Glazed Donut Hole
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Just as the rumble of motorcycles seems to fade from across the state a new sort of rumbling is just getting started. On what is supposed to be green fields of grass (but what is usually some pasture land that is barely keeping weeds on it) is where we find our young men strapping on pounds and pounds of equipment to start preparing for a different kind of rumble. One that happens on fall Friday nights across the country.
Football in South Dakota may not have the notoriety that football has in other states. I don’t think we’ll ever see a television show based on a school in South Dakota coming along any time soon. But we have our own traditions, and respect those we must.
Seeing a scrawny seventh grader struggling to fit his knee, thigh and tail bone pads into his too big football pants is one scene that is embedded into my mind when I think of fall football practices. Teaching that same scrawny kid to make a proper tackle against a bigger eighth grader and laying him on is rear end is just as ingrained in my memory.
Here in the 9-man Donut Hole region, we haven’t been blessed with overly dominant football teams in the past. There really hasn’t been one team that you would consider a dynasty. With some school struggling to even field a team some years, it is hard to maintain that high level of competitiveness that is needed to succeed year after year.
It looks like Lyman will again be the team to beat in the Western Great Plains Conference. They will return quite a few players from their one game short of a championship game team. They have strong numbers to build on and beating them will be a tough challenge for anyone they face. I’m sure they will be looking for redemption as they try to make a deep playoff run once again.
I would say that Wall and maybe Philip will follow Lyman in the conference. Wall is always tough, but Philip loses a really good group of seniors. White River should drop down a bit too. Kadoka and Jones County will most likely be vying for the bottom spot in the WGP. Jones County will only have sophomores and freshmen on their team this year and will bring up eighth graders to help them practice. With no seventh grade boys, football in Jones County will be on the down side for several years to come.
The start of the football season is always exciting. There are always so many possibilities. We’ll just have to see which teams rise to the occasion.
Good luck to them all.
Tags: Jones County, Kadoka, Lyman, Philip, Western Great Plains Conference
Posted in Football | 2 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
The days of banging heads to heavy metal music may not be the same as it was in the 1980s. (And don’t most of us wish for that music to come back into style again!!!) But when it comes to banging heads on the athletic field, schools and the SDHSAA are trying to take a proactive approach to making sure student athletes are safe.
In a joint effort between the SDHSAA and the National High School Athletic Association, schools are being encouraged to put into place a formal policy regarding the return of an athlete to competition or practice after suffering a concussion.
Rules are already in place for when an athlete gets knocked out during an athletic event. However, what about that player who doesn’t lose consciousness? The long-term effects that a player can suffer are just as dangerous. Schools are being asked to set a policy that will determine who can give clearance for such an athlete to return to their sport.
Whether the district declares that it has to be a medical doctor, a physicians assistant, a registered nurse, a certified nurse practitioner or some other level of medical trained personnel, it is important that schools follow these guidelines.
Coaches are most willing to listen to their athlete who will want to return to action, even if they aren’t mentally up to it. They are the first line of defense that has to be taken into account. Coaches can’t get wrapped up in the game so much that they forget about the safety of their player’s health.
Small schools don’t have the luxury of having an athletic trainer on staff to watch out for these injuries. Most of the time they are lucky to have an ambulance standing by. Often times a local physician gets called out of the crowd to come check on injuries if they are severe enough. Coaches have to be willing to let these medical professionals take the lead and do what’s best for their athlete.
We also have to remember that not all concussions are limited to the football field. They can just as easily happen in basketball, volleyball or other sports too.
There has been a big push from the medical field as well as from professional and college teams to make the issue of concussions a more recognized injury. Preventing further damage is the goal of all the groups involved. Hopefully schools and coaches will join in the effort.
Posted in Basketball, Football | No Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
As the weather finally starts to look more like spring and summer around the state, many thoughts have turned to those sporting activities that take place outdoors. Today baseball comes to mind.
As I read other blogs about the sport, I started to think about baseball in the donut hole region. Actually I started to think of the absence of baseball in the donut hole region.
The allure of playing on the field seems to elude athletes from around here. Baseball just never was a big thing. Oh, sure we have our summer league, but most of the time teams around here have trouble fielding a team. It is usually a mixture of boys and girls who make up the teams. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but then the girls softball team gets short changed because there aren’t enough girls to round out their teams. Games get canceled because there are too many other things that seem to take priority over baseball.
Several years ago, someone tried to start a teener baseball program in our area, but after a season or two, that went by the wayside too. There just simply weren’t enough players interested in playing. There are no adult leagues around this area any longer either. I suppose if they don’t continue the tradition of playing baseball in their teens and early adult years, there wouldn’t be any point in playing as they get older either.
So my thought on this is why? Why is baseball so much bigger in towns just 70–100 miles away than it is around here? What are the kids doing instead of playing baseball? Are kids so busy working now that they don’t get the chance to play “America’s pastime?” Are there just not enough kids around the small towns to put together a team any longer?
As someone who can’t even throw a baseball (I throw a much better football spiral!), I’m not the answer to changing the mindset of the community. But there must be suggestions out there as to how to help.
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Sod buzzard posted on this earlier in the week and this just emphasizes the point that was made.
Here’s why you gotta love West River ball vs East River ball.
Saturday afternoon District 10B Championship game final score
Mitchell Christian 21
Hanson 9
Apparently Hanson lead 5-2 at the end of the first quarter and were outscored 19-7 in the final three quarters.
How do two teams combine for only 30 points in an entire game? That’s just unbelievable. From the report I got, each team basically stood across half court and didn’t even try to run an offense. Why not? Isn’t that the whole point. You can’t even call it a defensive battle when that happens.
You would never see that happen in West River class B basketball. It’s all about scoring points out this way.
Can you imagine being at that game and how boring it must have been? How about the poor radio announcers who had to suffer through it and try to make it sound somewhat interesting. Even Bob Costas couldn’t do that.
I’m not in favor of a shot clock, but this was just the sort of thing that might convince the powers that be that one is needed. Too bad it’s games like this that will ruin it for everyone else.
How then does Mitchell Christian think they will be competitive in the next round? Do they think that their opponent isn’t going to try to score points? That strategy might work once, but when you get further into post-season play, teams will eat them up.
Tags: Hanson, Mitchell Christian
Posted in Basketball | 14 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Friday, March 5th, 2010
White River’s Eldon Marshall was tossed from the District 13B Championship game on Friday.
Now the speculation is whether or not he will be able to coach the Region Championship game in Rapid City on Tuesday.
If a player is ejected, he can’t play. From the information I have gathered, most believe it is the same for a coach.
If you know the rule for sure, please post what you know.
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Since there seems to be such controversy about the difference between west river ball and east river ball, especially in the AA ranks, I took the opportunity to travel across the river and attended the AA match-up between Mitchell and Sturgis last Friday evening.
Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is all about.
Basketball is basketball no matter where you see it. The game wasn’t anything spectacular. I was looking forward to seeing Sturgis’s Seth Bachand because of all the positive comments about his play over the past couple of weeks, but he seemed to struggle in the game. He spent most of it on the bench with fouls. I think he could have made the game closer if he had been in there, but with him on the bench, it really hurt his team. I’m not saying that he was the reason they lost, but it was a factor in it for sure.
Mitchell doesn’t have anything that impressed me either. Coach Munson’s voice does certainly echo loudly in the Corn Palace though. Someone in the nose bleed section could hear what he was telling his team.
This was also my first time experiencing a game with the shot clock. I don’t see why it was implemented. Neither team had a problem getting shots off in the allotted time and rarely did it get down into single digits. The only benefit I see is that now AA teams score points in the 50s and 60s rather than the 20s and 30s like they have in the past.
After my experiences with AA ball from the Corn Palace, I think I’ll just stick with my beloved West River basketball and the fun of the Class B teams (with an occasional A team thrown in for the heck of it).
Tags: Mitchell, Sturgis
Posted in Basketball | 2 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
There has been several discussions lately regarding the naming of “classics” or “all righters” or something along those lines.
But my question is why are there suddenly so many of them? Is it because every school is trying to make a buck or two by hosting their own “classic”? Or is it because schools are trying to schedule more and more games on Saturday so that they don’t have to have them during the week?
And why is it that some of them seem to have a higher priority than others? The obsession with the Hanson Classic baffles me. I realize that they bring in the “top rated” teams in the state and try to match them up for some sort of state tournament preview, or to pit two undefeated teams against one another, but there are always games like that around. It’s too bad they put them all in one location that many people can’t make the road trip to watch.
Schools in the Donut Hole region play in the Lyman Classic, the Chamberlain Classic, the Highmore Classic, the East/West shootout in Huron, etc. Winner just played over in a classic by the Minnesota border. In the Hanson Classic this upcoming Saturday, the final game matches up a team from a significant distance away from Mitchell. Most likely that game will not get over until after 11 p.m. Is that team going to make the long trip home that night or will there be an added expense to put the team up in a motel?
There is a limit on the number of tournaments a team can participate in during the course of a season. Should there be a limit on the number of “classics” a team plays in too?
When a team plays in a lot of those classics, it takes away from the number of home games that the team will see. That’s not fair to the players or to the fans that support them.
What do you think? Are there too many “classics” or are they justified in their number?
Posted in Basketball | 12 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Monday, January 18th, 2010
On Friday evening at the Jones County Invitational, a special presentation was made honoring Jim “Jocko” Johnston and his 30+ year of refereeing the tournament. The presentation was made by former referee Colin “Kappy” Kapitan, who wore the stripes for 25 years in Murdo himself. Kappy joked that all he got for his 25th year was a lousy t-shirt, and if he had received a nice bag like that, he would have stuck around for 5 more years.
While best guesses are that Jocko’s first year was around 1978, no official report has been found.
Many former referees made the trek to Murdo to view the presentation and enjoyed celebrating with him that evening.
Jocko has cut back on the number of games he calls during the tournament, bringing in new crews to work the games, but he is still a staple at the tournament and they enjoy having him back each year.
Tags: Jones County
Posted in Basketball | 2 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Some interesting news out of Jones County Monday evening as the Jones County School Board accepted the resignation of Bruce Venard as the coach of the Coyote football and track teams.
Venard has been head coach of the football team since the 1999 season and earned coach of the year honors a couple of times. He also coached the junior high program for several years before that.
The track team has also seen success under his guidance in the past few years as well.
This leaves a big hole in the Jones County coaching program. As Venard is no on staff at the school, and at this point there are no reports of any teachers retiring or leaving, finding a replacement will most likely come from the community. I would suspect that assistant coach Jay Tee Sealey will be promoted and the search for a new assistant will be on.
Tags: Jones County
Posted in Football | 6 Comments »
Glazed Donut Hole
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
There was quite a bit of discussion the past couple of days regarding the playing of games or having tournaments when schools are calling off school due to the weather.
According to the athletic director I consulted, who used to be on the Board of Control for the SDHSAA, there is no regulation prohibiting it, but rather it is up to each individual school.
Many schools follow the thinking that if the weather is bad enough to not have school, then it is bad enough to not play sporting events the same day.
Yet, in the ‘donut hole’ this week there was a wrestling tournament held even though the host school didn’t have school that day, and many of the schools that were supposed to participate did not have school either.
So what are your thoughts on this topic? Is it worth having teams on a bus traveling in questionable weather to play a game or have a tournament, or is it better to cancel or postpone the whole thing?
I realize that there are problems trying to re-schedule games when they have to be postponed. But which is worse, risking teams and fans out on a bad road at night, or not playing a game at all?
Posted in Basketball | 1 Comment »
