[Fly Like a Duck]

Has a lot more to do with it than some of you want to accept.

Bigger school can get by with it (or if you are a small school like Paintsville, you better have a good number of African American Student-Athletes to help counter soccer).

You show me a Class A school that has soccer, yet also does well in football, and I'll show you a Class A school that has some diversity amongst its population as well.

Beechwood- all white, but no soccer.
Fairview- diversity, no soccer.
Mayfield- diversity, has soccer.
Hazard- Diversity, has soccer.
Frankfort- Diversity, has soccer.
Williamsburg- all white, but NO soccer.
Russellville- Diversity, has soccer.

Granted, there are some exceptions to both sides of the rules, but.....

Fact is, Paintsville has one of the lowest Boys enrollments of all football playing 1A schools, as a matter of fact, they are the 4th lowest in that department behind:

Fulton City- 50 (is what it is, why they dont merge with Fulton Co. is another story)
Eminence- 74 (no soccer, relatively diverse)
Dayton- 81 (no soccer, no diversity)
Pineville- 91 (no soccer, no diversity)
Paintsville- 98 (soccer, no diversity)

When the pool is already thin as is in overall available bodies in the school(not to mention those actually capable of doing any good on the field) , and then you have a sport like football that requires some able bodies + throwing in soccer that takes 16-20 potential skill kids; now you are really thinning things out.

The sharing of soccer/football players is great. I love it. However, the fact is, there aren't too many young men out there who are willing to sacrifice that much. There just isn't.

So, then that leaves the following decision up to kids (and, like it or not, this matters.)

"Let's see, I can go play soccer and run around in shirts and shorts everyday, plus play 2-3 games a week (which means less practice than football) and feel like I'm an important part of the team bc the ball gets passed around to everybody like Mashed Potatoes on Thanksgiving Day......"

..or...

"I can go play football. Practice in the same 90 degree heat like soccer does + wear all this equipment on top of it. Maybe never even score all year long? Maybe never even touch the ball all year? Plus, only play 11 guaranteed games vs. upwards of 20 in soccer?"


Soccer it is.