IHSAASports.org - The Official Website of Indiana High School Sports

Lineup Strategies

Posted 5/1/2008 10:34:00 AM

This time of year many tennis coaches have to decide whether to gamble or play it safe. The lineup for the IHSAA postseason tournament (sectional, regional, semi-state, state) must be submitted to the IHSAA from each school by May 7.

Tennis is a unique sport in that whatever lineup (1-2-3 singles and 1-2 doubles) is used for the first round of sectionals must be used all the way through the state finals. Coaches are permitted to use alternates, but cannot move a Top 7 player back and forth between singles and doubles.

The purpose of this rule is to prevent “stacking” – which is using a lineup where the 1-2-3 singles players and/or the 1-2 doubles teams are not lined up in proper order of playing ability.

For many coaches, strategy becomes a guessing game as they try to figure out which teams they mi...

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Scheduling to Prepare for the State Tournament

Posted 5/7/2008 1:14:00 PM

At Lafayette Central Catholic, we try to live by the old adage “to be the best, you must play the best”. Our philosophy has always been to use the 29 regular season games to prepare our team for the state tournament. How do you do that? I think you do that by putting together a schedule that is going to challenge your team every time it takes the field. There are some games that may be “locked into” a schedule by conference affiliations, local schools, etc. But every school has a certain number of games that they can decide who they want to compete against to complete their schedules.

In looking over the schedules of many teams throughout the state...

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Playing Under a Different Kind of Pressure

Posted 5/8/2008 1:35:00 PM

Throughout my playing and coaching years I have heard this expression over and over again - I have even felt it myself. However, the pressure I felt was from myself. I knew that when the game was over my mom and dad would tell me 'nice job' or 'nice try' and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, that is not what I am seeing generally these days.

When I think of pressure I think of soldiers on the front line who have other soldiers lives in their hands. I think of an ER physician that has a dying child in his hands and is the only one who can save him. I think of the pilot flying a jet liner and can't make a mistake or hundreds of lives could be lost. When it comes to high school athletics, nothing should make a kid feel those kinds of pressures.

Sure, there are times during an athletic career that you feel some pressure to perform well. You may not want to strike out or make an error. But what I am seeing put on kids now da...

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An exciting - and close - week of competition

Posted 5/12/2008 11:31:00 AM

What a week this has been! Last Friday evening we hosted the annual Hamilton County Meet. It was a very windy and rainy evening, certainly not conducive to great times. However there were numerous outstanding efforts by all of the teams involved. The team competition came down to Carmel and Noblesville. With all events scored the meet was tied with only the pole vault remaining. Due to the weather it was postponed until Saturday morning at 10:00 am. Both teams had a large fan turnout to support their vaulters.

It was a great spectacle. Noblesville's first man, Bryan Mickler (13' 6") beat our first man, David Chiasson (13' 6") on misses, and our second man beat Noblesville's second man....therefore they outscored us by one and captured what appeared to be their first County Championship since 1972.

After the pole vault concluded results were passed out and I jumped into my car and hustled to my 4 year old grandson's birthday party. Afte...

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