Sports Goulash | Time for golf -- but not for school

Rate This Blog

0 rating(s)

Archives

• Current Entries
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007

Latest Entries

Links

Report This Blog

Search:

Sports Goulash

Odds and ends of Wyoming high school sports.

<< Prev | Main | Next >>

Time for golf -- but not for school

Posted by: Patrick Schmiedt on August 23, 2008 at 8:16PM EST

Golf is by far the shortest sports season of all.

From start to finish, golf season barely lasts a month and a half. There is no time to waste -- improvement has to come fast.

But, right now, a few schools are putting golf improvement on an awfully high pedestal.

In all, 13 schools that participated in the opening weekend of golf on Thursday and Friday will be back on the course for tournaments this upcoming Monday and Tuesday.

Of those 13, four schools -- Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, Torrington and Thermopolis -- began school this past week. The rest begin this week.

That means golfers from KW and NC are missing four of their first seven days of school; golfers from Torrington are missing four of their first five days of school; and golfers from Thermopolis are missing all four of the first four days of school.

Thermopolis' team will also golf next Thursday and Friday, meaning those students will mis six of their first seven days of school.

Next week, golfers from Buffalo will miss two of their first three days of school; golfers from Gillette will miss two of their first four days; golfers from Douglas will miss both of the first two days; and golfers from Riverton and Sheridan will miss four of their first five.

How about that for welcome back?

Nice to see ya, now get on the bus.

But enough with the numbers. For Wyoming's golfers, this arrangement flat-out stinks. This is way too much time out of school, especially in the first few days of learning that are critical to success for the rest of the year.

Teachers know it, too. Think how far behind a kid is who misses four of the first five days of school, and then think whether or not that's worth it for 36 holes of golf. There's no question where the kids should be -- in school.

But I don't blame the kids or the teachers, and I only slightly blame the coaches and activities directors who set the schedules because there is not much else they can do.

Instead, a good portion of the blame rests with Wyoming's golf course managers.

More and more often, course managers have been reluctant to allow their course to be taken over by high-school golfers on the Saturdays that are usually a boon for their coffers.

And rather than turn away the people with the money, the golf courses have opted to move high school tournaments to weekdays.

And that's where ADs and coaches get stuck. They are at the mercy of the course operator for course time, and the operators have been more and more reluctant to give up that course time on the weekend -- especially early in the school year, when golf season is winding down.

(That's not so much the case in September, when courses have been more willing to set up a Friday-Saturday tournament. Mad props to the course managers in Buffalo, Powell, Kemmerer, Laramie, Lusk and Wright for allowing schools to schedule Friday-Saturday or Saturday-only meets in the regular season. Postseason meets are also almost exclusively Friday-Saturday, as they should be.)

Managers need a gut check. If their pocketbooks can't afford to set up a Friday-Saturday tournament, maybe they need to reconsider whether they want to host a tournament at all.

Still, coaches and ADs really need to make a gut check, too. Are back-to-back tournaments stacked around a weekend -- basically, four missed school days in a row -- really worth it? Is 36 extra holes of golf worth missing two more days of school, especially in an essential time of the year?

For KW, NC, Torrington and Thermopolis, the season's golf schedules say the answer is yes. But it sure would be nice if the state's golf course managers didn't force the coaches and ADs to make this decision in the first place.

Posted by patrick.schmiedt@trib.com

Send This | Categories: Golf

(14) Comments

Posted by: golf78 on August 24, 2008 1:32PM EST

Golf courses and managers around the state are wonderful about working with coaches and athletic directors. City managers as well as host professionals donate thousands of dollars in revenue each year to provide our high school athletes a place to practice, play, compete, and develop their skills. I have heard that track teams are required to pay an entry fee to enter events. When was the last time you donated a week (or more) pay out of your pocket book so that high school athletes had a place to compete?

Posted by: cololegend on August 24, 2008 5:51PM EST

The student-golfers of Wyoming are extremely lucky. Courses in Colorado make high school players pay a green fee every time they play or practice and using the courses on the weekend never happens. Golf course operators in Wyoming have been great supporters of high school golf. They donate or give up thousands of dollars in revenue to let them play. High school students, coaches, and administrators should feel very fortunate they get the free support that they do. I know many coaches take the use of the golf courses for granted.

Posted by: fishmaster on August 24, 2008 7:04PM EST

The trouble this season is that normally we have 1-2 weeks of golf before school ever starts. This year golf started the same day as football, volleyball, etc. The golf season is only about 6 weeks long and there are not very many meets in that short of time. Maybe if the opening of the season was moved back up, then the teams wouldn't be gone so many days in such a short time.

Posted by: anon y. mous on August 24, 2008 9:21PM EST

Another reason for a 4 day academic week, leaving Fridays for activities.

Posted by: Mark on August 25, 2008 10:30AM EST

You're right on with this one, Patrick. Another option is moving the start of school back to the last week in August or even AFTER Labor Day. I know I'll get blasted for that one but maybe there are too many inservice days for staff. Maybe more schools need to look at a 4 day or 4 1/2 day school week.

Posted by: anon y. mous on August 25, 2008 11:27AM EST

Exactly, Mark. Most of the inservice days involve districts chasing their tails, trying to show teachers new ways of telling kids to pay attention and do their best. I know the first week in Casper was nothing but meetings, many teachers (like everyone I talked to) thought the first week for them was a big waste of time and money. I thought that maybe the district gave them that week of inservice as motivation to teach: the teachers could hardly wait to get out of meetings and start actually teaching kids!!!
A 4-day week would save loads of $$, a 4 1/2 day week would not have the savings because it's yet another day, although only 1/2, of bussing, b'fast/lunch service, etc.

Posted by: Ralph Obray on August 25, 2008 11:43AM EST

Once again, a negative article from Mr. Schmiedt. Facts are not complete. Maybe look at the 800+ positive accomplishments at NC/KW or any other school,the first week of school? Haven't seen an article on any of those yet? Maybe their not news worthy?

Posted by: Patrick Schmiedt on August 25, 2008 12:41PM EST

golf78 and cololegend, you do bring up a good point -- course managers are good about giving high school kids a place to play. Certainly, Wyoming is better than most other states in that regard. But I don't think anyone will argue that missing four straight days of school for golf is good for a "student-athlete."

fishmaster, your idea about starting the season early has been broached at the WHSAA board of directors meetings. It actually came up last year. It was voted down this time around, but if schools continue to start school in mid-August, it might come back around soon.

anon y. mous, a four-day week would help in certain cases. But that doesn't eliminate the specific scheduling problems tied to golf.

The reason I posted this is because in my three-plus years at the CST, golf has been debated on several different occasions. ADs and coaches are in a tough spot -- they have to see their kids both improve and enjoy a season that is way too short to begin with.

Time out of school is a huge problem for golfers. Maybe the solution is more Friday-Saturday meets. Maybe the solution is more one-day meets. Maybe the solution is moving golf back a week to allow more time for the same amount of tournaments.

--patrick

Posted by: tmillerwyo on August 25, 2008 1:29PM EST

Golf and tennis need to start earlier or add a 4th season in the summer time (and maybe add baseball and softball to the WHSAA).

Posted by: bandman on August 25, 2008 11:51PM EST

Yeah, I don't think this is a negative post at all, this is a big issue for golfers. I coached golf for a few years and agree that the golf course managers are great about all the time and space they dontate to the programs, and it isn't fair to ask them for Friday's and Saturday's on top of all of that. Last week our golf team played an 18 hole qualifying round with 25 kids and tied up the course for 4 hours on a Friday (during peak weather). Going to a four day school week wont help this problem because the tournaments are not being held on weekends only, they are being held on Mon-Tues and Thur-Fri. The only thing that would help would be to start the golf season one or two weeks earlier. Lets face it, the quality golfers are all playing during the summer anyway. Lets just allow them to continue their craft in high school competition at the end of the summer. They compete, they don't miss any school, and they dont have to play state championship golf tournaments in the snow!!! I dont see a negative in it, so please tell me if you see one.

Posted by: cololegend on August 26, 2008 9:04PM EST

Totally agree with bandman!!

Posted by: bobcat fan on August 28, 2008 4:22PM EST

FYI - Thermop gave up the Gillette tourny for the very reason you gave Patrick. Still my son has only seen the class room three of the first seven days.

Posted by: Mike on August 31, 2008 7:31PM EST

We live in Wyoming, not exactly a Mecca for golf. You could eliminate this issue all-together by making golf a summer event when school is not in session and then events could be during the middle of the week. Baseball is played in the summer, albeit not a WHSAA sanctioned event. Seems to me, missing four out of the first seven days of school due to any athletic event, is not acceptable. My son plays football so this is not an issue for our family. I'm surprised parents are letting this go without more concern and raised eyebrows. Ad's and Administrators should probably note that student comes first in student-athlete. Just my two cents.

Posted by: bullcamp on August 31, 2008 11:14PM EST

Golf isn't only played in the fall. (spring season) How about playing only one day meets in the fall like during spring golf. The state only allows one 2 day tournament in the spring. Fall could be the same. The state tournament could be held the same weekend and all the other meets would be only one day. Less time out of class and fewer days asked from the hosting venue.