[More Cowbell]

Speaking of strong schedules; last year Valley played Breathit County away, Belfry away, Knox Central away, Middlesboro in the playoffs away, Prestonsburg (district game) at home.

I believe that is pretty tough competition. We lost all of these games, they no doubt made Valley a better team, the two negatives that result from such a tough schedule is the mental wear on these young kids of lossing, as well as the greater possiblility of injuries. And last year when you only have 25-30players on the team, if you loss one or two of your skill players to injuries, your entire season is in jeopardy.

I know exactly who SV played last year. And at the time, I felt that the schedule was TOO hard last year. P-Burg and Middlesboro don't count because Valley didn't choose to play them, but the other three, especially Belfry and Breathitt Co, were just too much all at once.

Personally I don't think that getting blown out by 40 points in multiple games does any good at all. Whatever you might learn from seeing such good teams will be counteracted by the mental drain and loss of confidence that will result. If you read my post, I'm not suggesting that Valley go back to scheduling WAY over their head again either.

What I am suggesting, is to mostly schedule opponents who are at least as talented as SV, and maybe more, but not so much that SV wouldn't even have a chance of winning. That way, if they win, they'll have a victory they can really be proud of, but if they lose, it shouldn't be so bad as to wear their psyche down.

All I'm saying is there has to be a happy medium between scheduling the likes of Belfry and Breathitt one year, then Tug Valley the next. Shelby Valley needs to find that medium.