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Post by mariner42 on Jul 28, 2015 18:26:12 GMT -6
Basically the title. Are your stands full? Is coming to the game a thing for students/people in the community? Is playing football something respected at your school?
Curious how other folks live.
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Post by eaglemountie on Jul 28, 2015 18:30:02 GMT -6
We've had multiple State Championships, put three guys into the NFL (one a recently inducted into the HOF), numerous college players and are usually competitive/make playoff runs on a yearly basis, have very strong local rivalries, promote the program and youth leagues like crazy, are located in a small but close community...
We rarely have a packed stadium...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2015 19:53:38 GMT -6
The skinny...hell no. Has to be the worst I've ever seen. No coaches and an admin that doesn't care have really put a damper on this program. Stands are rarely full if ever. Very low support from the community in general. Just 4 years ago this program had over 80 kids in it, now barely breaking 40. It is quite sad.
Duece
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Post by lochness on Jul 28, 2015 20:07:25 GMT -6
We have good turn-out for games. Football and Basketball get the best support from fans and parents.
By far, though, lacrosse is a more popular sport with the athletes in our community. Kids play lacrosse year round, almost constantly. Football is what some of those guys do to take a short break from lacrosse. We have very few "football first" guys. Our program has won 4 titles in the last decade. So it's not lack of recent success, and we have respectable numbers. But the lax people in town have just done a better job drawing kids in and convincing them they need to play year-round.
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Post by 33coach on Jul 28, 2015 20:35:23 GMT -6
Basically the title. Are your stands full? Is coming to the game a thing for students/people in the community? Is playing football something respected at your school? Curious how other folks live. Nope. Soccer is the sport here.
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Post by fantom on Jul 28, 2015 20:39:00 GMT -6
Basically the title. Are your stands full? Is coming to the game a thing for students/people in the community? Is playing football something respected at your school? Curious how other folks live. it's popular in that people care and talk about it but that doesn't necessarily translate to great attendance. We almost never have a packed house. The only time that it might happen is when two rivals are having great years or for an outstanding matchup in the playoffs. It's not that the crowds are terrible if the team isn't bad. We play in a city stadium that seats 8000. The other half of the league plays in one that seats 10,000 so it takes a lot to fill them. So, a lot of interest but going to HS games isn't a "thing".
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Post by dubber on Jul 28, 2015 21:06:47 GMT -6
Hell yeah
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mhs99
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Post by mhs99 on Jul 28, 2015 22:52:13 GMT -6
We have a school of less than 500 and draw OK, but like others on this thread, it is frustrating as we put a ton of time in and have had a lot of success; 75% win percentage and a undefeated state title season. Apathy is an issue. We only get big crowds when we play a much bigger school that borders us or when we play for a league title. The bandwagon is always full during special seasons. I will say this; our town is around 13,000 people and we had an estimated crowd of 5,000 on our side at a state title game.
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Post by coachbdud on Jul 28, 2015 22:54:33 GMT -6
the old timers in the community like football (school does not have a good tradition but all the alumni think they used to be good for some reason, i have never understood it)
when i got here 6 years ago there was no respect for our program... from anyone
we have gradually built it up have a brand new stadium have the top ranked 2017 player... so the buzz around us really grew this past season... and i am expecting a packed house at all home games
because we are unveiling a new stadium (played all last season away) everyone wants to see our RB (Bama commit) and we won a playoff game last year (huge deal for this school... first playoff win in 30 years)
now we have to see if we can live up to the hype for the first time we will be the favorite in a good amount of games, hopefully our kids respond well to that and do not assume we can just walk over any one
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Post by realdawg on Jul 29, 2015 4:58:29 GMT -6
Football is popular in our area. Two state champs last year in the county. Our students get into the games, however, the numbers in our program are not very good right now.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2015 5:00:43 GMT -6
Dude, that avatar is literally...sick! Lol. Duece
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Post by mariner42 on Jul 29, 2015 15:56:26 GMT -6
We're in a really liberal/alternative part of CA, so doing something that isn't in the X Games is already a bit unpopular. We also have a community that's absolutely baseball crazy, which is funny to me because our baseball team is pretty ordinary for the amount of money/time/effort that goes into it.
Getting a big crowd is a pretty difficult task, people just don't really show up. Weird since we have great community support in fundraising and we win a lot, but still the stands are empty.
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Post by marinercoach1 on Jul 29, 2015 22:52:13 GMT -6
Where I went and when I played, our games were usually packed. Where I coach..not so much.
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Post by funkfriss on Jul 31, 2015 9:44:58 GMT -6
We have a supportive, but fairweather community. The first home game is packed and the rest depends on how we're doing.
Saw another local school that was SO dominate a few years ago (beat EVERYBODY by 50+ for multiple years) that their home crowds were much worse than ours and we were winning half our games. Once the playoffs hit though they had a packed house. That was a very odd environment....
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Post by 42falcon on Jul 31, 2015 9:55:37 GMT -6
Not to derail the thread but if it's not popular how does one make it popular / drive attendance?
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Post by mariner42 on Jul 31, 2015 10:06:53 GMT -6
Not to derail the thread but if it's not popular how does one make it popular / drive attendance? I have this theory about courting the female students not unlike how gals get into bars/clubs for free... If all the girls are at the game, then the boys will be there, too. I have no earthly idea how to do this with any tact, though.
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Post by 42falcon on Jul 31, 2015 10:18:33 GMT -6
mariner42 I have no clue how to do this either but I agree that's one way just not sure how to build the awareness around it all
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Post by coachcb on Jul 31, 2015 10:27:09 GMT -6
Yes, football is popular in my current school but team sports are in general. In smaller schools, I have found that there's either a large buy-in or there's not. There isn't much middle ground. The stadium is either packed to the gills or it's a ghost town and it just depends on whether you're winning or not. The school and community will always get behind a winner, flock to games and support the team or you lose and they run your arse out of town on a rail.
It's all relative in the larger schools I've coached in. One was in an upscale, white collar community where folks could care less about football. The HC I worked under there took the squad to the semi's every other year but no one really cared. However, the ski slopes would be standing room-only if there was a mogul race going on..
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Post by freezeoption on Jul 31, 2015 13:44:36 GMT -6
We are a 2nd year program in hs and 3rd in jr high. Our town is about 300, we coop with two other schools, there towns are smaller. Our first year of jr high it was packed, standing room only. We played schools that were not very good and we went undefeated. I knew that would be a problem the next year in high school. People thought we would go undefeated in high school. Crowds started out good, but dwindled. We went 2-8, did well for what we had but this year we will be down. Loss 5 kids to graduation that had prior experience, loss 3 starters that moved away. I had to throw a lot of frosh in last year because of injuries, so they have experience. I have my qb that threw for 1700 yds last year and one receiver that did well. They were both 9th graders last year, so if we stay healthy and the others come around could be alright. I don't like to be realistic but could be another 2-8 year. We are a 8 man team and the three that left really put a hurt on us.
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Post by fantom on Jul 31, 2015 14:09:43 GMT -6
We are a 2nd year program in hs and 3rd in jr high. Our town is about 300, we coop with two other schools, there towns are smaller. One interesting thing of this board is that we get a peek at other people's situation. It's kind of amazing to think that the combined populations of your three towns add up to about half of the attendance of our school and we're only in the second highest classification in the state.
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Post by freezeoption on Jul 31, 2015 14:26:11 GMT -6
Yes, that is what I like about this board. Our school has about 75 9-12. The next school has about 65 or so and the last school has about 20.
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Post by gators1422 on Jul 31, 2015 16:41:57 GMT -6
We are 300 kids in Fla, small close knit town. We've been really good the last few years. Stadium seats 1500 and we have had over 3000 3 times in the last few years. Had 4000+ at a semi-final. Usually average 1000 for nobody's, 12-1500 for playoff type teams and 2000+ for rival deep playoff games. Pretty good for a town of 2000 people.
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Post by mariner42 on Jul 31, 2015 17:14:38 GMT -6
We are 300 kids in Fla, small close knit town. We've been really good the last few years. Stadium seats 1500 and we have had over 3000 3 times in the last few years. Had 4000+ at a semi-final. Usually average 1000 for nobody's, 12-1500 for playoff type teams and 2000+ for rival deep playoff games. Pretty good for a town of 2000 people. Dang. We'd kill for those kinda crowds.
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Post by drewdawg265 on Jul 31, 2015 17:31:49 GMT -6
I just moved to a school in Texas from a different state and am in loving every minute of it. The school, community and about anyone you meet out and about loves football and would prefer to talk about it every second they get. Much different than where I coached before.
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Post by IronmanFootball on Jul 31, 2015 17:42:45 GMT -6
Our community is small. Our kids are bored. We have good turnout for our games as a social event (1,000 at HC at a school of 1,000 K-12). But turnout to play? Good but not exactly high on talent. Of 350 HS kids we have 30-35 on team, but can only play 18 or so.
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Post by rsmith627 on Jul 31, 2015 17:43:11 GMT -6
Yes. Our school has a student body around 3000. We pack the stands and even had a good turnout watching our 4 day mini camp this week.
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Post by wolverine55 on Jul 31, 2015 19:03:17 GMT -6
We have a supportive, but fairweather community. The first home game is packed and the rest depends on how we're doing. Saw another local school that was SO dominate a few years ago (beat EVERYBODY by 50+ for multiple years) that their home crowds were much worse than ours and we were winning half our games. Once the playoffs hit though they had a packed house. That was a very odd environment.... I've seen this a few times with dominant basketball teams, but not football so much. They're so far ahead of the local competition that their fans don't really go to the games except for a few times a year when an out-of-area team is brought in to compete with them.
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Post by WingTheT on Jul 31, 2015 20:18:21 GMT -6
I have this theory about courting the female students not unlike how gals get into bars/clubs for free... If all the girls are at the game, then the boys will be there, too. I have no earthly idea how to do this with any tact, though. When you figure this out, be sure to tell me as well. Not meaning to side track with my story, but a colleague told me story about his son's school secretary and how she would be in the front office of this school that they were looking at (and the school he eventually went to). According to him, whenever she saw an athletic/big kid come to the front office or a kid visiting the school with his parent(s), she would ask if he played football and if he said yes (passed the eye test), she would proceed to find one of her student helpers (usually a pretty HS girl) and would make her give them a tour and show them to their destination. I guess this could be one way to make football popular at the school. However, to answer the question: The school I'm at now used to be a big time power house for football that was one of the best around 10 years ago. Stands were packed and I remember playing in this stadium as an away opponent and thought that it was one of the craziest atmospheres for a HS stadium. However, the past few years have been rough for the program, numbers have been smaller than usual, and the booster club isn't as good as it used to be according to some of my fellow coaching buddies. It seems like baseball is the main sport especially winning a State title recently as well as winning 3 of the last 5. It sucks hearing kids say that they'd rather stick with one sport of baseball than rather playing both but what can you do?
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Post by CoachHess on Aug 1, 2015 12:02:02 GMT -6
That you do. Ours on the other hand.....
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Post by coachcb on Aug 1, 2015 12:03:41 GMT -6
Yes, that is what I like about this board. Our school has about 75 9-12. The next school has about 65 or so and the last school has about 20. Please keep us apprised as to how everything pans out with the co-op. I'm always interested to hear about the various dynamics seeing as co-ops fall apart around here every year. The successful ones are very successful in most sports and give many kids the opportunity to play so I'm disappointed that the one I was involved with turned into such a disaster.
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