATHOLIC HS--were very young, but will inevitably get some of the cream of the crop from the bigger NO schools, VANDEBILT CATHOLIC--excellent school whose close proximity to the Metro area will have many players heading here; DUTCHTOWN--reasonably affluent area with lots of new development and new homes that could be quickly settled in by students coming from NO, with good proximity to NO and BTR. UNIVERSITY HS--excellent HS in BTR with reasonable cost and plenty of room to grow--super soccer program and will have an excellent team already. 3-4 key pickups could make them a big favorite in DIII.
Okay--thats my take--what do ya'll think?
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Post by upper90 on Sept 2, 2005 21:04:40 GMT -6
my opinion..i know some/most people will think it is stupid..i think all state finals should be played at independence stadium up here in shreveport..the only problem is that it is too far north for any other teams..most people aren't going to like it and are going to want to play it somewhere in baton rouge or lafayette..that's my take on it
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Post by PutMeInCoach2 on Sept 2, 2005 22:00:39 GMT -6
independence stadium would be a good place to play the finals... However, I dont think LHSAA will do it...
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Post by coachray40 on Sept 2, 2005 22:05:06 GMT -6
Shreveport? Isnt that in Wisconsin?
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Post by YellKeeper on Sept 3, 2005 0:03:08 GMT -6
pretty sure it's in the northern part of Wisconsin
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Post by PutMeInCoach2 on Sept 3, 2005 9:03:55 GMT -6
lafourche parsih defantly wont pick up any players from this. They are looking to re-open there schools til Friday, Sept 9th or maybe later. However, terrebonne parish will pick up a few. They (lafourche) also plan to turn down any students trying to get into their school system since they were hit to. To me they shouldnt be able to but their superintendant said they will as printed in the paper.
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Post by benditlikebckm69 on Sept 3, 2005 21:26:53 GMT -6
we could play the finals at the LSU soccer complex it is nice and fairly pretty big but not the same as tad gormely.
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Post by coachray40 on Sept 3, 2005 21:39:00 GMT -6
I know where Independence Stadium is-- I was being a bit facetious. Everybody knows that Independence stadium is in Indiana ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D<------is this enough smiley faces to let you know I'm kidding?
Anyway--LSU would be great. Im not going to Wisconsin.........or Indiana.... ;D ;D ;D ;D
As for now I'm going to go loot Third Coast Soccer--I figure I can get 30 pairs of F50's to walk through the streets of New Orleans with! ;D ;D ;D ;D<--um........... more humor here, even if it is a bit misguided and crass
If we cant have little laugh in the middle of adversity, then we have lost our hope for better days ahead--and that in turn defeats our need to push on.
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Post by Bish on Sept 3, 2005 23:22:56 GMT -6
I've always wanted it to be at LSU's soccer complex. It's the best location.
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Post by benditlikebckm69 on Sept 4, 2005 14:30:16 GMT -6
well I'm sure that if you have a game when ur playing a team from the New Orleans area you are not going to have it. Either use that date as an open date are like you said reschedule with another team. You never know you might a freaking all-star team with all the new athletes coming into various areas of Louisiana.
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Post by m on Sept 4, 2005 15:42:21 GMT -6
I know for a fact that Vandebilt Catholic as already enrolled 100 students from the New Orleans Catholic Schools and that was as of Friday. The number is still rising.
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Post by coachray40 on Sept 4, 2005 17:09:55 GMT -6
I would hope that everyone understands a single passage that is part of LHSAA'a ruling on eligibilty: ".......and who has been displaced to a site in another parish shall be considered a “homeless” student for LHSAA purposes and shall become immediately eligible and remain under the Residence and School Transfers Rule at the first school he/she enrolls in... "
I would then encourage everyone to read the Residence and school transfers rule in LHSAA's bylaws--Some Highlights:
1.11.1--[u]School districts or attendance zones designated by the public school boards or federal courts shall be used in determining the eligibility under the transfer rule.......
1.11.2--Non public, university laboratory and charter schools shall be bound by the same public school districts or attendance zones that have been designated by the public school board or federal government for the traditional public high school located in their area.
1.11.6--If a student transfers to a school located outside of his or her attendance zone, he/she shall be ineligible to participate in athletics at that school for one calendar year from the date of his or heer enrollment in that school.
What does this mean? Simply put, just because a student enrolls a a particular school with the LHSAA ruling, it doesnt mean they will automatically be eligible. Students will be automatically eligible only at the school whose home attendance area includes where they have relocated to. A student will have to actually live in the home district of that particular school. Example--Player x who went to Archbishop Shaw and his family have moved in with his uncle in Gonzales. Player x then enrolls at Catholic HS. While player x would be able to go to school there, he/she would be ineligible due to the provisions of the residence and transfer rule. If Player x enrolled at East Ascension, he would be immediately eligible because that is the school whose home attendance zone includes his relocation point. LHSAA made this ruling the way they did to keep all schools from "recruiting" players out of the affected areas just for the sake of athletic participation, and also to keep Private schools from offering unfair or illegal assistance trying to "load up" due to the perceived (and probably real) difference in quality education at a private school. Now before ya'll start hollering that schools dont recuit, they wouldnt do that in this sort of tragedy, blah, blah, blah...they do and they will--maybe not the school itself, but the students alumni, and others. A student and thier parents in these cases will shop for the best school available to send their children, and those with a background in private schooling will look for more of the same. Student athletes can enroll wherever they want, they just dont get to free pass to eligibilty.
With all of that being said, we need to just let the dust settle and see what ends up happening over the next 2 months. Jefferson parish will allow people back into their homes starting tomorrow, and the Jefferson parish President has indicated on TV that they will have all of the power, water, and sewerage services back online within 3 weeks. That is an example of how much can/will change quickly. If that estimate flys, there is still a month before soccer starts. Rumors are going to fly about how many students enrolled here or there, and that is all they are for now--just rumors that wont make a bit of difference until the season actually starts and we see which schools are open and that arent. Before you get into a case of "..well I heard that.." let me tell you that Tommy Henry is a smart man and goes directly by the letter of the LHSAA bylaws. This ruling was carefully thought out and will be implemented to make sure student athletes get a fair chance to play, and that chance to play wont affect any schools adversely. He oftens states that he has never had to make a ruling about a students eligibilty--that it is all there in the book. Same applies here, so before we all start hearing and conjecturing about how all of Brother Martins team is going to Catholic HS, or how how all of Jesuit is at Vandebilt--lets just wait and see how everything pans out. Today is one week since the advent of Katrina to our shores--a lot has changed in a week, and lot will change in the weeks to come.
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Post by m on Sept 4, 2005 17:32:46 GMT -6
You also have to remember that Vandebilt is Co-ed so that 100 that have enrolled there are boys and girls.
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Post by Bish on Sept 5, 2005 3:02:31 GMT -6
Wow, if the LHSAA enforces that rule I will have to deem them the biggest bunch of idiots ever.
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Post by soccerfan14 on Sept 6, 2005 7:02:21 GMT -6
I disagree with coachray about the interpretation of the new ruling from LHSAA. My gist of the new rule is that the student is eligible at the first school he/she registers with, either in the parish they are now residing in or in an adjacent parish. So student x now living in Gonzales can register at Catholic of BR and be eligible. The transfer rule comes in effect if he/she decides to transfer from Catholic of BR to another school. Anyways, that's my interpretation of the rule....
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Post by Bish on Sept 6, 2005 7:43:38 GMT -6
actually its pretty smart if they didnt enforce the rule teams like vanderbilt and teurlings and other southern schools would have a great team on top of a great team and it wouldnt give any other schools a chance to compete with them So you are saying it's fair to deny a player's elgibility because his parents couldn't find a house in the same district as the school they want to send their kids to? I'm sorry if you are intimidated by the fact that many of these schools are going to have stacked teams now, but that's not the players faults who had to abandon their homes in New Orleans now is it? Why take away a whole season from them for that? And "oh it's not fair because they are going to have an awesome team now and beat up on everybody" is not a valid reason.
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Post by coachray40 on Sept 6, 2005 8:48:48 GMT -6
Soccerfan14--I'm not sure that is what was meant by the adjacent parish line in the ruling--my understanding is that part fo the rule was for schools in more rural areas that might not have a private school in their parish. Either way, it doesnt matter-LHSAA will sort it out, and the kids will go where they go. Look at it like this--there are around 4000 students between Jesuit, Brother Martin, St Martins and Newman--they cant all be going to Catholic and Vandebilt. That doesnt even begin to count the kids from downtown NO, Rummel, Holy Cross, St Aug, Slidell, Fountianbleau, Northshore, Shaw, and everything in St Bernard parish.
As for the "stacked teams"--who cares? Im looking forward to playing whomever with whatever they have. How much better will Lafayette or Vandebilt be if they each get three kids from Jesuit? Not much, as both schools teams were awesome already, and those three kids each would have to actually get on the field. I dont know if we will get any kids at St Amant from other schools or not, and I dont care. If they come to us, we will welcome them with open arms and try to help them as best we can. If we dont get any, then I will still have the same group of guys that are here, are eligible and that busted their tails all summer to get better and be competitive--that is the one thing that is guaranteed. I think we should just lighten up and wait til we see what happens. I'll give you another for instance--I spoke this morning with our club president who is an engineer with Entergy. He says that the east bank of Jefferson Parish will be fully lit in two to three weeks, St Charles parish in 10 days, and most of the West bank within the next month (St Bernard and Plaquemines parish excluded) things will change quickly, so lets just wait and see. Brother Martin has set up shop at Catholic HS, and is going to school there from 3:30 to 9:00,, so that indicates to me that they forsee a return to normalcy within a short period of time (2-3 months perhaps). Enough teeth gnashing has been done about everything with the rescue effort with this storm--lets just be supportive of whoever ends up at our schools and move forward--besides, we havent played a single game yet, so everybody is undefeated right now ;D
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Post by DamonDash on Sept 6, 2005 19:22:47 GMT -6
So.......whats going to happen to the Northshore district? Will they have teams?
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Post by coachray40 on Sept 6, 2005 22:01:20 GMT -6
Saw on the news tonight that St Tammany Parish school officials are projecting Oct 3 as the "reopening date" for schools. The Slidell schools might have some trouble making that deadline, but the rest should make it.
Patience grasshoppa Patience ;D
This whole thing is a feeding frenzy for media outlets. Lets just wait and see what happens. I got a feeling all but the downtown schools, Slidell and Northshore will be back up and running prior to the season, and Brother Martin will become a Baton Rouge School for this year. Many days to come
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Post by Veteran on Sept 8, 2005 13:58:15 GMT -6
I guess I have sat here long enough in silence, but I now must defend my school. Since Catholic HS - BR has been referred to many times in this thread about soccer players coming to school here and the possiblity of us contacting and recruiting players from NO, I must speak up to ensure the integrity of my program.
I have been a teacher and coach here for 4 years and have not once asked a kid to come to school here to play soccer or offered them anything. Nor have I heard of any other coaches at this school doing so for their respective sports. I think that it is sad that if a kid wants a quality education and is good at sports, if he goes to a private school there is all of a sudden a cloud surrounding that school. If it was true for us, where are all of the state championships in all of our sports. We have had good teams at times just as many other schools have and enjoyed atheletic success, but far from dominating.
As for the current situation, I can't imagine the horrible circumstances that the NO kids are going through. My heart goes out to all of them. If a kid from NO applyed here and got accepted, then we would open our arms to them, but the fact of the matter is we did not and will not receive one student / athlete from this ordeal. Catholic-BR is currently full and does not have the capability to take anymore students.
As a result and a willingness to do our part, our admin. has opened its doors to Brother Martin High School. Brother Martin will have school on our campus in the evenings from 3:30 - 9:30, they will have appr. 650 students and no athletics or extracurriculars.
As a coach I feel for these kids, but am some what relieved that I do not have to make a decision between a quality N.O. player and a player that has committed to my program for 2 or 3 years. We will play with what we have and we will play hard and be competitive. As for all of you pundits out there, I would not take us out of the horse race just yet.
Good luck to eveybody this year and I hope we can piece together a good season.
See ya Coach Ray!!
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