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The catcher, Lindsey Lyles, for Lufkin High school has made a big impact on the tea this year. No....... just cause you can catch a ball does not mean you can "catch". It takes alot of talent, tremendous arm speed, exceptional pop time, and dead on accuracy to make a top catcher. This girl has all those qualities.

DD has been swinging a Rocket Tech for 2 years and abosolutly loves it! Great swing and pop. However it is time for a new bat and have been looking around and swing lots of demos in the cages. She seems to be leaning towards the new Demirini CF3. The bat has a great swing, ball comes off the bat incredibly, and most of all DD says the swing just feels "strong"! Most all of the bats mentioned in the previous posts are good, Determining factor..................what is DD comfortable with?

Prayers from Lufkin

Rankings are simply a guess based on the previous years performance. There are far too many factors that can change a the outcome of a program in one year. You can have a team that was considered a powerhouse last year, factor in the loss of a few "stud" players, UIL reallignments to new disctricts, youth, inexperience. All of these can put a district play off team from last year to a 6th - 7th place team this year. I do not think that you should completly dismiss them as they can give us a general feel for the program, but I would not base my entire season on them. You never know when a program is going to creep up and bite you in the ??? because there were not a contender last year. Best advise...........................play each game like the opponent is state ranked! Never count a team out.

Lindsey Lyles from Lufkin

:rolleyes: They always forget Lufkin is still part of East Texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lindsey Lyles out of Lufkin should be strong. Young but great arm and mechanics. Should make Varsity.

:coolball: Just wondering if anyone has the "scoop" on this division. Strengths, weakness, players to watch for, new comers, etc. Would like to hear your thoughts!

My understanding is that they were planning on hosting a high school fall league?????

:thumbsup: Whether you are from a 1A or a 5A school there is now and will always be politics! It is, unfortunatley, the way that we humans are wired. Stawberry66 asked if there were any boys sports in High School where there are cuts? I can only speak for our school, which by the way is 5A. Yes...............I know that our baseball and cross country teams do hold try outs and there are cuts. Don't get me wrong they are no were near the number of cuts for cheerleading. My kids high school has 3 squads, Varsity, Jv, and Freshman. Because of our numbers attending our school there are 16 Varsity, 16 JV, and 24 Freshman. on average for the 56 spots there are 200 students who apply (mostly girls however we do have a few male cheerleaders). Fortunatly we have a criteria mandated by our school board as to try out procedures: They start with teacher recommendations and conduct reviews. Then all cheerleaders must attend a 1 day clinic where they learn their routine and cheer, then they try out the very next day. The cheer and routine are made up of 3 college judges who teach and judge the entire process. Girls are provided numbers and are scored based on those numbers. Top numbers who meet a minimum criteria make the squad. This year we did not have enough Freshman or JV how met the minimum score so the squad was reduced to 20 Freshman and 11 JV. Even with all these outside judges, minimum scoring and hard work there is still POLITICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and there always will be.............However it really is up to the individual cheerleader to decide how she is going to handle herself and it is up to the parents to decide what behavior they are willing to tolerate from their children. No I don't care for the attitudes of some of the cheerleaders, but guess what. This is a fact of life in every sport, every neighborhood, every family, and every career. You either adapt and learn to look around it or you will end up giving up those things that you love most! So if my girls want to cheer they will cheer, if they are good enough to make the squad. Fortunatly both of my girls have been good enough. One is Varsity and one is Freshman. I can live with the politics because its is a part of life, they must learn to live with it instead of run from it. Actually I think that it has made them better individuals for dealing with it instead of quiting and looking for something a little easier. JUST MY OPINION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :

We in LUFKIN think we count!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Being from Lufkin and following the posts on this board regularly, thought much of the time it is for Softball, I think alot of the reason that the 5A schools don't participate is because much of what is discussed on this board centers around the smaller schools. This is possibly because the larger schools have their own forum sites. I know Lufkin has a fairly large site that is utilized for about anything having to do with the school, sports, academics to community affairs. As for following the games...................................wow for those that think Lufkin Panther football is not a community supported program it is obvious that you have not attended a game in years. Yes we do travel mostly to the south so it would be difficult to attend those games. But come out to a home game any Friday night and try to find a place to set. Other schools love to see us comin. They say when they play Lufkin we make their concessions and ticket booth budget for the year. If you cant make a game check out the caravan that travels with the team. It usually consist of around 10-13 charter buses (some are chartered for fans) and personal automobiles, well most of the times the visitors parking lot cant not hold them all. As for our Baseball and Basketball programs, they too are beginning to see this type of support. What we normally see is that winning programs will garner the support of the fans. It is when teams start loosing that the fans support will fall away. right or wrong it is the nature of the beast!!!!

Hands down.............................Lufkin!:happy65:

Yes the Troup-Buna game did get pushed back. Lufkin will be playing on home fields against Georgetown at 6:00. First play off game was rained out in Klien last night. Lufkin fields look to be in good shape. Have not had much rain in last 36 hours.

Whether you agree or disagree with the reallignment, there are teams that are already making these long road trips, spending $$$$$$ every away game, and having the kids get home at 12:00 - 1:00 in the morning Average road trip for a school like Lufkin is 2 hours..........one way. They have to leave at 2:30 in the afternoon to get to the schools because they have to combat "Houston" traffic. Games are normally over by 10:30, load the bus 11:00, get on the road and get back to the school 1:00, get unloaded and get home, well its morning. As for the fans making the trip, have you ever seen a Lufkin football caravan????????? Wow. Schools in the district love it. It makes their annual budget! And yes I know that Lufkin has 2500 kids in the school, but they are playing some of the largest 5A schools in the state. And, if the reallignment goes through there is some talk that Lufkin will be making that Texarkana trip! Just an observation, not a vote for or against!

I have 2 daughters, 1 only cheers and the other cheers, plays softball, volleyball, basketball, and throws shot put in track. I can tell you that both of the girls work their b#@&s off for cheerleading. The squads that my daughters are on run several days a week. they do bleachers, make occasional trips to the weight room. They have a 10 minute work out that generates around 200 crunchs a day! I am not sure who said that you don't have to be in shape to be a cheerleader but let me try to explain it. When a flyer is in the air she must have strong legs and abs of steel. That is where her balance is going to come from. When a base lifts a flyer she better have solid legs, and pretty good arm and shoulder tone. Have you ever heard the saying "cheerleader legs". This is not just a saying it is a fact. Try doing a set of 10 toe touches in a row! Not many cheerleaders are tooth picks anymore. They are very muscular. You try to throw someone up into the air and then cradle them. If you are one of the really good cheerleaders who tumbles you have to use every muscle in your body whether it is to block, tuck, or a jump. If you don't have the muscle tone you will not be able to accomplish any of these. Let me add this, my daughter has played competitive softball since she was 8 years old, she is now 14. Tumbling and cheerleading has given her more tone, diffenition, and strength than anything she has ever attempted! As for the danger, yes according to the "professionals" cheereleading is the most dangerous sport there is! I challenge anyone who believes that cheerleaders are all fluff and not bronze, go to a NCAA championship or even turn it to ESPN and watch the kids. They are pretty amazing.

I think the team you are looking for is bad attitude. What age bracket are you looking for?

Back to the original post. Many people follow select ball. What is the question or comment?????????????????? Sorry didnt follow it well I guess.::wacko:

I know that most east Texas schools are 3 & 4a, but I would like to hear what you thoughs are on the 5A schools in east Texas