Posted by joey on 9/29/2015, 3:35 pm Original VIP Member
After staying put in the MAIS in March, University Academy is considering applying to the LHSAA for the 2016-17 season.
Citing travel concerns and the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) placing the school from Class 1A to the association's largest classification — Class 4A — UA floated around the idea Wednesday with an informal poll on its Facebook page to parents and fans.
While there is no timetable for University's plans, University athletics administrator Kelly mentioned that the school is "60-40" in favor of applying for the LHSAA.
"Our kids get back at midnight (after each game) and they have to go to class the next day," Kelly said. "These are college students. We have 100 percent dual enrollment this year, so for us, the problem comes in that we're missing key instructional time. Because we are an educational institution that is trying to set a new bar in Central Louisiana, we're missing too much instructional time with our teams having to leave early for ballgames that are three hours away."
Last season, the Lions' district featured Louisiana teams, but its move to Class 4A leaves them as lone Louisiana school in the district.
Currently, University — a school with roughly 195 students — has to compete against schools triple its size in district play and its nearest district opponent — the Parklane Academy in McComb, Miss. — is three hours away from its campus at LSU of Alexandria.
"If (we were in the LHSAA), we'd have to drive to Baton Rouge for the association meetings, instead of Jackson," Kelly said. "(Lady Lion softball coaches) Craig (Whittington) and Megan (Pierson) had to go to Parklane for an All-District meeting, otherwise we'd have it somewhere in Alexandria if we were in the LHSAA."
A move to the LHSAA would greatly reduce its travel time, as it would likely be placed in a district with Central Louisiana foes Block, LaSalle, Montgomery, St. Mary's and fellow Rapides Parish school Northwood, which is only 27 minutes away from UA..
The Lions are also hoping that it can develop rivalries with teams inside the parish such as Menard.
"Those crosstown rivalries are huge in high school," Kelly said. "That's what memories are made out of."
The downside is that if it applies to the LHSAA, is accepted and takes the invitation, it would be ineligible to compete for a state championship for one year. However, players can receive individual awards to the All-District and All-State teams.
"I've had one parent say that she doesn't want her daughter to not have the opportunity to compete for a championship next year in softball," Kelly said. "But (the players) can still earn individual honors. We have those caliber of players. I'm just trying to look long term for the school."
They were already approved to join the LHSAA last spring. I felt they would/should have joined then, for the exact same reason as stated in joey's post. Eight, six, seven, five, three, O, nine
Can you get that song out of your head?
I think a move for them makes a lot of sense....
Posted by Craig Jackson on 9/29/2015, 10:16 pm, in reply to "university of cenla"
They are just in an area with no private schools close. Throw on top of that, they get fed to the lions without any common sense being used in the districting, and they should definitely consider a move. What is strange, is a school like Cathedral actually has a closer to home schedule by going from public to private....it is just all about demographics and the number of schools of like size in a certain area.
Re: I think a move for them makes a lot of sense....
Posted by BTE on 9/29/2015, 8:23 pm, in reply to "university of cenla" Original VIP Member
This moves seems inevitable. I question the part about Cenla having to compete against schools "three times their size". They would not have been placed in that district with that type of disparity. This sounds like apples are not being compared to apples. If Cenla is only a 9-12 school, then yes, Parklane and others are going to be 3x if you are going to count their K-12 numbers. What grades does Cenla have?
Their 9-12 numbers are comparable to other AAAA numbers. Of course the Preps and JAS have a lot more but the rest of the schools in the smaller division has comparable numbers (within 10-20 kids of them)... As far as travel goes, I mean yeah its definitely not very many schools close to them...