I heard this story this morning on the news and couldn't believe what I heard, so I had to look it up on line further.

 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/highschoolsports/2004422051_bball18.html

 Being a father of 3 girls around this young lady's age, I am very proud to see a female athlete excel at such a high level.  All of us who continued to promote Title IX, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_IX ,  have to look at this as a great day for woman's athletics.  It will always be a debate whether boys and girls should play on the same court/field, but I would think this shows not only it can be done, but they can dominate!

 As a coach, the only objection I had to this story was the score of one of her games, 90-7!  There is no reason in events at this level, and probably any other, for a score to get that far out of hand and no reason for the coach to seem proud of that.  If there is any problem, it rests in a coach not managing the game properly.  I have written about this problem before, http://playsportstvblogs.com/billsniffen/2007/12/question_for_coach_bill_1.html

But, since we like to focus on the positive, congratulations to Twelve-year-old Jaime Nared on her accomplishments and we look forward to hearing more about her in the future!

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 03:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As my first grade son begins what we hope is an athletic career filled with fun and successes, I want to announce that he is being recruited to play baseball with the Oakland A's!  Sounds impossible?  Well he does play for the A's in his little town league, so I figure the big club will be calling any time soon to secure him for the future!  No? Oh well, I am sure the University of Kentucky will want him then, since from what I read today, they are even recruiting 8th graders!

http://www.kentucky.com/276/story/393152.html

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 05:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This weekend I happened to come across a good basketball documentary on ESPN Classic that was part of ESPN's Sports Tribeca Film Festival http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/features/tribeca

This movie, "Through the Fire", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457502/, chronicles Sebastian Telfair's high school career and recruiting of the high school and playground legend from Brooklyn.  It is a great look into what happens in big time recruiting wars. 

My favorite basketball documentary is "Hoop Dreams". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/  This follows 2 potential players as they grow up in Chicago and all the way through high school and into college.  

Add to that list "Coach Carter", "Glory Road", and "The Heart of the Game".  Check out this complete list.  http://www.sandlotshrink.com/moviebkb.htm 

Of course, the classic, based on a true story, is "Hoosiers", but you knew that from my favorite line, "Don't get caught watching the paint dry!"

Posted by Bill Sniffen at 04:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)