County isn't a hotbed

Some local coaches say girls playing athletics are concentrating more and more on one sport. Less and less it seems that sport is basketball in Hamilton County.

The most recent state championships belonging to schools in the county are the Division II titles GPS won in 1999 and 2000. No other school in the county has two TSSAA girls' basketball titles, but that total is next-to-last in state titles for the Bruisers' eight athletic programs.

GPS was part of the first girls' basketball league in the city, along with Central, Chattanooga and Cooper. It was formed in 1909 with games on Friday nights from Feb. 25 to March 25. The TSSAA wasn't constituted until 1925, so its first recognized girls' basketball state champion was Hume-Fogg (14-2) in '26.

The TSSAA went 28 years without having a girls' basketball tournament. It resumed with one at the end of the '57-58 season. The state organization recognizes 142 girls' basketball state championship teams in its history. Hamilton County has produced a scant five.

Believing ... working

Central has been one of the longsuffering local girls' basketball programs. When the former Class AAA Lady Purple Pounders beat Tyner 55-46 in a District 6-AA game Dec. 4, it marked the first time that seniors Tempie Brown, Brianna Heath and Shavon Silvers were on the winning side of a district game. The Lady Pounders have won three games so far after winning five last season.

"We have been more competitive. Of course, dropping down helps," Central coach Rick May said. "Not believing is the biggest obstacle I've come across. When you've been in that hole so long, it's hard getting kids to believe in a system, and believe in themselves. But then, if you can clear that hill ....

"They've got so many things going on in life, it's hard to do. In athletics, as anything, it's just that belief."

Red Bank athletic director Susan Thurman recalled the greatness of the Lionettes' 1969-70 runner-up team -- the first Hamilton County girls' basketball team to play in a state final. Back then they played six-and-six and in one classification. Thurman added she's noticed a "dwindling" within the sport since the time her daughter, Erin, played at Red Bank through 1998 before signing with East Tennessee State University.

"I definitely think there's a real problem," Thurman said. "There are some good players out there, but I don't think there's the quantity there used to be. You might find a player here or there that wants to put the time in, but you don't find a whole team of them.

"You don't become a good basketball player during basketball season. You become a good basketball player when it's not basketball season. You have to get out and shoot 200, 300 shots a day. I think most kids don't want to do that."

Some say there may be a lack of participation because of the length of the season. GPS basketball and softball coach Susan Crownover, whose basketball team has one of the more attractive records in the city at 11-4, is among them.

"It's a long season. It's the most strenuous sport and the most difficult to coach," Crownover said. "It's so long and drawn out through every holiday you can imagine. That makes it difficult on a family to do things over a break."

Other sports strong

Many of the best female athletes in Hamilton County have chosen to play other sports year-round. May, who also has coached softball, said it's a competition among coaches for their time.

Baylor's girls have enjoyed great success recently in golf and soccer. They've won 15 consecutive state golf championships -- one short of tying a national record. The Lady Red Raiders have won six state soccer titles since 1997.

Tennis sets the pace at GPS with nine state titles. Last spring, Crownover guided the softball team to a third consecutive state championship and sixth overall.

"Chattanooga has always been a softball hotbed in Tennessee," Crownover said. "I think success breeds success. If kids are finding success in those sports, they'll stick with it."

The state volleyball tournament last fall included six schools from the county, including Class AA champion Red Bank and Class A champion Boyd-Buchanan. Led by 6-foot junior middle hitter Alex Martin, voted the all-city player of the year, Class AAA Ooltewah also was a state qualifier in volleyball. Martin gave up playing basketball and softball when she left Silverdale Baptist Academy after ninth grade.

"They still ask her to play basketball because she's a pretty good post," said Alex's mother, Julie Martin. "After she transferred she just wanted to focus on volleyball. She plays club volleyball, too. Practice for basketball and the club season overlap a lot. She likes having some down time. She's not one that has to stay busy seven days a week.

"There used to be only one sport for big girls to play. Volleyball has grown so much in our area that a lot of girls that used to play basketball, and even softball, are going to volleyball."

Even having a women's basketball national power such as the University of Tennessee and the Southern Conference's top program, UT-Chattanooga, close by doesn't seem to generate major interest at the local high school level.

"I know that Chattanooga, from my days when I was at Maryville College coaching fastpitch softball, this town is strong in volleyball and softball," UTC basketball coach Wes Moore said. "And I think that takes some of the athletes away. But obviously there's still several, and there's some here in the next couple of years that we're looking hard at -- but whether or not we can convince them to stay home, I don't know."

VERSATILITY HELPS

Crownover said a girl succeeding in a pressure situation in one sport could prove to help her in a similar situation in another. Also, a school benefits by having its best athletes doing most of the competing.

Each of the Bruisers' basketball starters play another sport, even though basketball is the main one for four. The other is senior Tory Lewis, who is headed to UT to play softball.

"It helps my hands a little bit because I'm more of a defensive player in basketball and my focus is on stealing the ball or trying to knock it away," Lewis said. "There's a lot of agility work that helps my feet really well. You never know when you might have to change direction on the spot. In softball you never know which direction the ball's going to go."

Baylor middle school junior varsity girls' basketball coach Doug Moser led Baylor to Class AAA softball titles in 1993 and '94, as well as a Division II basketball runner-up finish in 2001. He coached City's girls to consecutive Class AA basketball state-final appearances in 1982 and '83 -- winning the latter. He thinks it would benefit top-notch athletes in one sport to give another sport a try. Why not basketball?

"Most college coaches are looking at multisport athletes," Moser said. "A lot of parents have the wrong idea. It's been a while since I've dealt with college coaches, but what I remember is they wanted to know how competitive an athlete is. Are they very competitive in a game they're average in? That type of situation is where an athlete's competitiveness may show."