Who's responsible?

For any all-metro team, we rarely call coaches to ask about their players. We'll ask, "We know a lot about your kids, who are some of the best you've played against?" or "We've heard a lot about this kid, what did you think when your team played against him."
Coaches have agendas. If one kid makes all-district, many coaches will want the other kid to make all-metro. It makes everyone (read as parents) happy.
Coaches, generally, will be honest when NOT talking about their kids and team.

 

For our all-area teams, we send out forms to coaches and have them send us their nominations, and they can't vote for their own players. If we don't get a form back from a coach, then their players don't get on the team.

At least parents can't bitch we left players off. Of course some coaches don't like each other, so they may not vote for those kids, which sucks.

Once the teams are figured out, then we get quotes from coaches and stats if we don't already have them. Seems to work out well.

 

My last stop in Michigan, the staff picked baseball, softball, football, basketball and volleyball.
Coaches picked wrestling, swimming, track and cross-country, but the latter three pretty much stood on time.
We were not about to pick an all-area tennis team under any circumstances..

 

I do something similar, in that a coaches vote for his own player counts as half a vote (one point opposed to two points for votes on players not on his/her own team).

 

We pick players of the year for each sport, one boy and one girl (when needed) and leave it at that. We don't do all-area teams for pretty much all the reasons listed in this thread.

 

Group team shots are absolute disasters.

First, it puts you at the mercy of any one kid or coach who gets pissed and decides not to show up, or forgets the time, date or place of the shot. You can only do it if your paper has enough local leverage to MAKE everybody show up.

Second, the staged group team shot is one of the most boring pieces of standard art in newspapers, prominently mentioned in every photography and design textbook in the "Don't Do This" chapter.

Good action shot of the Player of the Year. File mugs of the COY and the All-Area First Team.

Everyone else goes in lists.

 

The only problem with JUST sending out lists is that some ADs or principals are bad about getting mail to their coaches. Or some coaches who don't teach in the school may not check their mailbox as often.

If a coach doesn't return a nomination/stat all-area form, it's a good idea to give them one call, leave a message with the info that you need and the deadline.

If they still can't get the info, they can't say that they didn't get any messages.

 

or, as the duck said to the hooker: "put it on my bill."

 

Excellent. ;D

 

I would ask ask many coaches as you can for input. If I am picking a sophomore who has a sister who is a senior on the team and they are close in talent, I sure would want to get the coach's opinion.

In volleyball, if you have strong local club teams, maybe someone there could help with some input, too.

I don't like the group photo unless you stage it in some fun way. What's the point of going through the hassle of getting everyone together and shooting it like every other team photo?

Better to do a nice layout with action shots or mugs of the players -- more impact, too.

 

There's not many club teams in this area...only high school. The good players travel a ways to be on AAU teams.

The team photos are staged and cutout, it's not just them in a line. We're a little more creative than that.

I think the main problem this year was that we made the All-Area teams too quickly after the season got over. I think we need to wait until the coaches pick the All-Conference teams. That way we can use it as a tie-breaker if need be.

And this area is huge on those lists. I am against such things, but my boss is the former SE, so I kinda have my head in the noose when it comes to making drastic changes.

 

i don't trust coaches to be objective like we are. they can nominate, I will decide.