What happened to B-ball in Jamestown

Class AA Boys
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Postby nd0606 » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:31 pm

Wasn't Jamestown a good school for basketball in the 80's...whatever happened to that...why the sudden drop-off in Jamestown athletics...???
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Postby rep » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:58 pm

a carousel of coaches, a shortage of athletes, stupid parents that value playing seniors over better players because of someone really trying hard during their high school career should be valued more than talent....take your pick.

i think they were coached by jerry meyer in the 80s...he is in the nd sports hall of fame. needless to say, i don't think the coaches that have been there since are that calibur of coach.

heck was jamestown's best player this past season by far and he didn't start for much of the year. he was being wasted in junior varsity games. from the class a discussions i've seen on this board heck is viewed by the rest of the state as a quality player, so i'm not quite sure why the coach felt the need to not put the best players on the floor.

but you look across the board at jamestown athletics...football is down, hockey is down since they went to the east (we'll see what happens next year in the west), wrestling just doesn't have the numbers though they had some decent individuals this season, swimming is essentially a joke because they don't have the numbers to field a large enough team to compete with anyone...and in track and field and cross country, sam larson is one of, if not the state's most dominant force and on both the boys' and girls' team they have talent.

jamestown, to me, ends most of the debate about class a versus class b. good athletes are good athletes and bad ones are bad. jamestown has had a down cycle of poor athletics for about a decade and honestly, i see little to no reason to get excited about the future.

as far as i can tell, there is a pretty good population of jamestown that is really tired of the losing and clutches on to any sort of success it can find and tries to make it more than it actually is...look at this year's baseball team...it is a .500 team and nothing more and you would pretty much swear that is the best team they have seen in years (well, actually it is). but come on, a .500 team shouldn't be getting you visions of a state title...also, this year's baseball team was the culmination of most of the team playing three years of varsity ball. the program wasn't grown, it was essentially built for this season and this season alone and then the wheels fall off. great.

and numbers-wise...there are a couple of players on every team that probably shouldn't be playing. they could be average bench players, but they are forced onto the field/court because of a lack of numbers and then exploited. jamestown shouldn't have trouble fielding a friggin baseball team. a class b town/area...okay...i can kind of understand that. but jamestown shouldn't.

personally i blame the parents of the athletes. high school athletes are too taken care of by mom and dad. a coach can't get tough with a kid because mommy and daddy don't want the kids' feelings hurt. so essentially the kids never learn to really deal with losing (which they do a lot of) or then in the long run winning and that is a big chunk of what athetics are all about.

and for the good parents out there, i think that they are outnumbered at least three to one by parents that know little to nothing about the sport and once their kid is graduated will cease to care. when i played football in high school i sat down with my mother and taught her how to watch film. she got into it and it was something that helped create an appreciation for the sport that still exists today. she doesn't go to high school games anymore (she moved to a different town also) but she still follows what is going on at the different levels.

some kids need to work...and that is something that shouldn't be overlooked. a job has replaced extra curriculars. sad but true. all it does is damage kids as far i can tell. there is enough time to work later on in life. kids should be able to play games until they graduate high school.

i think that a coach like rollie greeno (who is basically the single greatest coach that jamestown has had) would have trouble coaching in jamestown now. and i think that it is pretty sad that in a town that is so starved for something positive to happen athletically, there is a good percentage of people that will make sure that never happens, so their little kid can play.

put dan carr on the sidelines of a blue jay basketball team...maybe the team could win, but athletics are a secondary thought (right or wrong, i'm not sure) from what i can tell for the school board and there really isn't a whole lot of concern to hire someone that could really make a difference.

of course, maybe next year suddenly the magic wand of success will touch one of the two water towers in jamestown and suddenly everyone will get athletic.

that is apparently the other line of thought in which athletes are born they aren't made. for basketball especially, i don't know if i would need two hands to count the amount of players that could make a left-handed layup (when they are right-handed). that is a basic fundamenal of the game that should be taught to the kid when they are seven or eight, not when they are seventeen or eighteen and i think that somewhere along the line, fundamentals are being forsaken for traveling team trophies.

maybe i'm wrong. i don't know. i think that someone like russ schmeichel has it right and it would be interesting to get his perspective on what is wrong with some of the other sports. if i had to guess he'd probably say the consistency of coaching and keeping the coaches around.

any other thoughts?
Last edited by rep on Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby baseball » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:50 pm

Rep i do agree with you on the fact that parents may have a little to much to do with high shcool athletics.  I have personally seen parents bring down the ability of the team by brainwashing their kids to belive they are micheal jordan out there when there are players better than them on the floor.  By telling your kid he is the greatest player on the team will cause that kid to shoot more and pass less just to get more praise at home.  I have also seen a game in which the best player on the team (IMO) shot a fade away from 18 feet and a parent yelled "PASS THE BALL", but later in that game their kid shot the same shot and they felt the need to tell him to keep shooting it, let the coach handle telling who will shoot and who wont.  And when their kids graduate noone sees or here them at a game again.Once again, Rep is right sometimes it is the kids fault, but the parents do have a small amout of blame to be given.
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Postby point/center » Tue Jul 18, 2006 2:40 am

the equation of responsibility needs to include schools boards(many times made up of parents/community leaders) and HS ADs and administrators. If they backed and supported coaches and coaches decisions I think much of the problems in jamestown and across the state would be fixed.

It does come down to athletes, and look down I94 to Valley City. They couldnt do much in BB with jeff Boschee, waye/ty terry etc. they had talent and still couldnt win. that's when coaches should feel the heat.

I've always belived a good coach can make teams. A bad coach can destory them. Your'e right some of the best BB minds/programs could turn it around. The great ones can win .500 with marginal talent.

I dont' think it's all about numbers---good luck VC and Jamestown.
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Postby Ming01 » Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:02 am

Valley City took 3rd at state both years when Boschee and Terry were seniors.  That was probably their 2 best teams ever.
Last edited by Ming01 on Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby ndbb » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:40 am

I agree fully with what rep said.  For some reason it seems that Jamestown kids have lost the killer instinct some point in the last decade.  What Jamestown needs is to build from the ground up in the youth and build the program solid all the up to varsity. 

P.S. Darin Peterson was just named JHS head coach today, congratulations to him
Last edited by ndbb on Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Batman » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:54 am

 Excellant post rep.  I'll throw in my 2 cents.  For any team to be successful they need two things: dedicated athletes/parents, and good coaching to provide a system that enables them to win.  Without both of these, the teams can fall into a psychology of losing thats hard to get out of.  Jamestown has lacked one, or both of these things in some sports recently.
Last edited by Batman on Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby secretpotion » Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:51 pm

It seems like some athletes have found it ok to lose and as long as your having fun no big deal.  Well honestly who has fun when your losing even though its just a game(Yeah Right).  The only team that succeeded this yr. was probably the wrestling team.  They had like 7 qualifiers and they got 5th in the state.  Hopefully the football team will turn this school year around by getting it done and at least making it to the playoffs.  The volleyball girls could also step-up and head to the state tournament.

 

 
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Postby Notorious » Wed Aug 02, 2006 4:58 am

I would also add that you need some strong leadership from your athletes.  I rememeber in my day, we had some very strong leaders in every sport and at various grade levels (10,11,12).  While we had great coaches, I believe our leadership in the various sports/teams would've allowed us to be successful without having a coach.  I know that sounds like a stretch, but that is what you ultimately need to build successful programs.  Coaches certainly provide the structure and parameters for building successful teams, and in high school probably are still able to motivate kids, but you really need leadership within each class.  You see it everywhere........success breeds success!  I am not discounting the impact of strong coaches, because I am a big believer and supporter of ND coaches.....trust me.  I would consider many of the coaches I have had in the past as some of the most influencial people in my life.

Additionally, this leadership provides a "self-policing" type of mentality which eliminates the negative impact parents may have on programs.  Parents will always be involved, whether in a positive or negative manner, however; athletes respect athletes, and good team leaders help define the roles of each team member.  From what I have seen, this is more accepted and ultimately eliminates many problems.

I guess what I am saying is that to rebuild programs requires many elements to come together, but I honestly believe it takes an almost "grass roots" effort on the part of the kids.

Why does Bismarck always have good basketball teams, jamestown good distance runners, the east good hockey teams, bhs good wrestling, dickinson good quarter milers, south good football, etc., etc.?  Certainly great, tenured coaches are important, but I believe it has a lot to do with leadership provided by the athletes.

 

 
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Postby truplaya » Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:43 pm

they became terrible
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