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What sport is pushed the most at the youth level in Arkansas?
Posted on 2/15/20 at 8:54 pm
Posted on 2/15/20 at 8:54 pm
In my opinion it’s far and away baseball across the state and basketball in some areas with football a distant 3rd. I think families grow up watching the hogs in football but then the sport families push the most is baseball. Just imagine if people like Casey martin had been pushed his whole life into football. Now I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with pushing baseball and basketball to your kids but I think sometimes when we wonder why our football program has taken a step back over the past decade is it possible that a small amount of that is due to football being less of a priority to families in small town Arkansas?
Posted on 2/15/20 at 8:57 pm to Hawgnsincebirth55
Basketball in Central Arkansas and it's not close
Posted on 2/15/20 at 9:06 pm to Hawgnsincebirth55
I wanted my son to play football so he could learn to get in shape and how it felt to be on a team.
He played a couple of years but chose baseball because that's what he loved to play.
I think kids are just choosing what they like the best and football is falling back in the order.
Unless you live in Warren.Football is a religion there.
He played a couple of years but chose baseball because that's what he loved to play.
I think kids are just choosing what they like the best and football is falling back in the order.
Unless you live in Warren.Football is a religion there.
Posted on 2/15/20 at 9:21 pm to Hawgnsincebirth55
100% Arkansas is a basketball producing state but it's become more and more baseball producing in the past 5-10 years.
Our football problem is the low number of AA's in our state compared to others we compete against, people don't want to hear it but it's true.
LRSD might be about to turn the corner with getting more participation and better head coaches but for a long time we've had athletes who would rather play sit the bench on a basketball roster than go out for football.
Our football problem is the low number of AA's in our state compared to others we compete against, people don't want to hear it but it's true.
LRSD might be about to turn the corner with getting more participation and better head coaches but for a long time we've had athletes who would rather play sit the bench on a basketball roster than go out for football.
Posted on 2/15/20 at 9:31 pm to RazorHawg
Depends on where you are at in the state
LR Metro up time Jacksonville is Basketball except for PA
North and east of there it’s Baseball
Get up in to western and NWA and you hit some basketball again but football is also big there.
NEA is huge small school basketball. I live in one of those towns and it’s insane how big the game is up here.
I’m not sure what points south and east of LR do. I’m not sure they do anything at all.
Baseball is slowly taking over in all areas though and I’m not sure why. I guess it’s the young age at which they start but no way in hades will my kid play travel ball. I’m not spending that much coin and dragging them all over Gods green earth. We’ve got better things to do on the weekends than wishing for a scholarship that will never come and having TJ surgery at 13
LR Metro up time Jacksonville is Basketball except for PA
North and east of there it’s Baseball
Get up in to western and NWA and you hit some basketball again but football is also big there.
NEA is huge small school basketball. I live in one of those towns and it’s insane how big the game is up here.
I’m not sure what points south and east of LR do. I’m not sure they do anything at all.
Baseball is slowly taking over in all areas though and I’m not sure why. I guess it’s the young age at which they start but no way in hades will my kid play travel ball. I’m not spending that much coin and dragging them all over Gods green earth. We’ve got better things to do on the weekends than wishing for a scholarship that will never come and having TJ surgery at 13
This post was edited on 2/15/20 at 9:36 pm
Posted on 2/15/20 at 9:41 pm to beebefootballfan
My son and his family have moved to Bryant.They are serious about their sports.
I can see them producing some good players for us.
I can see them producing some good players for us.
Posted on 2/15/20 at 10:00 pm to ArHog
quote:
Basketball in Central Arkansas and it's not close
Yep. Football used to dominate, but I'm not sure that any Little Rock schools even fielded baseball teams when I was in high school. It was huge in Bryant, though.
Posted on 2/16/20 at 6:55 am to redeye
What year was that? I played baseball for Fair from 97-99 and all Little Rock schools had a team. My brother played for Fair from 91-94 and If I remember correctly I’m pretty sure most of the schools fielded a team also.
Posted on 2/16/20 at 1:57 pm to WhuckFistle
Let's be real, the white kids are gravitating more to baseball and black kids are gravitating more to basketball, with football kind of left in the middle with the scraps.
This is hugely evident in my hometown. The basketball and baseball programs are stacked, yet the football team can barely field a starting 22. Seriously, they had like 40 players last year and have sucked for years. Even track is way more successful.
The junior high ranks are loaded, but once all the good white kids hit high school, they drop everything and go to baseball full time. Some of the talented black kids will stay a little while with both football and basketball, but the top flight bball guys have never stepped foot on the football field.
It's just so obvious. The white kids love playing baseball and can see that, at a good school like mine, they can get good coaching and hopefully parlay that into a scholarship in college. Going pro is a goal, and it could yield enormous financial benefits, but the tuition break is huge especially with so many D2 schools in the state where they have a realistic shot at a scholarship.
Basketball is similar, but they seem to have more of an NBA future in mind because they can get there so fast (19 if they're elite prospects like a Bobby Portis. A college scholarship would just be icing on the cake.
Yeah, you can go pro and get a scholly with football as well, but the pro game pays far less than bball or baseball longterm and the other two dont destroy your body and have super short career lengths.
Let's be honest as well, football is not fun to play unless you're a physical specimen that can knock around others or you have blazing speed.
You can dominate in high school bball and basketball with slight builds and in baseball you can be an all star with smaller stature.
This is hugely evident in my hometown. The basketball and baseball programs are stacked, yet the football team can barely field a starting 22. Seriously, they had like 40 players last year and have sucked for years. Even track is way more successful.
The junior high ranks are loaded, but once all the good white kids hit high school, they drop everything and go to baseball full time. Some of the talented black kids will stay a little while with both football and basketball, but the top flight bball guys have never stepped foot on the football field.
It's just so obvious. The white kids love playing baseball and can see that, at a good school like mine, they can get good coaching and hopefully parlay that into a scholarship in college. Going pro is a goal, and it could yield enormous financial benefits, but the tuition break is huge especially with so many D2 schools in the state where they have a realistic shot at a scholarship.
Basketball is similar, but they seem to have more of an NBA future in mind because they can get there so fast (19 if they're elite prospects like a Bobby Portis. A college scholarship would just be icing on the cake.
Yeah, you can go pro and get a scholly with football as well, but the pro game pays far less than bball or baseball longterm and the other two dont destroy your body and have super short career lengths.
Let's be honest as well, football is not fun to play unless you're a physical specimen that can knock around others or you have blazing speed.
You can dominate in high school bball and basketball with slight builds and in baseball you can be an all star with smaller stature.
This post was edited on 2/16/20 at 2:00 pm
Posted on 2/16/20 at 1:59 pm to WhuckFistle
in the early 90s Fair and McClellan were the only LRSD schools to have baseball. Mills, Jacksonville, and North Pulaski were the PCSSD schools with baseball. Ole Main and Northeast also both had teams.
This post was edited on 2/18/20 at 9:19 am
Posted on 2/16/20 at 2:26 pm to Jack Ruby
quote:whole heartedly disagree. I was a bigger kid for high school and played TE & DE but not a "physical specimen". I get what your saying but any sport is not that much fun when your competition is waaaay better than you and I agree in football, it sucks more. I's realllly not fun to get your shite lit up but it is some of the most fun in the world to get the better of them. As a DE getting a sack or a TFL on a D1 tackle prospect who's been fricking you up is awesome lmao.
Let's be honest as well, football is not fun to play unless you're a physical specimen that can knock around others or you have blazing speed.
This post was edited on 2/16/20 at 2:29 pm
Posted on 2/18/20 at 8:47 am to Jack Ruby
quote:
Let's be real, the white kids are gravitating more to baseball and black kids are gravitating more to basketball, with football kind of left in the middle with the scraps.
Correct. Baseball is huge in central AR in the "suburbs" and basketball in Little Rock.
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