Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Many high school football coaches see a disturbing trend in their programs - declining participation - and they're looking for ways to stop it.
"It looks like the dedicated football player is becoming a dying breed," says Andy Ward, Lord Botetourt's coach. "Kids are just not interested in extracurricular activities anymore, and it's a shame."
Several Timesland coaches are seeing declining interest in their football programs, and give a variety of reasons for the lack of interest:
Athletes are becoming more specialized and are focusing on one sport.
The season begins as much as a month before school starts, cutting short students' vacations and jobs.
Students are working more than ever to pay for cars and other teen-age luxuries.
At some schools, there appears to be a lack of interest in all sports at the intermediate schools.
Some coaches say their school's enrollments have been declining, but few point to that as a key reason for the lack of players in their football programs.
Some coaches say there's another problem, too: A "who cares" attitude when it comes to sports.
"Good athletes are wandering the halls with no other reason than that they don't want the commitment," says Steve Spangler, Cave Spring's football coach. "Some are just not doing a thing. The problem is just apathy."
According to some coaches, the problem is universal in Virginia.
"I meet with coaches around the state three or four times a year," says Sherley Stuart, William Fleming's coach. "And the problem is not just Roanoke. I know [GW-] Danville has been hurting with numbers, and it's even happening in Hampton. The problem is just about everywhere. I don't know what we can do, but it's something to address."
In Stuart's case, Fleming's enrollment has declined, but he sees a lack of interest in football from students.
"Kids don't want to pay the price for something that is going to be hard and difficult with a lot of work," he says.
Says Blacksburg coach David Crist, whose program had 30 varsity players in 1993, 10 fewer than he'd like to have: "They don't run through brick walls because you tell 'em to anymore. I think there's lots of little reasons that I don't have any scientific data on."
The age of specialization
A good place to start is specialization, a problem several coaches cited for the lack of participation in their programs. The idea is, an athlete plays one sport at a young age, trying to master that sport. When the athlete gets to high school, he plays only that sport.
And the other sports suffer, especially if the athlete's talents lie in other areas.
Take Salem High School's Mark Byington, the Timesland boys' basketball player of the year. He played football his freshman and sophomore years, then gave up the fall sport to concentrate on basketball. Byington was a starting safety and backup quarterback for the varsity in his his sophomore year.
In Byington's case, the decision to stick with one sport paid off. He signed a letter of intent in the fall to play basketball at North Carolina-Wilmington on a full scholarship.
"I didn't think I was at the level I needed to be for me to play Division I basketball, and that's always been a dream of mine since I was a little kid," Byington says of his decision to give up football. "It was like I'd take three or four months off [to play football]. It was always hard for me to work on basketball during that time."
Says Trula Byington, Mark's mother, "He really made the decision himself. I can't say that we ever felt badly about it. We got some people who felt like he could've done both [play football and basketball].
"Even when Salem lost some [football] games and people would say something to him, he never looked back. We have to think it was the right decision."
Many high school football coaches say good athletes should broaden their horizons.
"I don't know where it's coming from, but kids are becoming specialists at an early age," Spangler says. "We're not Northern Virginia [which has greater high school enrollments]. As a school, we have to share the athletes. When you have a good athlete that can help in other sports but doesn't, it hurts all the programs. I don't know if it's coming from parents or Little League coaches."
Stuart, who was forced to move what would have been Fleming's junior varsity team to varsity in 1993 because of a lack of numbers, says he tries to get students to play a variety of sports.
"You've got some people telling them to stay in one sport," he says. "But you never know which sport may be the one to carry you somewhere."
Radford coach Norman Lineburg agrees.
"So few kids get college scholarships and turn pro, so kids [who specialize in one sport] don't get the opportunity to explore other sports that would benefit him or her for a lifetime of enjoyment," Lineburg says.
Stuart also says starting practice in early August - sometimes as much as a month before school opens - keeps some potential football players off the field.
"I've lost a couple because we're playing a game, and they're on vacation," he says. "I think it all comes down to when school starts. If it [school] started Aug. 15, we wouldn't have a problem. The kids would be ready to go."
It's not just a job
Many coaches says more high school students are working part-time jobs to pay for that treasured teen-age possession: the car.
"The first thing they want to do when they get that license is get a car," says Bill Strong, Grayson County's coach. "And somebody has to pay for it."
West Springfield's Frank Creneti, who has been coaching high school football for 30 years, says he sees more students than ever working to pay for car insurance.
"There is this driving need to have your own car," says the coach of the Northern Virginia school. "And now the way things are with two parents working, the parents will get you a car, but they say, `You have to pay the car insurance.' Car insurance is about $2,000 a year, so there's $200 a month."
Strong acknowledges there are students - albeit a small number - who must work.
"Some kids are working because they have to help out at home," he says. "There are some that feel an obligation to work, and not just to get a car and run the roads."
Auburn's coach, Steve Wright, started summer practice last year at 6 p.m., so his players would have a chance to work during the day.
"One of my former coaches [Crist] told me while he was coaching at Madison County in Charlottesville he did the same thing," Wright says. "It was a rural community [like Riner], and many of the kids needed to work on the farm during the day.
"We have some guys who are in a schedule of milking cows, who actually played and worked their schedules around it. I did have some kids tell me it [the evening practice hours] helped them keep a job a little longer. For us, it probably helped to get more kids."
But Doug Ross, the James River coach, says most students at his school aren't working because they have to work.
"They're supporting a car, or insurance for a car," he says. "Or they're working for dating money."
Ross says he asks students what they will remember more - a part-time job they held, or playing football for their high school?
"You're eligible for four years of high school football," he says. "You'll be working till you're 70. It's a no-brainer on my part."
Willis White, who coaches at Salem, says the one trend that has held true throughout his 30 years of coaching is that when the economy is good, more players come out for the football team.
"That's the only logic I can see," he says. "When the economy sags, your numbers drop a bit."
Paying the price
Some coaches say the work ethic of athletes isn't as strong as it once was.
"No question about it," Lineburg says. "Society has provided opportunities for kids that are fun and attractive, like video games. So much of what we're seeing is the quick-fun type of things."
And as the work ethic diminishes, so does the hunger of athletes.
"If you could just dress out and practice once a week, you could probably get 500 or 600 kids out [for football]," says Mike Smith, the coach at Group AAA Hampton. "But kids are working so they can go to the movies or for the cost of a date.
"I think a lot of these kids don't realize that they're going to have to work for the rest of their lives. They want that immediate gratification, to drive that car."
"There's the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines," says Martinsville's coach, Taylor Edwards. "Football is the equivalent of the Marines. It just takes a special breed of kid.
"You start out when it's 100 degrees and end when it's 20 degrees. It's tough and it's work. Not many kids are willing to put forth the effort to play football. I can remember when it was a lot easier [to get kids to play]."
Bob Williams, Parry McCluer's coach, saw his combined junior varsity and varsity numbers drop from 73 players in 1988 to 46 in '93.
"Normally, we have that many [46] on varsity," says Williams, whose program has felt the impact of declining enrollment. "We've been seeing it coming to an extent, but having it come smack in your face is different. I think a lot of it is attitude. They don't seem to be willing to pay the price to want to compete."
Falling interest rates
Another problem seems to be a lack of interest in sports from intermediate school students.
"Some of the best kids, the cream of the crop, are not going out for anything," Ward says.
Stuart says more than 150 rising eighth- and ninth-graders signed up to play freshman football last year for Fleming, but only 50 came out for the team.
"These kids know about these things [going out for football] and they talk about it, but I believe you when I see you out there," he says. "They sign up, but then we don't see 'em."
Crist says he sees the same trend.
"There is a significant drop-off [in interest among intermediate school students in Blacksburg]," he says. "They're not even doing it [playing sports] at the eighth-grade level."
White says the numbers are not a problem for the junior high team in Salem; the problem is that many players don't stick with the program.
"There's a mentality now in our society that you have to be a star," White says. "Kids play as long as they get to play. It seems like when they get to the 10th grade, the ones who don't play drop. If we have 30 in the eighth grade, we may have 12 to 15 as seniors."
Tackling the problem
The drop-off in players at Salem has been rather dramatic. In 1990, White had 106 players in his program from ninth to 12th grade. That number dropped to 66 in '93.
This decline in numbers has forced coaches to examine the problem closely in their search for answers. Some say a more aggressive approach is needed.
"I think they have to see what your program has to offer," Crist says. "Kids today are taught to think for themselves so much. I think your program has to sell itself to them."
Stuart faces different problems at Fleming.
"We talk to them," Stuart says. "We try to tell them the pros and cons, say to them, `Here's a possibility: If you hit the books and become a decent athlete, you can get your education paid for.'
"But I doubt you can sell them [on your program]. Their mind is made up. If they don't want to be there, they won't be out long. They're going to tell you right quick, `I won't be out there tomorrow.' There's a lot of things out there on the street that take kids, and we're losing kids to the street."
White, who has spent 11 of his 30 years as a coach at Salem, says he believes the current lack of participation is the result of a five-year cycle, but he's not sure what to do in the meantime.
"You don't talk youngsters into playing football," he says. "That talking ends the first day of two-a-days. I'm not sure if we can raise our numbers.
"We've had great success, everybody's treated well, the equipment is top-notch and we make it as fun for them as we can and get done what we need to get done. If they don't respond to that, I don't know how the programs who struggle to win two or three games get kids out there.
"High school football as we know it - and I hate to say this - is probably not going to be the way it has been. The quality of play will diminish. If you can't get the number of guys who want to play out there, then the product won't be as good."
Spangler says the key is reaching potential athletes at a young age, at least by the time they're in intermediate school. That means attending seventh- and eighth-grade football games and showing players you care.
"It's just contact and showing that we're concerned," he says. "Just letting them know that `We know you're there, we know you exist and the only way we're going to be successful is to have you.' If we don't do that, they'll go the other direction in a heartbeat."
That means the varsity no longer can be the sole focus of a high school football program. The youngsters need nurturing and attention. Spangler, for instance, is upgrading Cave Spring's weight room and inviting intermediate school students to work out there.
"We're changing from the top down," Spangler says. "We just can't do it the same way. There have to be priorities as to things that have to be done. This has always been a priority, and now we can go deeper into it."
Larry Johnson, the Virginia High School League's programs supervisor, says the schools that look for new ways to interest students in football are going to be the schools that maintain solid numbers.
"Sometimes, that's all it takes for a kid," he says. "A word from the coach to come out and try. The successful schools will be the ones that aren't the ones waiting to see how many kids show up for practice in August."
Coaches aren't sure what will work anymore, but most know they need to try something different.
"I don't know if this is going to work, but you have to try to get these kids' interest," Spangler says. "They're your lifeline."
It's a lifeline that may be slowly drifting away from high school football fields.
by CNB