Email to cc & tf coaches

P

PatHelgerman

Member
Did anyone else get this email? It’s just vague enough to make me think it’s a spear phishing attempt, especially with the attachments.
Urgent: Attention Ohio Cross Country and Track & Field coaches: Please print out the attached letter and hand deliver it to either your athletic director or your principal so that it can be signed by your principal in the next week. Once it is returned to you, please scan it and email it to: vanatsja@lovelandschools.org Please have it scanned and emailed NO LATER THAN MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12. Thank you!
see pdf attachment.
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Yes.

Jim V has been pushing for more divisions in track and field for over 5 years. He is a driving force behind this movement.
 
All competitive balance sports will be expanding similarly to football in the next year. So volleyball, basketball, softball, baseball, soccer will have 5-7 different tournament divisions in Ohio for high school. This letter is raising awareness that the number disparity is as bad or worse for Track & Field and cross country. Hate to see our sports not getting the credit/value as other sports. Although some may believe this will “water down” results, history has showed that this is not usually the case as with more opportunity comes more participation and better results.
 
It would be great if someone actually involved with the discussions between the OATCCC and the OHSAA could clearly explain what is going on. I have been told that the OHSAA is committed to doing things the same way for other sports per ENA2's description. They aren't looking for special recommendations for T&F or XC. These two sports are not currently on the docket, so all of this effort is simply to get on the docket before the end of the year.

We currently have ~750 schools in T&F. My understanding is that the top ~60 create a super division and the remainder will be divided evenly (~172/division). If we went to 4 even divisions there would be ~187/division. Is this difference going to result in a significant watering down of competition? No more than having 18 qualify to state rather than 16.

Compromise seems to be a dirty word in our current culture, but there is no perfect solution. If we each hold out for what we deem perfect, we never get to good. See the US congress for a living example.

Rather than tug in thousands of different directions, I recommend we start pulling in the same direction.
 
Good post madman. All should check out the video from the OATCCC president. I believe it is on the OACCCC website. I think she and the board is trying to get to the “good” for the kids/sport.
 
I went to the OATCCC website but couldn't find the video. If you have the link, please post it.
 
Here is the YouTube version.... All interested in our sports and kids should watch at this lays it out pretty well.

 
PatHelgerman said:
I have to say that the compelling number there is 600 all Ohio for soccer vs 90 for CC.
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Just allow more teams and individuals to qualify to the state meet, and add All-Ohio numbers. If that is the objective. I don't really care what other sports do. There are kids on top teams that get no chance on their own team, but would be easy varsity and state qualifiers if on other teams. Not sure if judging CC off of soccer numbers matters much. Could we allow teams to run 10 or more...score it just like we do now? At the state meet, use the 30th place time in D3 as the base for all-Ohio. There could be 50 from D2 and 100 from D1. Whatever it turns out to be. There are a lot of ideas that might work.
 
The video didn't address this. Is the proposal wanting in total 100 teams to make it to state and 320 teams to make it to regional meet? This would keep the 64/20 teams per division.
 
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Smaller fields of teams in the races could also open up the opportunity for more individuals to qualify without causing traffic problems on the course.
 
Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately) most people reading this on yappi have a keen interest in the sports of track and cross country.... sometimes to the level of keeping it sacred or at least "special". I too believe that our sports are unique and should not be compared to other sports. I even get upset when people think that cross country and track are very similar sports - as most AD's and others do. However, Football. basketball, etc. have done a great job of marketing and promoting their sports to the masses. We all should know that it is "easier" (going by the numbers) to earn "All-Ohio" or "All-Conference" etc. in these sports. For example: In the past decade, our boys teams have won 3 State team titles in both track and cross country and 9 and 8 conference titles. In this same time, our football team has made the playoffs 3 times, and has 1 conference title and overall, about a .500 record. They still have more All-Ohio and All-Conference athletes over that decade. Our basketball team has a losing record over that same time and has more honorees than cross country. When recruiting for track or cross country, people say (parents more than kids) "athletes will get recognized more in football (or basketball) than they will in track (or CC). People in the community, School Staff, and even many administrators will be fine with expansion of of these team sports and if we (track and CC) do not expand at the some level, it probably will reinforce their belief that our sports are not as important. I'll address this "watered down" theory on another post.
 
psycho_dad said:
Just allow more teams and individuals to qualify to the state meet, and add All-Ohio numbers. If that is the objective. I don't really care what other sports do. There are kids on top teams that get no chance on their own team, but would be easy varsity and state qualifiers if on other teams. Not sure if judging CC off of soccer numbers matters much. Could we allow teams to run 10 or more...score it just like we do now? At the state meet, use the 30th place time in D3 as the base for all-Ohio. There could be 50 from D2 and 100 from D1. Whatever it turns out to be. There are a lot of ideas that might work.
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I think the problem with that is the current state meet course can barely hold the current fields. The course is very crowded after 200 meters. I would argue that this venue is great for fans but terrible for athletes. It forces kids to go out too fast. There just is not any room to pass on the current course. I would 100% agree with adding teams if we had a course with a starting line that was a straight-a-way for at least 600-1000 meters. Cedarville could accommodate this kind of state meet. But no other course in Ohio that I know of could do this.
 
EuclidandViren said:
I think the problem with that is the current state meet course can barely hold the current fields. The course is very crowded after 200 meters. I would argue that this venue is great for fans but terrible for athletes. It forces kids to go out too fast. There just is not any room to pass on the current course. I would 100% agree with adding teams if we had a course with a starting line that was a straight-a-way for at least 600-1000 meters. Cedarville could accommodate this kind of state meet. But no other course in Ohio that I know of could do this.
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That’s one advantage of adding divisions. You could decrease the number of teams qualifying in each division and still have more teams/individuals overall.
 
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