Moving State High School Championships

Anyone who has seen enough of our girls taking a back seat to every other high school sport played in North Carolina as far as the venue of the State Championship Tournament, now is the time to take action! The NCHSAA will meet with the coaches this month and, if they have enough support behind them,they may be able to get the championships moved. I am asking the TBR community to join and e-mail Carolyn Shannonhouse, the Assistant Executive Director of the NCHSAA, at [email protected], and make your voices heard.

I have e-mailed Charlie Adams, the Director, and received response from Carolyn. My thoughts are to move individual classifications to college venues (ie UNC, NCSU, UNCG, UNCC, etc.) and allow the girls to play on immaculate fields built for fastpitch in great facilities like every other sport in the state. I also mentioned in my e-mail that the state should be proactive in this because it seems ripe for a Title IX lawsuit that the satae could not win given the college venues used for all other sports championships. I also mentioned that the corporate sponsers for the games are located all over the state and would surely like their name associated with a first class championship rather than the less than rec ball way they are held now and at Walnut Creek. I mentioned the field conditions, sound systems, announcers, practice time and fields, traffic in and out of parking especially on Friday and I'm sure you can think of many more things.

Please let your voices be heard and help the coaches have a little more leverage for their discussions on this matter with the state association. The coaches need us because when they approach the powers that be for change, they are looked on as troublemakers. Let's see if we can make our voices heard enough to effect a great change for our girls and for our sport in North Carolina!

 

Lets make it easy

What about putting a letter together that we can copy and paste and add our name to? I think it would help if you make it as easy as possible.

 

HS Softball Championships location.....

......in Ralieigh makes sense to me. Its a central location. Walnut Creek CAN be an awesome facility.

As for 1A, going to UNC, 2A going to NCSU, 3A......like football has merit.

I for one like being able to watch the mass of talent in NC at one venue.

Fastpitch in NC needs all of us to stick together. The HS gig in one venue certainly accommodates that theory.

 

This needs to happen

I've posted about the need to move out of Walnut Creek for years. It's a terrible place for fastpitch. Keep in mind that ECU should be opening its new stadium in 2010. UNCW has a good facility and ASU has a new place. I think what might be best for fans would be to hold the east and west regional finals in college venues in the east and west with the finals at State and Carolina. Each school could host two classes and rotate. I don't get the argument about keeping "all the talent in one place. The D1 coaches can't even attend as it falls in the 'dead period' most every year.

 

Its not an arguement DukeDog.....

.....its my appreciation of BEING ABLE TO SEE ALL of the games at the same place. ......If you had a choice of watching Pro football on Sunday on CBS + NBC, vs. going to a sports bar and watching every game period, what would you do? Fish

 

Having the HS championships in one location is really good for a number of reasons. I like being able to move between fields, thereby watching two or three, maybe even four games at once.

The criticism of the facilities is mild compared to what they should be, though. The fields do need to be better maintained. There is no excuse for them not to be in first class shape.

The concessions are disgraceful!!! They are not just that way during the high school games; they are like that all the time! They have been like that as long as I can remember. I've complained about the concessions numerous times on various blogs.

Why they don't fix it I don't understand. The money that could be made seems to me to be a real good reason to fix it. But if the money is not important, it seems like they would at least want to have happy fans. It is no exaggeration that you can stand in line for 20-25 minutes or more for a bottle of water or coffee or whatever. It is so ridiculous!! I wish someone could give me a logical explanation why they don't care!

One thing I do give them credit for is the security that is present at most events. There have been parking lot issues but for the most part I believe it has been fairly crime free the past few years.

If they would do what they should do at Walnut Creek I can't think of a better place to hold the games. Maybe we should be sending our emails to those with the power and responsibility to maintain The Creek as it should be maintained!!

 

Walnut Creek Softball Complex
1201 Sunnybrook Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27610
Supervisor: Shadu Jackson
e-mail: [email protected]
Office: 919-250-2780
Fax: 919-250-2784
Info/Weather Line: 919-250-2725
Athletic Office: 919-831-6836

http://www.raleigh-nc.org/portal/se...t-1C-20041119-145430-Athletic_Facilities.html

 

Outside vendors?

I know they had a couple specialty (things they don't sell in their normal consession stand) vendors but wonder if they would allow other ones like a hotdog or strictly drink stand. You could clean up just by having good, quick service!

Oh and welcome back fishman. Have fun on vaca? Get any fishin' in?

 

Move the Championships

I agree. As was posted in a thread right after the Championships were over, the field conditions at the Creek were terrible. The concession stand are not well run, and the complex itself was not really designed for fastpitch softball.
As part of a High School coaching staff, we take alot of pride in making and maintaining our field as a great place to play and one that a visiting team will say "what a great field they have, We love coming here every year. That is what the teams should say when they make that final round in their high school careers. I would be willing to bet that a state high school championship means just as much to them as any other championship they have won. I know the feeling of making it to " The Creek ". It is very special just to be able to go. But wouldn't it be so awesome to be able to play for that #1 spot on a field that not to many kids get to play on in their lifetime. UNC, NCSU, ECU, UNCG, Those are the places that should host these events. Just ask your dd's that played in the state games how it felt to play on a field and in a stadium like UNCG. Let's make some noise and convince the NCHSAA that they to make this change.

 

Moving State High School tounament

Personally I would like to see the tounament moved to Springwood Park between Burlington and Greensboro. They have good fields and good facillities. Unless a college has more than one field I don"t believe you could play 16 teams. I would like to see each classification play on four fields. That would probably be best for college coaches. I know that D3 USA college tounament is played at Springwood, and I think baseball etc.also is played there.