[LCHSbulldogsalum]

may or may not been discussed yet, but another issue is not only facilities, but also, coaching staff. in a small school you pay the head coach maybe $2000/ yr to coach and the assistant doesn't get paid anything in a sport that you really need to coach year round, (cause competition does it) which doesn't really attract the most qualified. you may get a teacher that played tee ball back in the day and he is willing to make a schedule for the team so he gets the position. unless you've been around these small schools you really don't understand the hills all have to climb to make it competitive against the larger schools and that is just to compete. "put a quality brand on the field", we are not even talking about winning titles, just playing against the big boys and not get hurt or embarrassed. funding is major issue, as small schools don't have any funding and don't have a facility or a backing from admin or community then their backs are against the wall. with this all said, this is why, we somewhat are looked upon as not being competitive at the high school level cause when you have 5a vs. 1a and a scout happens to show to that game and witnesses 1a that doesn't have matching uniforms and can't catch a ground ball or fly ball then the word spreads to others about the lack of quality ball in the state etc.,.... very many issues that large schools really don't have to put up with. I appreciate the smalls schools that do things right and work hard for the kids but there are schools, large and small, that don't care as much as they should for the kids but it is mostly in the smaller rural areas of the state that have small schools w/ low economic backgrounds in their communities. we don't need to bring up Johnson Central or Lawrence County w/ these issues because they are larger county schools that have funding from the state and don't have the problems these schools I'm talking about have. Pikeville has a much better economic base and can offer things other communities can't.

Ummm, you realize that Lawrence County only has a little over 600 students, right? And that is a "county" school, meaning that it's students are spread out from Webbville to Lowmansville to Boyd County line.....so I wouldn't call that a "large school". I'd say of the high school enrollment, only about 350-400 of these students live within a short drive to the school and athletic facilities. There have been very few kids from the outskirts of the county that play athletics, and I can't say I blame them. They are on a bus for a long time the way it is just to/from school.

And funding??? I'm not sure what you are talking about. How is this related to athletics? The state doesn't "fund" athletics. In fact, I'd say 90% of all high school baseball programs in the state of KY don't get "fair" funding when compared to other athletics (basketball and/or football). I know for a fact that the LC baseball team makes its money on advertisement signs, selling T-shirts, and small fund raisers every year. The parents, coaches, and players do everything. The school......not so much.

They put up a brand new wooden fence a few years ago for example. A lot of people had the misguidance that the BOE paid for it. They didn't. A storm ripped down the old fence, and since the school had insurance on their facilities, they were able to get some of that money and the boosters paid for the materials, and the COACHES and PARENTS provided the labor for FREE. No "state funding" in that project, or any other project. Just a lot of dedication.