Extra Credits for Athletes in High School Put On Hold
from Houston Chronicle
A decision to give more course credits for Texas high school football players and students who play other sports won't be decided until next year. After a preliminary vote to grant up to four credits — one for every year of participation in sports — the State Board of Education voted 10-5 to delay a final vote. More

Purple Reign: Newton Coach "Father Figure" to Many
from Beaumont Enterprise
Nestled between pine trees and Texas 87, stands a sign welcoming visitors to Newton, a tiny community with less than 2,500 residents and three state high school football championships to its name. A narrow, two-lane street is the town's main road where on a Friday afternoon the locally owned businesses serve as scenery to the rustling sounds of logging trucks passing through. In one of the Hen House Mini-Mall, is Donna Barrow, a longtime resident who when asked knows how to describe what Newton High School football coach Curtis Barbay means to people here. More

Lovejoy Volleyball Coach Finds Winning Formula Fast
from Dallas Morning News HS Game Time
Pigeonholing the Lovejoy volleyball team is what coach Ryan Mitchell contests. It's understandable after watching his 3A state champion team play. Of Lovejoy's 40 victories, 14 came against UIL teams in higher classifications. Of Lovejoy's five losses, three were to 5A opponents and a fourth came to 4A Richardson Pearce. "Our goal's never been to be a great 3A team. It's to be a great volleyball team," Mitchell said. "That's why we played the 4A and 5A teams." More

Star Football Player Learns to Be a Winner
from Houston Chronicle
Rodney Dotson wasn’t recruiting, exactly, when he met Johnny Robinson. "Recruiting" is too grand a word. Really, the coach was just trying to round up enough kids to field a football team. It was August, the month that school begins, and Dotson — like a lot of other teachers at "Big Sam" — had just been hired to turn the high school around. After six straight years of unacceptable test scores, the school district split Sam Houston High into two brand-new schools: "Little Sam," for ninth-graders, and "Big Sam," the Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center, for sophomores, juniors and seniors. New principals hired fresh teachers as fast as they could. Dotson’s job could be described, charitably, as "a challenge." The old Sam Houston’s football team was worse than the school’s math scores. The Tigers gave up an average of 60 points per game. And they scored an average of … zero. More

Windthorst Celebrates 13th State Volleyball Title
from KAUZ
They are still partying in Windthorst as the Trojanettes won their 13th Class A state volleyball title! Winning in 5 over Iola! The win ties Windthorst with the most volleyball titles in the state with 13. Carmen Stallcup took MVP honors for the tournament. More

Vista Ridge Football Coach Wilder Resigns
from Austin American-Statesman
Bill Wilder, the head football coach and athletic coordinator for Vista Ridge High School since it opened in 2003, has resigned, saying a change is best for the players. Wilder, 36, will finish the semester before being reassigned in the spring by the Leander Independent School District. More

Stretching: The Truth
from The New York Times
When Duane Knudson, a professor of kinesiology at California State University, Chico, looks around campus at athletes warming up before practice, he sees one dangerous mistake after another. “They’re stretching, touching their toes. . . . ” He sighs. “It’s discouraging.” If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm-up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. More