MAC (Midwest Athletic Conference) - article to read

[ohsnonline]

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/mac-winning-formula-soccer-peewee-football-transfers/NYNPJuYeMyjNRD9Vm28yiJ/

I thought this was an interesting article on how peewee football, transfers, soccer play/don't play a role in the success of one of Ohio's best football conferences.

I've said this about Oak Harbor the last few years.  

I think soccer is a great program, but in the long run in a school the size of Oak Harbor, it does take away athletes.  How many?  1, 2, more?

Never considered the problems of peewee football until I read this a little.

[deathfromabove]

I can see the advantage of having 5&6th. grade football and not having it. The trick is having coaches who are willing to teach the right way with fundamentals of the game and do it properly like they do at Norwalk Jr. Truckers and St. Paul's Jr. Flyers. You can not have them that are only concern on their sons and making sure they are only the best. They must be concern about the whole team now and for the future and see that the next coach takes them to next phase of the game. They also must know the game it self and the ways of the game. I have seen kids being coach the wrong way and concretely the kid either quits or the high school team is far behind on the ones that to teach it properly that they will never have a winning season. If that is what's happening they shouldn't have started a 5th. or 6th. grade team.     

[Deleted]

No need for football until the 7th grade, having kids play basketball and biddy wrestle will teach them all necessary skills. Like the coach says way more negatives than positives concerning pee wee football.

[sharonpeters]

I'd rather have tackle at 5th & 6th than flag football. I know many will disagree but the flag program at OH was supposed to equal wins at the varsity level and we all know that hasn't happened. Like deathfromabove said, as long as its done correctly, like I think it is at OH, it is a good thing. Now I will sit and wait for OHSN to tell me how wrong I am. LOL

[scout15]

1. That area has been blessed to continuously pump out tremendous players across multiple sports. More often than not, talent always wins out.
2. Good coaching
3. Talent

Article really doesn't do much for me to be honest....

Not having soccer helps with the numbers game especially for smaller schools.

[Willard Fillmore]

We all know that the D-linemen and O-linemen aren't playing soccer. No good LB would play soccer. If your school has some form of a spread offense, which the vast majority do these days, would you rather be the star QB, RB and WRs and play in front of over 1000 fans on Friday nights or play soccer in front of fewer than 100 on a Saturday morning? The few kids I see being "lost" to soccer are smallish, quick, but not real fast DB types, who don't like to hit or be hit. Not much of a loss, unless you'e talking about fodder for the starters in practice.

[Deleted]

Dec 1, 2016 12:16:31 GMT -5 deathfromabove said:

I can see the advantage of having 5&6th. grade football and not having it. The trick is having coaches who are willing to teach the right way with fundamentals of the game and do it properly like they do at Norwalk Jr. Truckers and St. Paul's Jr. Flyers. You can not have them that are only concern on their sons and making sure they are only the best. They must be concern about the whole team now and for the future and see that the next coach takes them to next phase of the game. They also must know the game it self and the ways of the game. I have seen kids being coach the wrong way and concretely the kid either quits or the high school team is far behind on the ones that to teach it properly that they will never have a winning season. If that is what's happening they shouldn't have started a 5th. or 6th. grade team.     

[Deleted]

Good article. Coldwater has 11 players in the junior and senior classes listed as OLine, DLine or LBackers that are under 200lbs. Those kids could easily play soccer.
I agree dfa. I can see the advantage of not have football until 7th grade as well as has a soccer program hurting your football program for schools of a certain size. Over the years Lexington, who some may consider to have a successful soccer program, has had numerous players who could have played Oline, Dline or Linbacker if they were not with soccer. Bob Hudak was All-Ohio in soccer, may have been about 195 and could have been a brutal DE or OLB. Bailey Faust, who now wrestles for OU at 197lbs, was a 2 yr letterman on the soccer field after giving up football in high school. Even this season the Lexington leading tackler was listed at 195lbs.

[Deleted]

Is ohsnonline, the former radiodave ?, That looks like one of his articles he'd post.

[ohsnonline]

First of all sharonpeters - I don't disagree with you on that. I agree that a tackle football program better suits a program than flag football, but correct me if I'm wrong....doesn't Oak Harbor have a 5th/6th grade tackle program? I'm pretty sure they have had that for a few years. Flag football in spring, tackle in fall?

markmay - Actually, this article was posted in many different areas of high school athletics that are on facebook, etc. No, I am not radio dave. lol. I live in Oak Harbor, grew up in Fremont, etc.

radiodave was from somewhere around the Indiana border if I recall correctly.

[kingmartinez]

Does any of these MAC "principles" ring true for the area?

[deathfromabove]

King, some of the schools it does apply to. Take St. Paul's for one. They do not have a soccer program and they don't want one because it will take away from their very successful football program. They have about 50 to 60 kids come out for the team but if they have soccer that will take away about maybe half of the team. I believe Sandusky St. Mary's ( who at one time had a excellent football program ) started a soccer program and that took away a lot of the football players. I may be wrong on that if so let me know please but St. Mary's couldn't support those two programs and they dropped the soccer program but it also made the football program suffer and they are still suffering. When JL and I started the 5th. and 6th. grade football program we wanted the program to run like he does in the high school. We ran the same plays that they did in the Jr. Hi. and high school level and when they started in 7th. and 8th. grade the coach of that program thank us because he could start teaching more and progressing them more along. We also have the kids and the parents know that they will be given about equal playing time in 5th. and 6th. grade as they did in Jr.Hi. because they might not be talent enough now but they could be by the time they reach high school. The point I'm trying to make is that there are schools here that are the same size as the ones in the MAC. I hope that clears it up a little. I know I cleared the muddy stream by making it more muddier.