A dramatic shift took place in the high altitude slots of the national rankings, this weekend. Tulsa NOAH backed into the top spot while awaiting the first week of Oklahoma prep competition. This was in large part due to a less-than-expected performance in Springfield Lighthouse's opening game as the newest team to play in the Missouri High School League (guest status).  Lighthouse played a dominating game but the score didn't know that.
   Anderson Cavaliers convinced the Freeman Scoring computers by shutting out their first 2 opponents. They racked up an accumulative 103-0 in the scoring differential. This was enough to leap over the Richmond Disciples who played better than expected against an elite Virginia powerhouse, and remained essentially stationary in the national ratings.
   The West Region is continuing a strong presence at the top, holding 6 of the top 13 slots.
  A proud moment is also worth noting for the younger organizations of the North.  A more subtle factor that is emerging in the top 20. For the first time, the Northern Region has 5 teams in the top 20! 

   In all our organization's years of advancing the homeschool football developments, we are rather shocked that some teams seem to actively avoid media promotion. For all the efforts to develop a sustained organization to enhance our student athletes' opportunities, we see many teams simply fail to allow the media to play a positive role in building a great athletic program.
   Local and state media are an essential element to building a great homeschool athletic program. If you have a good relationship with the sports writers and talkers, athletes will start showing up to join your team in greater numbers. Lets talk about how to get your team noticed.


  Ten Steps To Better Media Coverage

1.  Your team is a novelty by virtue of the organization that you represent (area homeschoolers).  You are a human interest story just because you're a bunch of parents trying to coach a successful team along side the big time paid varsity coaches in the state. Invite a sports journalist to come out to your practice and let him ask questions.

2.  Don't treat the media like they're the anti-Christ. You may have moral objections to the way their editorial board and news journalism is handled, but the sports personnel would rather not be the whipping boy for your discontent. 

 3.   Media outlets don't owe your team anything. Be thankful they are willing to report your scores and help them get the info they can use.  Just ask nicely and  accept what they give you.

4.  Sports media get their paycheck because advertisers pay to get their messages in front of a lot of people. Hence, media outlets cover the teams that have the biggest following. They are more interested in how many people show up for your games than how many points are on the scoreboard.

5.   Call the sports department on a weekday afternoon and get instructions on how to text the varsity game scores in (halftime & final). Confirm that they know the name of your team and how it's spelled.  Tell your fans which media will post your team's scores.

6.   Email a few professional-grade photos of your 4-5 key athletes. Be sure each photo filename matches the athlete's correct full name and give a bio of the athlete's age, position, and appropriate accomplishments. Any human interest stories associated with your athletes should be included.  That way when an athlete has a break-out week, it's easier for media to write about the accomplishment without having to track your folks down on a weekend, trying to get a photo and background bio.

7.   When a journalist or cameraman shows up at your game, have the public address announcer acknowledge their presence and ask the fans to applaud them. Tell the fans to expect the game to be in the news and which media outlet has the best coverage of your team.

 8.  If you don't have a public relations director for your team, appoint one.  The director should be focused on providing information, hospitality to media, and making arrangements for postgame media interviews with the coach and/or athletes.

 9.  Capitalize on games against popular opponents. If more media outlets follow the other team, take the opportunity to introduce your  organization and thank them for covering this big game.

10.   Too often, homeschool sports teams manage their varsity programs similar to how soccer-moms organize rec league. If you're not on their email list, you don't get told anything about cancellations, changes of venue, or other developments.

   You need to assume that the whole community is interested in coming to every game. They need to get used to the publicity and establish clear and open public information channels.  Currently, some homeschool varsity teams only make their schedules, scores, & stats available to members of a closed or private Facebook group (usually for parents only). This is extremely short-sighted and hinders the success of both the organization and the athletes who aspire to play college sports.
   The season is just starting. If you don't have these media matters dealt with, now is the time to capitalize on the benefits of a flourishing relationship with your local media.

Oh!, one more thing... NEVER try to charge a journalist gate admission to your games! Make sure your gate crew knows this. In fact, a chilled bottle of water from the concession stand makes a great appreciation gift for showing up.

   Some very veteran coaches were actively advocating for this change. Hope Christian's Coach Tony Nafe said; " The 2 formats are so much different.".  

   Others said; "Even the optimal size and build of the athletes are different."
and "Speed and agility are especially needed in the fast and open format of 6-man. But in 8-man, you start looking for more muscle and bulk in more positions.".

   NHFCS associate, Jeremy Davis (himself a former 8-man coach) said; "This move will underscore the NHFCS commitment to those teams in  divisions 2 & 3.".

   The Weekly rankings update have begun a bit earlier this year, for Division 1. While there is little movement at the top, a larger reshuffling has taken place in the rest of the charts.

    Well, the Rankings have arrived for 2014! We have well over 140 homeschool football organizations across the United States. Of the over 70 eleven-man teams, 50 of them are currently registered and published on Maxpreps Rankings service.
    The preseason rankings are devised by the Freeman Scoring services. They are computer-driven and based upon objective criteria. The team's previous year's performance only accounts for a portion of the final rating. Each coach was asked to provide a few other factors, such as returning starters and other details. Any team who has not provided this info may have an inaccurate initial rating. New teams have a very limited capacity to enhance their preseason ranking. If your team has not submitted the preview survey to Freeman's Scoring service, that deadline has passed.
     The top 5 teams on the chart represent all four regions.   The West Region scores very high in this chart, holding the top 2 and 4 of the top 10 positions.  The East Region is next with 3 of the top 10.  The South holds 2, and the North has one solid team in 5th place.

    There are many new conferences and realignments in 2014. Several Carolina teams have developed the Carolina Athletic Conference with 2 conference divisions reflecting the north and south portions of the Carolinas.
    The Great Lakes area has developed the Midwest Homeschool Football Association with a postseason regional tournament.
    Texas continues it's radical growth. Where there was only 1 eleven-man team just 2 years ago, there are now  8 homeschool groups organizing.  Several six-man teams are transitioning to eleven-man. Where homeschool teams flourished in the private schools' TCAL conference, many of them have moved over to the new TAIAO conference which will also included some charter schools.
    There is talk of finally developing an eleven-man South Central Conference.  Some coaches are working to establish a 2-division format with some Texas teams representing the south division while some Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas teams forming a north division. A conference championship would pit the 2 division leaders in a post-season bowl game.

Reputations take time to build

  The growth and competitiveness of homeschool sports have reached another milestone. Whereas 10 years ago most public schools were apprehensive to even schedule a  varsity event with a homeschool opponent, we now see homeschool teams refusing contests with ill-equipped and less competent public schools.  Athletes are begging their parents to let them transfer out of institutional schools and be home-educated, so that they can try out for the area's homeschool team roster. 

  But along with the higher turnout at preseason training, there are more instances of ineligible athletes jeopardizing the hard work and solid reputation of the team. Drop-outs, graduates, and other problematic candidates have personal ambition for achievement on the field, but their deception and dishonesty could sideline an entire season for the whole team, and harm a reputation that the organization worked several years to build.

  Sometimes it may be true ignorance of the rules, but sometimes folks decided to "believe" the rules as they hoped. In recent years there have been some sad consequences for several great homeschool athletes who did nothing wrong, worked very hard, and excelled to the top; only to have some unknown infraction by just one teammate ruin a championship run.

Poor judgment can harm the innocent along with the foolish..  But other, more common harms have also happened to honorable teams. Because no standard verification norms existed, sore losers often fell to the temptation to spread unsubstantiated humors and scurrilous innuendo to detract from the great accomplishments of fine homeschool teams. Because no one had a simple way of attesting to the validity of each athlete, his anonymity was an easy target for suggestions that he might be too old, didn't study hard enough, or wasn't really still homeschooling.

  To address this, David Van (the NHFCS rankings director) and Hank St. Denis (NHFA tournament director) have devised a simple & public record system for coaches to validate their team roster's eligibility for national honors. We are now requesting that coaches add a short tag in the bio notes when they update their Maxpreps team rosters. We encourage coaches to hold each other accountable in this detail. If the individual details are not available to  the coach, then one might suggest that the team leadership may already be too sloppy about eligibility. The process of adding this itemized tag should take less than 15 minutes to complete, and only needs to be done once per season.

   We created a step-by-step tutorial for silencing the rumors and validating a team's homeschool eligibility. Read the details in this blog post, 2014 Team Eligibility. The time to complete this is in the preseason. Any team who plays a single game with an ineligible player may be completely excluded from inclusion in conference play, have competitors drop games citing fraud, be excuded from postseason contention and be removed from all rankings considerations.

  There are occasional hardship cases which need just adjudication. The time to complete this process is in the preseason. If you're in a conference, take this matter up with your conference leadership. If you're a freelance team with no state oversight, then the coaches from your opposing teams need to be consulted. If they are agreeable to your appeal, then it's likely that the matter will be more agreeable to the NHFA and the NHFCS. the national directors need to be notified promptly with the supporting details and responses from conference leadership and opposing coaches.

    The sound of coaches' whistles and grunts of linemen now fills the air. Fall practices have begun. For the homeschool athlete, several new options are available in many areas of the nation. More and more states are making legislative and regulatory reforms for the sake of the home-educating family.
  Many state legislators are spending millions of public education dollars in an attempt to win back the confidence of the millions who have turned to home-based education. Still other public institutions are delivering institutional resources to the homeschooling families who have made a strong argument that the money ought to follow the students, regardless of the family's disdain for the government schools' sad legacy.
  Among the increased local, state, & federal resources are:

• City & county park facilities for homeschool sports programs.
• State laws mandating that home-educated athletes may play for the public school team in their district.
• State & Federal funding of curriculum for home educators.

  While these new and expanding resources may be a huge help, especially for rural homeschool families whose athletic options are otherwise impractical or nonexistent; The vast majority of home educators prefer to be a part of a team which reflects not only their community, but more importantly, their family values and faith. The urban & suburban homeschool families are still far better served by becoming a part of the homeschool sports organizations.

   Homeschool Sports Organizations are continuing their legacy of development and "over-achievement". When a handful of volunteer dads and moms can coach a scattered bunch of kids to a level of parity & competitiveness with the large athletic departments of the public schools, they expose an embarrassing reality that institutional bureaucracy and employee indifference can stymy the development of the institutionalized child.
  Too often we hear scurrilous unfounded rumors from public & private school leadership which seeks to discredit the homeschool team. It is clearly devised to cover up for the wounded pride and career insecurity of the team that just got it handed to them from some start-up homeschoolers.
  The homeschool football nation has become strong and established over these past 10 years. In 2004 there were just a handful of homeschool football programs in America. Today we have information on 130 teams which have plans to field a team this year. Masses of additional programs are now opening their roster up to home-educated athletes. Entire state oversight bodies are now amending their charters to add accommodations to the benefit of homeschool football athletes. Countless division 1 & Division 2 NCAA teams have former homeschool athletes on their rosters. It wasn't that long ago that the NCAA treated home-educated athletes as high school drop-outs.
  Texas alone has 31 homeschool football teams. Their signature variant of 6-man football has been dominated by homeschool teams. But whereas 2 years ago there was just 1 eleven-man homeschool team in Texas, this year there will be 8 eleven-man homeschool organizations.
  Missouri added 2 more eleven-man teams. Michigan will probably have around 10 teams, as will Georgia. The Great Lakes states continue steady development. The East Coast and Southeast are very populated with homeschool football. The Delta region has an established homeschool conference. California has a solid 8-man league. There is talk in the South Central region of developing a 2-division conference ( more on that, later.)
Part Two will be published a few days after this address...