Before the 2008 season kicked off, the Observer-Reporter reported on the difficulties Avella football had with numbers. Eagles coach Frank Gray, in his first year, was forced to cancel the opening scrimmage because the team had only 11 healthy players.
Avella made it through the first four games and, not surprisingly, it is 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the Black Hills Conference.
The subject of Avella's numbers has come up when talking to several area coaches and the general consensus is the Eagles are a decent, scrappy football team considering the limitations.
Well, sadly, the troubles continue.
According to sources, Avella will take 13 players to its game Friday at Serra Catholic.
11 comments:
Good Luck to Avella Footall. You have many fans who are rooting for you.
It would be nice to see Avella get 20-25 players out for next year's team.
Younger fans don't realize how much tradition Avella football boasts.
movie prospects in the tradition of ' rudy ' or 'remember the titans ' ?? sounds like this team is playing with a lot of heart !! God bless, stay healthy and good luck !! have fun ....you've got nothing to lose !!
Back in the late 70s, I seem to remember that my alma mater, McGuffey, went into one season with 20-some players. And that was a much bigger school. It's hard to get kids to make the commitment required for demanding sports such as football and wrestling. Wrestling used to be huge in this area. Teams had a couple of wrestlers available at almost every weight class. Now, at a lot of matches, it's a forfeit fest.
Avella isn't the only school suffering from numbers problems in football.
There are local teams playing without sophomore classes and others with two to five seniors.
So many options out there. It must make it difficult for a teenager to want to make the commitment, as Brant said.
Your comment about options leads me to another point. Today, we have many more athletes who "specialize" in a sport nearly year-round, with hopes, I assume, of getting a college scholarship or, for the small minority, a professional career. So, where in my day a good athlete might play football, followed by basketball, followed by baseball, today they more often will pick one and concentrate on that.
Even in my day, the late 80s/early 90s, we were allowed to play two sports at the same time.
But there is a lot of specialization.
I was talking with PT boys soccer coach Bob Dyer a couple days ago, and the topic came up when discussing one his his top scorers, Nick Wilcox, who is also one of Washington County's top high school basketball players.
In my memory, soccer players were the first to specialize. As a former soccer player, I played varsity in the fall, indoor in the winter, West Penn (as it was called in my day) during the spring and local leagues and adult leagues during the summer.
AAU basketball gets a lot of mention when it comes to specialization. Soccer may be the most specialized sport out there.
I'm a volunteer assistant coach with the Bentworth Middle School Football team and we played at Avella this week. I saw the team of 13 players having practice while we were warming up and thought to myself how much respect those kids deserve. Going into every game of the season knowing they will be probably be outmatched, and yet showing up to play. Their season reflects dedication, a love of the game, and pride in themselves. They have a very nice Middle School team, I predict that things will improve for the Eagles. And when they do, these 13 guys should feel proud for keeping the program going.
I realize that this game is still 2.5 weeks away, and Avella is taking things week to week, but does anyone have an idea as to whether or not they will be able to play the Clairton game on the 17th?
Avella is planning to play every game. Whether they have enough bodies is another story.
Hey Guys my name is Zack i go to Avella. I was starting Tackle/End but i broke my ribs in camp..I finished the year as manager/waterboy/ballboy.
If you went to any of the Games i was #64. I am happy that you guys support us and im thankful.
If you guys have any questions about our team this year i will be glad to answer them.
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