There's a flaw in the system for all-SHL picks
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing.
I don't think I am; but if so, my bad.
I recently received a copy of the 2010 All-Southern Hills League team for girls soccer. The All-SHL team is comprised of players who have excelled at the sport of soccer this season, and they are voted by the coaches to an All-League team.
First, congratulations to all the girls who made the team. It's an honor well deserved. You earned it.
But as I read down the list, I can't comprehend something. I know it's right in front of me. In fact, if it was a snake, it would have probably bit me by now. Oh yeah, I know what it is, some coaches apparently forgot one of the best players in the league.
Not all coaches, but I know some (I don't know who), forgot to check, circle, write or highlight the name of the player ranked No. 1 by another school in the league on their ballot. And whoever it was maybe shouldn't be voting anymore.
In fact, here is the exact way players are voted on for an All-SHL team.
Coaches for all SHL schools list the players they are nominating on a board (ranking them from No. 1 and so on) in the order that they want their players to be considered. After all of the coaches listed their players' names, they are given time to speak about their nominees' stats and other facts that would strengthen their players' chances of receiving votes.
The next step is the actual voting. Each coach lists 18 players on their ballot. Coaches can't vote for their own players. Each of the players listed on a ballot receives one point. The voting is not weighted. The top 18 players are named to the all-league team.
This is how the nominations were presented: one school listed four, followed by five schools listing three players. Another school listed two players and one school had one player nominated.
Maybe it was a "mistake," or a coach could have "overlooked" a name, but more than one coach and less than three?
Yeah, I don't buy that, either. Sounds like there is a slight flaw in the system. Maybe the coaches should make their vote available to all the coaches in attendance, and something like this won't happen again.
I know you are nodding your head in agreement and are just as dumfounded by the idiocy of the way this vote turned out.
We all know picking a league team has politics involved when a coach talks to another coach, and so on. It's kind of like an election campaign: Somebody has to win, but it isn't always the right person for the job. It can be and has been a popularity contest, or even a way for one coach to get back at another coach or team.
Possibly.
I know not every player can make the team; but goodness, explain this: How can a player who scored at least 11 goals, along with at least six assists (I'm missing one game's stats), not make an All-League team?
I don't have to tell you the name missing off this list (you will notice), but she's been a member before in past seasons, and this year the player played even better than before.
Maybe someone who can fix this (not me) should add another spot to the list this season, since it looks as though some people rushed through the voting process, even though they actually weren't rushed.
This is about keeping some integrity in high school athletics. Plain and simple.
Why punish a student-athlete for what a couple coaches decided they felt was the right decision to keep a player off the list?
When you see her play on the field, you think, "Yeah, she just plays differently than anyone else out here." I'm not the only person who writes about soccer in this area who thinks that way, either.
Who cares if you add a "coaches need to grow up" spot to the list? This player is very deserving of this honor. Years from now, nobody will remember there were 19 players on the list instead of 18.
This whole mess reminds me of a commercial.
It's like that V8 commercial where the person gets smacked right in the forehead for not clearing his plate.
In this commercial, this man is sitting at a restaurant and the waiter comes up and asks "Are you still working on that?" The man says "No, I'm done." The waiter looks at the plate of broccoli as he picks it up and then smacks the man straight on the forehead and walks away.
That should have happened to whoever forgot to vote for one of the best players in the entire SHL.
The commercial ends with "I could've had a V8."
This still can end right by adding one of the best players, not just in the league, but in the Southeast District, onto the team.
Or it can be another V8 moment where an important ingredient is left on the plate.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press.
Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing.
I don't think I am; but if so, my bad.
I recently received a copy of the 2010 All-Southern Hills League team for girls soccer. The All-SHL team is comprised of players who have excelled at the sport of soccer this season, and they are voted by the coaches to an All-League team.
First, congratulations to all the girls who made the team. It's an honor well deserved. You earned it.
But as I read down the list, I can't comprehend something. I know it's right in front of me. In fact, if it was a snake, it would have probably bit me by now. Oh yeah, I know what it is, some coaches apparently forgot one of the best players in the league.
Not all coaches, but I know some (I don't know who), forgot to check, circle, write or highlight the name of the player ranked No. 1 by another school in the league on their ballot. And whoever it was maybe shouldn't be voting anymore.
In fact, here is the exact way players are voted on for an All-SHL team.
Coaches for all SHL schools list the players they are nominating on a board (ranking them from No. 1 and so on) in the order that they want their players to be considered. After all of the coaches listed their players' names, they are given time to speak about their nominees' stats and other facts that would strengthen their players' chances of receiving votes.
The next step is the actual voting. Each coach lists 18 players on their ballot. Coaches can't vote for their own players. Each of the players listed on a ballot receives one point. The voting is not weighted. The top 18 players are named to the all-league team.
This is how the nominations were presented: one school listed four, followed by five schools listing three players. Another school listed two players and one school had one player nominated.
Maybe it was a "mistake," or a coach could have "overlooked" a name, but more than one coach and less than three?
Yeah, I don't buy that, either. Sounds like there is a slight flaw in the system. Maybe the coaches should make their vote available to all the coaches in attendance, and something like this won't happen again.
I know you are nodding your head in agreement and are just as dumfounded by the idiocy of the way this vote turned out.
We all know picking a league team has politics involved when a coach talks to another coach, and so on. It's kind of like an election campaign: Somebody has to win, but it isn't always the right person for the job. It can be and has been a popularity contest, or even a way for one coach to get back at another coach or team.
Possibly.
I know not every player can make the team; but goodness, explain this: How can a player who scored at least 11 goals, along with at least six assists (I'm missing one game's stats), not make an All-League team?
I don't have to tell you the name missing off this list (you will notice), but she's been a member before in past seasons, and this year the player played even better than before.
Maybe someone who can fix this (not me) should add another spot to the list this season, since it looks as though some people rushed through the voting process, even though they actually weren't rushed.
This is about keeping some integrity in high school athletics. Plain and simple.
Why punish a student-athlete for what a couple coaches decided they felt was the right decision to keep a player off the list?
When you see her play on the field, you think, "Yeah, she just plays differently than anyone else out here." I'm not the only person who writes about soccer in this area who thinks that way, either.
Who cares if you add a "coaches need to grow up" spot to the list? This player is very deserving of this honor. Years from now, nobody will remember there were 19 players on the list instead of 18.
This whole mess reminds me of a commercial.
It's like that V8 commercial where the person gets smacked right in the forehead for not clearing his plate.
In this commercial, this man is sitting at a restaurant and the waiter comes up and asks "Are you still working on that?" The man says "No, I'm done." The waiter looks at the plate of broccoli as he picks it up and then smacks the man straight on the forehead and walks away.
That should have happened to whoever forgot to vote for one of the best players in the entire SHL.
The commercial ends with "I could've had a V8."
This still can end right by adding one of the best players, not just in the league, but in the Southeast District, onto the team.
Or it can be another V8 moment where an important ingredient is left on the plate.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press.
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