Will Emerald High Become a 9th Grade Academy??

[eagle93]

Glad to see this topic back. It's a fun discussion.

[Fortfor5]

This doesn't benefit anyone but Greenwood High School's athletic programs.

Switching to one high school in Greenwood takes away so many opportunities for the kids that play sports at Emerald (and even Greenwood). Less playing time, less roster spots, etc.

This is not a good option for that town. It puts even more kids out of sports and creates even more risk for the rising crime.

Emerald becoming a junior high helps the streets, not the community.

I don't necessarily agree, it could actually improve and increase the opportunities by improving the roster sizes. This allows for competition to improve and the ability to have more players share time on the field keeping them fresh and not as tired. As a coach I would much rather platoon my kids than have to play them both ways or 100% of the time during the offense or defensive plays. This is where teams like Dutch Fork who has a roster of almost 100 players wear teams down and beat them. This also allows for the JV and B-Teams to have a better development program for the upper programs. In other sports it enables teams to be more selective yes, but some schools offer an intra school inter-mural program that also includes those kids who didn't make the team and allows for development and participation. Remember Michael Jordon didn't make his varsity team in the 10th grade it must be earned.

With that thought, I saw a kid recently earn a letter after participating on his schools fall team sport (a AAAAA school) for 2 weeks. That is not how we gave out letters when I coached.
You started the season, came to all the practices, and had to participate in a certain amount of playing time during the season. Coaches now hand out letters for just being on the team. Like Jim Baxter said in a recent post a letter means nothing anymore! Sorry if this offends anyone and your kid falls into this group but life is not free and the sooner these kids learn that the better off they will be.

Before you condemn what a 9th grade Academy can't do for the community as a whole maybe you should check out what it CAN do as a positive for the community and not worry about what it will do for just athletics which we are talking about on this site. There are a whole lot more positives than negatives I promise you.

By the way it may never happen, who knows!!

Baxter is good at college recruiting and camp info .you have to take some of his stuff with a grain of salt.
There are a few posters here that have opions more balanced and reliably accurate.

[StateChampsGHS]

It would cost too much money to reconstruct Emerald High to look like Greenwood High.

[eagle93]

It would cost too much money to reconstruct Emerald High to look like Greenwood High.

I thought they were just talking about putting the freshman in the current Emerald as it sits? No construction should need to be done. Right? It has been added on to through the years and should be able to hold 1000 or more students without an issue.

[StateChampsGHS]

Emerald Viking logos and paint all over the school.

[eagle93]

Emerald Viking logos and paint all over the school.

True. They should've left things alone when this was a junior high school. Greenwood didn't really need another high school. It's not that big.

[StateChampsGHS]

I guess everybody need to be patient and see what the district has in plan. I think Emerld will remain a high school. (9, 10, 11 and 12)

[spectator]

I guess everybody need to be patient and see what the district has in plan. I think Emerld will remain a high school. (9, 10, 11 and 12)

Nothing will change at Emerald.

[No Fly Zone]

Any news floating around on candidates being interviewed for the Emerald opening?

The principal switch up made things a little more interesting. Still think McMahon will do whatever it takes to get Chris Deal the job. Wouldn't be surprised to see Mac coaching as an assistant on that staff next season. Complete dysfunction.

[spectator]

Any news floating around on candidates being interviewed for the Emerald opening?

The principal switch up made things a little more interesting. Still think McMahon will do whatever it takes to get Chris Deal the job. Wouldn't be surprised to see Mac coaching as an assistant on that staff next season. Complete dysfunction.

All they need to do is look 9 miles down the road to see how politics will ruin a football program. 96 was a powerhouse until the politics took over and now they are a bottom feeder. Emerald can make the same mistake.