CIF-SS ASSOCIATION RULE TO BE ELIMINATED

apparently, you guys have failed to see my point which I find very unfortunate. I was fortunate enough to have outstanding coaches at most levels of competition who taught me well and when I did fail they encouraged me to learn and not give up. I know these young athletes do remember what their coaches teach them. I can recall two wannabe coaches who coached me in little league and youth football. Both these sad individuals thought they knew it all and chose to destroy any confidence the young impressionable minds were attempting to build. Of course neither of those teams experienced much success and most of us continue to lack any respect for those individuals. As for DAWWGER I was actually in support of most of what you said so not sure where you're coming from on your reply.. As for using "Remember the Titans." as a motivator you have to be kidding me.. I think too many people lose track of true competition means and what we need to teach these young athletes. Of course we want them to be successful, but we also need to teach them how to respond to failure and to learn respect, sportsmanship, integrity etc.. With all that winning will happen. Being a good loser doesn't mean accepting it and just roll over, it means learn from those mistakes and you will attain success. Too many high school athletes come into high school thinking because they made allstars that they're a lock for the team, now that's a joke. These kids have been enabled their entire life and need to experience failure to grow. How they respond to that failure will show their true character!!!

goteamgo,

Did you even read the Dawwger post I was responding to (4/29.8:05) It wasn't about the rule.

Let's hear it for the 10th place ribbon and best team spirit award winners!

Goldenarm,
Thanks for the back against ahscoach.

Coaching football is not just about watching the movie "Remember the Titans" and "Facing the Giants on a Saturday evening and getting all pumped up to coach a youth football program at Live Oak Park in TC. Is a life time experience process on how to deal with different personalities, character, self motivation, FUN drills, Fun practices, and believing in the potential of each player...the END result will give the team wins, mental prepareness for life's true challenges, and most important respect for mankind.

This is how I approach my coaching status for the last 14 years.

DAWWGER

Good luck ahscoach.

ahscoach,,

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

Your pre T-ball coaching stategy sounds like the screenplay from the next Barney movie. Show me a coach who employs ass kissing as his primary motivation tool - and you will find a team unable to overcome the slightest hardship or ever integrate the core traits of commitment and desire which push an athlete or team to overachieve.

"Ok big boys, lets all have "fun" tackling the large, friendly fullback man who hails from the wonderful island of Samoa. For those who are still conscious afterward, we will all remember our time here as most enjoyable.

Your quote ... " Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam."
Please attach this with your next coaching resume...just make sure your application is for pep squad advisor, not an athletic leadership position.

Who knew John Wooden not only is feeling better but posting on this blog?! Thanks Wizard!

Goldenarm

Your reply makes absolutely no sense, the attempt was to bring you back to reality.. Let the kids have fun, encourage them despite defeat, teach them to learn from failure, make their limited time in competition enjoyable.

" Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam."

ahs coach,

tough to guess 100% wrong on everything....but you were able to find a way.

In 07 DAWWGER was not 0-22 as you stated, but 19 -1 overall, and league co-champs. As far as myself, you are 200 miles north of the truth, 33 south of accuracy. I suggest a complete new approach.

SFHS92 - you are right on the up downs etc...I was trying to escape the psychobabble anyway I could. Bull in the Ring would do it

"I would have to say that you fit in to the category of people that have no clue. You are the type of person that coached a rec ball team of some sort and went 0-22 and then told the kids that they were there just to have fun. Then 80% of those kids proceeded not to play that sport again the next year"

One of the most uninformed post I've read. That's exactly what you should tell those kids. I was one of those kids, my coached told me the exact same thing and that's why I stayed in sports it was FUN. I went on to play in high school and college. Goldenarm you're probably one of those parent's that puts too much pressure on their Kid. Relax and enjoy sports would ya!

"Myopic focus on the goal however, is detrimental in almost every case. It will fall on you to teach them that a variety of interests builds the whole person and will help them in their chosen sport. Teach them the value of cross training in all areas and your offspring will have the balance that makes them fun to be around."

Outstanding post one of the best comments I've read.!

Chkyrself;
Haldol and Proxac, are great meds that may calm you down. Try to live a simple life and stop growing that gray hair.

The one and ONLY DAWWGER

golden,
100 yard bear crawl never sounded good. Neither did up downs for that matter Perhaps Bull in the ring and the Oklahoma drill.

Is there anyway we can block this chkyrslf guy from the blogs? No excuse for rudeness.

TomS,

Wow, you are not very smart. What does the S stand for, simple?

You are the nutball if you are taking me too seriously.

Somehow "bull in the ring" and 100 yard bear crawl are starting to sound good about now.

I don't see where this rule change will have massive impact in the short term.
Coaches and schools that broke the rules in the shadows will do what they were doing without trying to hide it.
The impact on club sports will be minimal and I see more opportunity for trainers and coaches than ever before. This should also mean better quality coaching at the high school level.
It will be interesting to see what schools/coaches take this new freedom to the extreme...you know there will be a few.

You softball people really need to get a life - you take this way too seriously. Dawg wrote a fair comment, and "shut your pie hole" reply was totally inaapropriate. By the way, the topic above has absolutely nothing to do with softball or football - it was about a CIF rule change, so their was no "intrusion" of football people onto the softball site.

I read the softball blogs for sheer entertainment value. Makes me happy I had a son.

chkyrslf:
Wow, you might want to consider going back on the meds. You're taking things way to serious

As a follow up to my previous comments, I wanted to throw out some encouragement to the coaches, athletic directors, and parents that are sure to be affected by the rule change. The full effect of the rule change won’t be felt until July, but I assure you, change is coming.

First to the parents; much responsibility rests upon your shoulders. If like me your child possesses some ability in their chosen sport, coaches will automatically be drawn to that talent. Their talent represents the potential to help out a team, to add to the total number of victories, and with victory comes glory, to the players and the coach. Allow your kids the chance to compete, learn and perfect their game. The struggle for a goal is a good thing and will teach life lessons that will have lasting value.

Myopic focus on the goal however, is detrimental in almost every case. It will fall on you to teach them that a variety of interests builds the whole person and will help them in their chosen sport. Teach them the value of cross training in all areas and your offspring will have the balance that makes them fun to be around. I’ve seen coaches that understand this, and I’ve seen coaches that lose sight of what is best for the child in the heat of competition. Now that the coach is allowed more access to your kid, its incumbent upon you to monitor how much is healthy and when a break is good. Be the parent, it pays off.

AD’s have a thankless job. Inevitably they will hire a coach that doesn’t meet the standards of the school, the parents or the sport, and it’s their job to deal with it. Parents can be gracious and kind, but they never hear from those. It’s usually the nut jobs ranting about playing time, racism, sexism, incompetence or worse. Two things will help you out long term. First, hire teachers that can coach and will do so. Secondly mentor young walk-on coaches that show an interest in teaching. The have a love for the kid, the sport, and still have room to grow into both professions. Start looking in the club systems for good candidates, talk to parents of well rounded kids, and for the sake of future Lombardis everywhere don’t neglect the minor sports because they’re not the main attractions. Hiring balanced coaches will solve the totalitarian-coach problem early.

You coaches out there, much has been given, and much is expected. Don’t abuse your freedom. Look for ways to improve your game, your players and your programs but keep in mind that "a pitchers arm has just so many pitches in it." Don’t kill the kid’s potential early. Let them…no, encourage them to train up all their other muscles, not just the ones that make them jump higher than the next guy. You may think they look up to you a little but you really have now idea how much.

Be proactive with your AD and your parents, and careful with your words. You know that every team has at least one nutty mom or dad. My father-in-law was that nut, and my wife had to ban him from her events from the 4th grade through college competition. Don’t punish the kid for the insanity of the parents.

Ultimately, a network of mutual support that puts the kid first is the best of all situations. If you find yourself in one of these roles, imagine in your mind the best parent, AD or coach you’ve ever known, and be that person.

GoldenArm,

Thanks for proving my point.

"blobs"....oops, there went the intelligence argument.

I tend to read the football blogs more because the stupidity of SOME bloggers is absolutely hilarious at times. It's sheer entertainment to see how many people get so wound up over stupid things and show their intelligence level. It sort of makes me wonder what they do the rest of the year.

Oh wait - they come onto the softball/baseball/wrestling blobs and try to make it into a football discussion.

Dawger,

Time to adjust the open nature of your pie hole. Just because you are a fan of the most popular game out there (whose popularity you have absolutely nothing to do with) doesn't mean that you have to lobby for total dominance. I am not sure about baseball and other sports, but I see 30-something remarks on this page mostly by softball people, 10 on the last and the couple before that were screwed up for some reason. WE have been known to go into the 100's when the topic is right. (As a matter of fact the threads are still hard to post on. Sometimes ,as of late, your post may or may not show up.) Anyway keep us out of your catagory, and talk crap about baseball, wrestling, or someone else.

Softball shows a consistant fanbase that responds to our blogs. Would you like to take that away? Is that the way you are?

Your DAWG bowl must need refilling, or maybe you should DAWG someone else, or maybe you should call Snoop DAWG e DAWG, or you should go sit around a poker table with a bunch of DAWGS, or watch American Idol and say COME ON DAWG all night long while you eat your bone.

But whatever you do stay out of our grill and go start a tussle with some other mangy DAWG somewhere else.

SG,

any inside word on candidates or favorites to take Blair HC job?

Dawwger: Football is football. But the past couple of weeks, especially Monday and Tuesday, not too many people have been able to post because of the swith to our new server.

Scott,

It's sad to see the BLOG post regarding baseball, softball, volleyball, and GREAT pitcher articles with 0 to 1 post responce.

Maybe the Pasadena StarNews will have more responces to HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL blogging posts.

In other words, football rules all of the interest of the readers, bloggers, and fans.

DOnt get me wrong, I dig baseball/softball a great deal. I am just trying to understand why we have more responces on football than any other sport (high school sports)??????

DAWWGER

For all you softballers, Channel 4 had an Article 9 piece on Alhambra High women's softball field on the 530 newscast.
It did not say much and did not show much, except mentioning some Risk Management woman from AHS made the news team shoot footage from the sidewalk.

Great post Jim.
Part of the problem is the out of season leagues you mention. In football, this is basically a non-issue, since the closest thing in prep fball are passing leagues, which actually is a preseason activity.
The burgeoning club and travel ball influence may prove increasingly detrimental to some of the other sports mentioned. It may take a while for this to shake out - simple solutions seem far from view right now. The area AD's will be busy.

Jim,

Nicely addressed.The more I hear from people with your experience and knowledge the more I support the rule change. I do, however, get nervous when schools are left up to policing these policies. Most of them can't police their own bathrooms.

Parents need to chill,

I would have to say that you fit in to the catagory of people that have no clue. You are the type of person that coached a rec ball team of some sort and went 0-22 and then told the kids that they were there just to have fun. Then 80% of those kids proceeded not to play that sport again the next year. Athletics comes from passion for the game and competition in general, and club sports have grown from that and the unwillingness of high schools to support top athletes and their training. Some club coaches may go overboard and created poor training environments with exclusionary approaches. That is humanity, we have that sort of behavior in all walks of life, not just club sports.

Your opinion is exclusionary on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and you may want to be a little more informed before you spout out. For every kid that gets burned out with club sports there are ten that would never give it up and secretly or openly wish they never had to deal with rec sports or High School sports at all.

I am not sure if your comment even deserved a response but here it is.

PS: Most of the kids that I know who play travel ball (because that is the club sport that I know) also play a second sport in high school.

Lets start with a lil’ background. I'm a father of a varsity volleyball player who has played club ball since she was 10; a husband of a 26-year volleyball coach for both club and high school programs; a CIF Basketball official, a former US Water Polo official; and the vice president of a high school booster club at the only school that I know of where the coach was dismissed for association rule violations. I was also a coach of my son’s water polo club team for 3 years for out of season competition in USWP tournaments. Whew that's a mouthful.

I guess I should start by saying that I don't agree with the existence of the association rule from a consistency point of view (only region of the 10 in the state that still had it), or from a practical point of view (elaboration to come). I believe that finding qualified coaches is becoming harder and harder for athletic directors (ADs) and for club directors. There just aren't that many out there. The job doesn't pay that well, parents are unrealistic, and the pressure to win is overwhelming.

My daughter’s high school volleyball coach was facilitating drills at a club try out when he violated the rule. He coached a younger division team but the club required all the coaches to be at the tryouts to help out for all the age groups. Our athletic director was at the try out with his daughter. He spotted his coach on the floor, and the next week the coach was gone. I understand that there was another violation where the coach was allowing his girls to help him in a community clinic for community service points on a Sunday. He wasn’t coaching his kids in either case but both were clear violations of the rule. Two strikes and you’re out. The termination is up to the discretion of the AD at each school.

We’re now in our 6th month after the termination. The coach retained his position as the head trainer at the school. No suitable replacement has been found. Most candidates have had extensive club resume’s but little in the way of coaching time at the high school varsity level. The parents have been told that they are in the final stages of hiring, the same final stage that we were in back in January.

Is this coach the only one to violate the rule? Certainly not. I’ve seen several other coaches from the same high school violate the letter of the law. Did any of these coaches intentionally violate the rule for selfish reasons? Not a one. All were doing things that, in my opinion, placed the best interests of the students first. After school try outs for college coaches, watching their players in off season leagues, interaction that is really just normal behavior for coaches that are invested in the well being of the kids. On a purely monetary level, high school coaching is not the road to wealth.

So now we find ourselves in a post-association rule era. New challenges will rise, and unfortunately they will rest on the parents of the student athletes and the AD of each school. Parents need to monitor when coaches are becoming too possessive or practice schedules are burning their child out. Statements like “play for my club or you won’t start in high school” have to be punished, with the same vigor that the association rule was enforced. We need to take a look at what the other regions are doing and implement the things that work there.

Other regions in California require that your coaching out of the high school season is done for a nationally recognized organization like Little League, USVBA, US Water Polo, and various soccer and basketball leagues. These organizations are the ones best suited to absorb the potential influx of coaches and players, handle the liability issues, and keep things structured. No high school wants to assume the insurance coverage for out of season leagues.

Having officiated a number of girl’s water polo tournaments, it’s not surprising to me that they should be the ones responsible for this change. The sport is still fairly new on the women’s side and the number of potential coaches for a clubs and high schools is very small. They were hard pressed to fill positions. The rule change will allow both schools and clubs to put more experienced and qualified people in charge of teams and the girls playing will benefit immediately.

In the end I come back to the situation at my daughter’s school and her former coach. I can’t help but feel he’s the final casualty in the battle just before the cease fire is called. Ok, I’ll admit that’s a bit dramatic, but I hate to see people that work so hard and so unselfishly be penalized for giving their time. The rule needed to go and I applaud the CIF for making this change.

Scott,

Reading the newspaper today, you make the point with the Monrovia AD, and it seems like you introduced it, that there is a fear of club coaches becoming high school coaches and then charging money to be on their club teams. To me that sounds like a concern that is relatively unfounded. If I were you I would look at the previous posts and place concerns there, especially when it comes to club (travel) concerns.

It seems to me that the players that this rule is going to hurt are the quality players who enjoy playing on a higher level, those who are looking to get recruited, and the multi-sport athletes. But your concern that you bring up is probably more sensational and therefore makes the paper, that evil club coaches are going to come to high schools and charge poor kids money. What will end up being the problem with most non-club kids and their parents is that the club coach will come in and make Suzie or Joey work harder. That, to me, is the best aspect of the rule change. Schools should not hire club coaches unless they know what these coaches will expect of their players.

It will also be a great learning experience for AD's when they realize that the premium athletes that they are or should be promoting are premuim because of club sports, not their high school program.

this is the best thing that could have ever happened.. Club sports are a complete waster of everyones time, they're overrated and more often then not burn the poor kids out.. A true athlete will play multiple sports and the majority of college coaches prefer that, I know that for a fact!!!

Very good discussion except for one point. The change is good for high school sports in general but I hope we all focus on the kids. Too much pressure is placed on kids to attend a specific club sport.

I personally believe that kids should cross train. Play at least two sports(not at the same time)during the year to develop different muscles and athletic movements. Soccer/track, football/baseball etc. I have seen single sport burnout all tooo often these days. Who benefits - coaches. High school coaches must compete against club coaches that make five figue incomes plus in some sports. Some club coaches use kids for income purposes when in fact the kid could benefit by the cross training in another sport. Soccer is the worst, way too much pressure. Exposure in other sports is good. And parents high school sports get newspaper coverage.

Even with this change my goal is that we think of the kids first.

MHS Pride,

Well said. This sounds like it is going to be great for your school.

My only concern is for the top players already playing travel ball whose coaches may force them to play year round on their high school team or face the wrath of public opinion or be put behind a kid who stayed with the high school all year. Many travel ball players' year round experiences are already often overlooked by their hs coaches as not much and they aren't appreciated for it. That is guaranteed to get worse for those kids. I think for some and possibly the long term this rule will be good, but for the short term the ones who are not going to benefit from it are the already more committed players who will potentialliy be harassed by their HS coaches.

One thing that will definitely be misconstrued is the quality factor. A kid who has a couple of practices in the offseason with their HS and plays in a weak rec league will now want to compare their training to a kid who is really getting it done on a major travel level, week after week against, like you said, some stellar competition.

Staying realistic and giving the kids the freedom to train where they want in the offseason seems key to a smooth transition with this rule.

Under any circumstances, I assume that most of the cream will still rise to the top, maybe just a little more beat up by their teams local politics.

As a head softball coach and athletic director for a local high school,I never get involved in these discussions, but let me share my point of view. I work with a group of girls at my school, whose parents, for the most part, struggle to get the tuition paid, much less any extra curricular activity, such as travel ball or club teams. This rule's elimination (rule 313 of the Southern Sections Blue Book,which does not exist in the San Diego Section of the CIF and,I believe in a few other Sections within the state) enable's us, the coaches,(some of us who actually do this, not for the money or the accolades but for the betterment of the girls)to work with our girls year round and hopefully give them opportunities to use some of the skills they already possess as well as the ones they will learn, and more importantly, put them in to practice during the off season, and maybe give them an opportunity to play at the next level. Now the next level isn't alway D1, but there are alot of D2 and D3 opportunities out there and thats who I work with.I don't have any travel ball or club players on my team, yet we hold our own pretty well sometimes and not so well others. This past season we have had some amazing games and wins (against Pas.Star News ranked teams) and some utterly devestating losses.( Ditto..) But the majority of the teams we face, especially in our league, have travel ball players who play year round, who are better prepared for high school seasons because they have been playing for the last 9 months,because they have had a couple hundred in game at bats against, probably, some pretty steller competition. My girls pick up the glove in mid February and are suppose to be ready to play within 10 days. And by the time they find there swing, shake off the soreness of everyday play,and just genuinely are in some sort of a groove, the season is over. This will open doors for young ladies that I work with that may not have been opened before. And honestly, thats what it all about.

So does this rule throw out tip sanders' argument that he had no time to work with the kids because there was no 6th period pe? Seems to me that maybe there is something else behind his decision.

Scott,

As far as:

"the word getting out about better players"

That may very well be the case for baseball because their is a scouting system in place that makes it happen that way. But that will definitely not be the case in softball for several years, the system through ASA is huge and goes all the way through the National Team. The system is in place there too. The ASA 18 Gold National Championship was broadcast on ESPN2 last year. These tournaments have multitudes of great teams and the coaches go there so they can cover alot of ground in one weekend. Softball recruiting budgets are not a whole lot.

Go to one major ASA softball recruiting tournament on the main fields and you will have a different perspective.

What I see being a result from this rule for the next 5-7 years in softball is confusion for excellent players as to why they are not getting recruited, but a lot of happy coaches. But I don't think the rule will last that long.

I dont agree with you at all about calling people out by name. I think it makes people want to stop focusin on the real issues and become personal. All thinking stops at that point.

dudes please....

While making some good points please remember
it is OK to identify a coach or school by name..
I am referring to your quote below...

PS: "If the coach you are talking about is at the school I am thinking about and the travel ball team is the one I am thinking about"
chkyrslf - I would say your blog name finally makes sense now....but in truth you make many good points and substantiate them in most cases. If a coach is out of line or has "ego" issues, call him out, same for any programs. I am not seeing the benefit in concealing names.

I see a lot of your points Chkyrslf. I still see this rule as a club against high school rule. Think of all the coaches who have wanted to work with their teams year-round. Might some step back and let the club team work with them, sure. But now they don't have to, which means many coaches will want year-round commitments.
As far as recruiting, the word's going to get out on better players. Scouts will just go to high school games like they do in baseball. I don't see that as an issue at all. In fact, more diamonds in the rough could be found if that happens.
I just don't see this rule as a solution. I see it as an avenue of change. Change for better for worse will be answered down the road.

I see a lot of your points Chkyrslf. I still see this rule as a club against high school rule. Think of all the coaches who have wanted to work with their teams year-round. Might some step back and let the club team work with them, sure. But now they don't have to, which means many coaches will want year-round commitments.
As far as recruiting, the word's going to get out on better players. Scouts will just go to high school games like they do in baseball. I don't see that as an issue at all. In fact, more diamonds in the rough could be found if that happens.
I just don't see this rule as a solution. I see it as an avenue of change. Change for better for worse will be answered down the road.

John and Scott,

Maybe in the long term things will blend together properly, and this will potentially help some of the high school programs, but what about the current players and college recruiting for softball?

For many years, high school softball programs were not able to provide an atmosphere for colleges to recruit players from because high schools didn't treat the sport with as much respect and intensity as college, so travel ball was developed for that purpose.

Now your answer may be that they may start recruiting from high school now. This may be the case down the road but travelball is very entrenched and will continue to exist for several years to come and high school coaches, like the one you may be talking about, will get their players into lame recruiting tournaments that high level coaches don't show up at. The premium fields at recruiting tournaments are reserved for the best travel teams with the best coaches. This is mainly because the college coaches know who trains kids properly, not because of their record. Now, the players for the coaches and the high schools who put pressure on players to stay on their team will most likely be SOL as far as recruiting goes because they won't be seen on the right fields at the right tournaments.

PS: If the coach you are talking about is at the school I am thinking about and the travel ball team is the one I am thinking about, that will be the first group of kids who do well in league but never get seen or recruited. But it should feed that coaches ego perfectly.

PSS - I personally implore high school softball coaches to not start yanking your kids out of their travel programs to come on yours. Provide an offseason place for those who don't play travel, but don't let your ego make you think that you are going to go out and compete with the best in travel, because you won't, and even if you do you will be shut out of the great recruiting tournaments because you do not have the history.

PSSS -And if a high school is considering hiring a travel coach to be a high school coach, look at the history of that program and make sure it will be a change for the better.

PSSSS - The best thing that could happen would be if the best travel coaches started coaching at high schools, but that still won't change much and those coaches will still want to put together the best travel team they can and that is not generally made up of kids from the same area. They would, more than likely, try to incorporate a couple of their high school players on to thaier club team, but they will be more inclined to keep them seperate. Great club coaches make more money than any HS coaches because parents pay them because thaier kids end up going to UCLA, Arizona, Florida, ... If they stick to their HS players they will be limited by talent and not have tha great reputation of having the best players.

PSSSSS - Scott, you should probably call some top college coaches and see how this is going to affect their recruiting.

PSSSSS - Remember this is mainly a CIF rule many other states already let their HS coaches coach year round and travel is strill prevalant.

Scott, I don't see most schools ramping up to year round programs anywhere near the club level with the possible exception of football which has no club level.
As far as high school coaches demanding commitment to just their sport...if an athlete has value in more than one sport both of his/her coaches will be happy to have them on their team.

say good bye to multi sport athletes. coaches can now hog their athletes all year, not too mention forcing their athletes to pay them for club as well

A question John. You bring up a good point about club teams. Will the club team be necessary since high school teams can, in theory, take their spot in tournaments? Why would parents want to continue paying for club when the high schools can work year round? And for those who stay in club, what happens when the club team and high school team have practices at the same time? Choices will need to be made.

I think this will snowball into a very good thing for all schools that want to take advantage of it. There are a few school athletic programs that have been slittering around the rules for years with no one at CIF the wiser. Now all schools will be able to train year round without fear. The rich get richer, yes, but now the little guys can get better also.

chkyrslf….kid myself? I would suggest that you inform yourself. Maybe Temple City doesn’t have a coaching budget outside of baseball and football but other schools might. There is already one school in the area that based on this rule change will name a club coach its head coach for next season and that coach will have more than one of their club players on the high school team. This coach will also be getting paid by the club and the school. Is that not a benefit to the coach?

Don't kid yourself, there are very few good high school coaching positions. Outside of football and baseball there are few programs that are willing to pay enough money to lre quality coaches. Most qaulity travel coaches make money on the side with charging for batting and fielding lessons with their players. I am pretty sure this won't be allowed with high school players.

The sad part is that you are going to have high school coaches who are going to force their players to play with them year round. They will then not be able to play real travel ball and not get recruited.

The biggest benefit of this rule change/elimination has to be coaches. I know of more than one coach who has had to pass on good high school positions because players on the high school team are also on that coach's club team.

As far as softball goes it won't make travel ball go away because of the quality of coaching. Most quality players can't wait to get away from their weak high school coaches.

What it will do is water down the travel ball tournaments even more when the weak high school teams start trying to get in the travel tournaments to get good games. It will be good for the fall season at places like Burbank where you have a lot of HS teams already playing under parents instead of the coaches.

A spinoff of this might be the freestyle mixed martial arts bouts between the coaches on campus - as they compete to grab cross-sport athletes and bring them to "their" practice.

JohnM,

Good point about the CIF policing. From Galetti's attached piece note that CIF was divided on the vote 41-37. I guess CIF requires no margin or majority approval in passing legislative change?

It is difficult to say what this might snowball into. The entire concept and "work arounds" to comply with CIF guidelines used to be so entrenched...coaches were careful not to throw any sand into the eyes of CIF by even "looking" like organized practices were going on...for fear of unleashing a more thorough review of their program.
Similar to the fears taxpayers have of claiming head of household status or a 10,000 dollar donation to the church...it might bring scrutiny that even the most violation-free school would not welcome.

The rich get richer again! Now we'll see year round training at the big "sports schools" and no line between club and school sports. There is so much cheating that goes on anyway it makes sense the the CIF doesn't want to police it anymore.

How does this hurt club sports? I see it as more of a benefit to club sports. High school coaches can coach club teams without all the secrecy and behind the scenes manuervering.

Basically, the only time you can't work with your team is during the traditional three-week "dead period" during the summer.

Football Fan,
basically means teams can legally practice during a sport's off-season. i.e. baseball teams can practice legally after school in the fall season.

Can anyone explain this more clearly?