South Point HS

Good article in the neighbors section of the Charlotte Observer today about the plight of Marching Bands in the Gaston County Schools.

Have you ever seen a ruff, tuff football player making the rounds, hat in hand, to sell fruit during the holidays? At the local churches for the “pre-game” meal served to South Point football players, do most of them thank the preparers/servers with a handshake or a word of praise? It must be a God-given right for football players to have a trainer, doctor, and multiple coaches along the sideline to “guide these young men and leaders” through the intracacies of  high school life. The message is, “someone else will take care of you”. What are they teaching their charges about life?

Not so, for the so-called “non-revenue sports and extracurricular activities”. Scraping by every year to teach fine arts at the high school level, teachers employed by the school system, resort to what amounts to begging for leftovers through piddly-fundraisers. Nickels and dimes are raised to offset the thousands of dollars necessary to operate a band or theater program.

At South Point for example, the band instructor, Tim Hamilton, has as many as 80-100 students in the marching/concert band class in fourth period. John Devine, PE teacher, has as many as 6-10 coaches, some of those are volunteer-daddies, for 60 players.  Players from South Point are also fed, visiting teams as well, after each home game — granted, a couple of hotdogs/hamburgers — but still fed, while the band has to run out to the local McDonald’s to get hamburgers at a reduced rate. According to SPHS Booster Club (re: FOOTBALL), this is because, “If we fed the band, we wouldn’t have enough to sell”.

Football, and all sports for that matter, are extracurricular activities, just like Band, cheerleading, French Club, and Moot Court. We would expect as taxpayers, that the various school sports booster clubs respect the students and families that PAY to see the football darlins’ — in the case of the Red Raiders — HOME and AWAY.

The 70 or so banner sponsors(at $300 a pop), Ray McKenney, and the Football Boosters should also support the Marching Band, which is an important part of the Friday Night High School Tradition.

We are calling on our Belmont friends and neighbors to help support the bands and fine arts programs at South Point. Participate in their fundraising activities and consider “adding” some dollars to your contribution for their effort.

You can call the school, 704-825-3351 to get band contacts, and contacts for the other programs as well.

(Chris Lane making a first down – John Clark, Gazette Photo) 

The Gazette has partnered with www.varsitync.com to offer a wider variety of subjects rather than the tired old Ashbrook and Forestview fare that we have come to read over the past several years.

The article, written by stringer Bill Hupp, offers the Gastonia paper a lesson in “fair and balanced”. It is a good idea to contract with people who will give the flavor of the event, rather than slant it to the paper’s ultimate interest.

 Anyway, South Point beat East Gaston 31-0, taking a measure from last year’s whuppin’. Lowery, Lane, and Crumbly looked good in the effort on the ground. Justice had a struggle kicking last night, but the season is still not to the halfway mark yet.

Reports of “8,000 people” and an “overflow crowd” are a bit exaggerated, even by South Point Booster standards. With this event being called “Black Friday”, the new “PSL” seats keep many people away from the stands, wandering around as if they were in the wilderness. “Black Friday” at South Point is the culmination of a weeklong series of themes, pep rallies, and school spirit activities uniting the student body. The term comes from the tradition of the Black and Red school colors, and wearing all black on the Friday of the East Gaston game. Of course, there are a small number that choose to wear all white on this day, just to stick out. Most of the 1,200 students at SPHS are into the week’s events and participate with enthusiasm. I carried over to the ball game as well. Great spirit in the stands and in the areas outside the fence near the new scoreboard.

Area homeowners and neighbors have taken a page from the homes and businesses that surround Wrigley Field in Chicago. Charge a few buck to park in our driveways, cut down the walking distances to Lineberger Stadium on game days — helps with the ol’ property tax bill.

The still undefeated Red Raider football team is looking good. Keep goin’ boys!

Both the Red Raider fall “ball” teams are doing well enough to draw the attention of coaches, spectators, and colleges from around the state.

The boy’s soccer team is currently ranked #2 in the State in 3A division, and the equally undefeated football team has cracked the state’s Top 10.

Go Boys – Git-R-Dun !

Soccer this week: Home on Monday vs. Ashbrook; Away on Wednesday vs. Forestview — two very tough matches indeed !

Football this week: Home on Friday vs. East Gaston High School