Two years ago, I wrote about our annual participation in the Knox County Tournament. It was exciting for players, and a joy for us coaches, to compete in that event.
I was thinking, recently, that it was about time for this year’s version of the county tournament and, sure enough, when I logged on to the Parks and Recreation website, I found the brackets for the 8U and 10U tourneys with the 12U TBA. Bower Field, off Chapman Highway, plays host to this year’s 8U while the 10U will be played at Halls Community Park.
When I looked at the brackets, though, I was really disappointed to see how small the field has become with just seven teams competing in the 8U and only five in 10U. No teams from Farragut Baseball, Inc. are registered for either competition.
I know the game has changed a lot since I got out of it and that may translate into the lower numbers.
The advent of the more competitive academy teams has attracted many of the better players from the leagues and the popularity of the middle school teams has reduced participation in the older age groups. And, with the recent run of the high school baseball teams from west Knox County in the TSSAA state tournament (Farragut and CAK won in their respective divisions, Knoxville Catholic was a very determined finalist, falling just short against the Warriors), you really can’t argue with the philosophy.
Still, I hate to log on and see how the county tournament has shrunk (there were 16 teams when our 10U team competed in 2006) and I also regret that there isn’t a local team to cheer for. I know the great staff of Knox County and I’m sure they are doing the best job they can to put on the same high class tournaments as they did when our teams were playing in them.
Over the years, my teams participated in the Knox County Tournament four times. Once, we went to Bower; twice we played at Powell-Levi and the final time, when the Choppers won the 14U bracket, we played at the Knox County Sportspark.
It was fun to rally your team and your fans, load up the cars and head to that year’s destination. It was also interesting to see teams from other parts of the county coming together with the same sort of competitive spirit and community pride.
Our first foree’ in the competition was quick. We played (and lost) two games. But, it was an eye-opening experience for us. We learned about how the process works and how best to compete.
The next two years, we made deeper runs. During our second year of 10U - the first time we played at Powell - we competed well. We beat a couple of the home-standing teams and got on quite a roll.
We were actually eliminated by another Farragut team and we finished fifth out of 16 (three Farragut teams actually placed in the Top 5).
A year later, we made a similar deep run at Powell. And, as you know, our fourth and final trip to the county tournament resulted in our ultimate celebration on the dirt and grass of the Sportspark.
But the game has changed in youth baseball, at least for now. Things do come in cycles so maybe there will be another surge of popularity. For whatever reason, it seems and the Knox County Tournament isn’t the draw it once was. I am out of touch; I really don’t know the answer. I hope it comes back around.
As I said earlier, I’m a big fan of the county staff. They do a great job.
Still, for a former coach who has a passion for reminiscing, loves to talk about the Choppers and enjoy writing about the Glory Days, this is definitely a pleasant way to start a new week.
JG
Originally posted 6/9/2014
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