1. Gotta have a great birthdate. Ideally late October, November or December.
(For those of you a little slow, that means snuggling up with the Mrs. January, February or March. Usually a nice Christmas present helps here. Just don’t make it too good or you will wind up with a September date which is disastrous!)

2. Reclass in elementary school. Another year of ABC’s never hurt anybody.

3. At 8th grade, go see the man (provided he wants you) and learn from the best.

4. 9th and 10th grade go to one of the public school academies/IB. They’re all good academically. Tell the coach you played for the man. You should get 2 years of varsity.

5. start of what should be the 11th, go explain to the man you recognize the err of your ways. They will accept you back provide you are willing to get the extra training you need.

6. Do 10th, 11th and 12th and refine your game.

This will allow 6 years of basketball. Not sure if any age issues at the top end in privates.

Me, I messed up with the birthday part so I had to choose a different route (I try to blame the Mrs. but she dismisses my foolishness). But make no mistake, if I had the man child, I would consider.

This won’t work for everyone and there are risk that rules could change during your master plan.

I use some local references above but this applies statewide.

So to all of you that have problems with families making decisions for their particular situation, everyone has choices and we do not live in a static society. People will always do what they believe is in the best interest of them and theirs and that is their right.

So let’s stick to the X’s and O’s and the families will take care of the Johnny’s and Joe’s.

I gave you this for free. Next time there may be a fee.

Always remember…Don’t hate the player(s), hate the game!

So you might wanna use other examples.

In all seriousness, back to the point…I thoroughly enjoyed watching GDS play last week. And it has taken me a long time to accept/understand the quality and depth of their program, as I have always been partial to the Grimsley, Page, and Dudley type programs (and Smith too). However, the desire and determination, along with a dynamite gameplan, really was the difference. I dont think GDS’ talent was superior to the top 4 teams in the tourney…but their overall confidence in their coach’s gameplan makes them a hard to defeat.

To address some of the comments about recruiting…dewright called someone ignorant in another post for their comments about recruiting, however, the rebuttal he used in quoting what appeared to be ‘Rule H” (?) for the NC Independent schools governing body still did not discount the possibility that a 19 year old senior could be playing his 6th Little Four tournament. Not even saying that this comes anywhere close to happening, but it is a possibility…and your quotation of the rule didnt refute the ‘ignorant’ poster’s point. Additionally, and I do not speak regarding GDS on this point, it is a pretty naive definition of ‘recruiting’ to say that anyone associated with an athletic program at a school is in violation for inquiring of an AAU athlete to attend that school. In an age when high school coaches have such close ties to AAU representatives, direct contact never even has to take place. Its as easy as an AAU coach saying, would you be interested in going to (fill in the blank) ? and the process starts….

Anyway, not trying to bash you…just trying to, as my new drinking buddy says, keep it real. Sounds like you, dewright, are from Asheville way…looking forward to seeing you and the ‘Greenie nation’ go after goliath here in a few weeks.

KIR, catch you next time…I will bring the cigars, you bring the Buds….

Two more points on your post.

Comment 1.

“You have to pass a standardized test to get in to school”

You sure have a lot of reclassifications for having to take a test to get in. What did the test confirm? You need another year or two before going off to college? I guess if I had 6 years of high school, I’d be college ready too!

Comment 2.

“…CARING teachers, BRIGHT students…”

Come on now. What are you implying. Public schools in my (excuse me, our) neighborhood don’t have caring teachers or bright students?

If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, guess what, it is a duck!

Elitist!

I hope the true GDS admin and officials don’t mind us having a little fun at their expense but you really do need to check your Alum. I know they mean well but they need some more coaching on how to deal with us common folks.

Hey hilarious, see you when I finish this next Bud.

Lets meet out in the cul-de-sac tonight for a beer…say 9…haha…we can even invite GDS over from across the street…

What did you mean by the comment “public schools in your area”?

For all you know, I mostly likely am your neighbor.

Now that is keeping it real this morning…

Reading is fundamental. I did use the words “about to border on…” Even my non Ivy League training tells me I didn’t CALL you an elitist.

When you compared graduation percentages, that comes close to the line.

Throwing out 100% statics at a paid high school institution also doesn’t endear you to us common folk.

The following lines in quotes was taken from my previous post…
“not that GDS is better than the county schools … but they all serve a purpose and a niche for every aspiring athlete, musician, actor, and student.
GDS is not the perfect fit for everyone just like some public schools are not the perfect fit ”

Keeping it Real these are your comments…
“Your comments are about to border on elitism.”
“No need to demean the public schools. You make it sound like a good education (and sports) can’t be had at a public school. I personally believe the public schools mirror society as a whole. Have you ever considered some people would rather raise their kids to be able to deal with various situations. GDS is not the only path to the school of your choice in this nation.”

I never once demeaned public schools in my previous post …all I did was state some simple facts on the academic difference between the 2. If you read my comments above in quotes and compare them to your comments in quotes below it is clear that my comments do not border on elitism. It is clear that I said GDS is not a good fit for everyone and is not necessarily better than the county schools.
Keeping it Real… everyone knows / wants great public schools in your area both academically and athletically because it makes your county more prosperous as a whole.

Keeping it Real I think you would agree with me on this… I used the Pennix page district Dudley player and Swinton Southeast district Dudley player example to say … that a kid and his family must make the school decision on what is the best for them.

I hope that you have been keeping it real all morning

This is high school basketball. People have choices. Because they play high school basketball, doesn’t make their lives open for public forum discussion. Let it go!

Your time has passed. Let the kids have their time.

No need to demean the public schools. You make it sound like a good education (and sports) can’t be had at a public school. I personally believe the public schools mirror society as a whole. Have you ever considered some people would rather raise their kids to be able to deal with various situations. GDS is not the only path to the school of your choice in this nation.

Does 100% graduation rate guarantee success in life (If I spent all that money, you better pass my kid ? We all know there are college grads struggling. In fact, a majority of college grads don’t end up in their field of study. Take it one step further, let me give you some successful people that didn’t even graduate from either college or high school:

Daniel Abraham – Founder Slim Fast – Billionaire – No College

Ben Affleck – Actor – College Drop out

Paul Allen – Co-Founder Microsoft – Owner Trailblazers/Seattle Seahawks – College Dropout

Wally “Famous” Amos – Multimillion Cookie Maker – High School dropout

Humphrey Bogart, Mary J. Blige,etc. etc.

In an industrial nation, one of the purposes of school was to have people prepared to work in factories and sit for hours(thus the rows of chairs in classes). Everyone doesn’t choose this path to success.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying by-passing the education system is the path to success. All I am saying is there is more ways to judge success around here than through your school (though I like your allegiance. Nice try).

Just…