NO MORE GIRLS BBALL

            There’s no longer a girls basketball team at Poca High School.  Many people have different thoughts about why we no longer have a team, but I know the real reason. 

            At the beginning of this season we had 14 girls out for Poca High School’s girls basketball team.  We had EVERY single player back from the previous year, and we were predicted to be in the state tournament this year.  I also believe we would have accomplished this with our FULL team, but on the second day of practice we were down to 12 and by the end of the week we only had 9 or 10 players.  Some may say these girls didn’t want to play or didn’t want to work but that is NOT the reason at all.  Who wants to play a sport that is absolutely NO FUN AT ALL?! Not too many people do and that is a big reason we no longer have a team.  COACHES also have to realize basketball isn’t our life ALL year round.  Personally, basketball takes up a large amount of my time and I like it that way, but I also play 2 other sports and I enjoy doing a lot of other activities besides sports.  Some people just don’t realize we are just high school girls trying to play a sport we love and have fun with it.  I understand that practice isn’t always fun and there MUST be some discipline, but people won’t play if they feel like they are wasting their time because there’s NO enjoyment whatsoever. 

            I am a senior at Poca High and I hate to see my last high school basketball season end this way.  The saddest part is that all of the girls quitting and the end of our season could have been PREVENTED.  Another teammate and I went to the principle over 1 month ago explaining how we knew we weren’t going to have a team in the future if something wasn’t done quickly.  He told us “I hope things get better girls.”  We also talked to our Athletic director and freshman coach about the problem and yet nothing was done.  It just kills me to know we could have had a great season, and we could have finished at the civic center.  Also that my senior year has to end this way.  I wanted to play basketball in college, and now college coaches can’t watch me play because we no longer have a team.  It’s just a heart breaking situation that all could have been prevented if people would just take action instead of waiting for the bad things to happen first.

            Ever since the ending of our team i've wondered every day, would this happen to the boys basketball team?.. I DON'T THINK SO.  Something or someone would have stepped in for them to have a team.  Shows how much they really care about girls basketball at Poca High.

  There will be a meeting today at the board with the girls team, coaches, family, and friends so hopefully something good can come from the meeting and we could possibly get our team back. 

2011-2012 Basketball Season!

Poca High School basketball season of 2011-2012 is finally here!  I have been waiting for this season since it ended last year!  Last year the boys had one of the best seasons they’ve ever had and the girls had a great year as well.  Hopefully we will both do well, and maybe we will finish our seasons at the civic center.

Personally, I am very excited for this basketball season but I’m also sad high school basketball is about to come to an end.  I am now a senior here at Poca and I have been playing on the lady dots varsity basketball team since my freshman year.  Through the last three years we have had many great memories.  We have made it to regionals, I have scored my 1000^th point, we beat Scott, (Number 2 in the state) we also beat our rival Sissonville, and I have made so many memorable experiences from playing high school basketball.  Since this is my last year playing basketball at Poca, I want to make it the best yet.  Last year we had a young team that wasn’t quite developed yet, but this year we will be more experience and we have learned how to gel as a team.  Even though we lost Madi McGrew, who was one of our best players, hopefully everyone will step up and keep working hard.  My goal through high school has always been to make it to states.  We came close my freshman year but we haven’t been close since.  I want to go to states in basketball this year more than anything, and I know we can do it.  I know we have a small team, but if we play like we are capable of doing, I know we will get there!

I am also excited for the boys’ basketball team this year as well! They had an amazing year last year, and they finished their season at the civic center in the semi- finals against Scott.  Even though the boys’ basketball team had 5 seniors last year, they still have plenty of talent left on their team.  I also believe many people under estimate the boys’ basketball this season.  I know they may not have as good of a team as they did last year, but I honestly believe many people will be surprised and they will have a great season!

So good luck to the Poca High School girls and boys basketball team this year! Let’s finish at the civic center!

Let's Support Our Cheerleaders!!

Yes, yes, yes we do! We got spirit How about you!?

Nooo!

I really don’t understand why Poca High School has NO school spirit.  I mean really it’s pretty sad.  Yes our football team may not be the best team but we do have several sports teams that do really well.  Beside the point, we also have many really good cheerleaders, and we need to support them like they support us.

                They just competed in a small competition this past weekend at G.W High School and they received 2^nd place.  They also beat our rivals the Sissonville Indians.  They also competed with one stunt due to an injured flyer.  This weekend, they will be competing in the regional competition in Parkersburg West Virginia.  They will be competing against other 9 other double A schools including Tug Valley, Tolsia, Scott, Sissonville, Clay, Mingo Central, Wayne, Sherman, and Chapmanville High School.  Last year at regionals, they received 3^rd place.  The only thing that kept them from placing top two was a stunt that fell midway through the routine.  This year they are hoping to place in the top two, for those two teams will attend the state cheerleading competition in Charleston West Virginia at the Civic Center in early December. 

It seems that the cheerleaders always have a little bit of bad luck.  Last year their main stunt fell and this year problems didn’t get much better.  Just last week, the main flyer Samantha Winter, injured her ankle and probably won’t be healed in time for the regional competition this weekend.  Senior Captains Haley Harrison and Ashlee Peters feel she is a great loss but they have rearranged a few things, and hopefully they will still perform well without her.

I hope the cheerleaders can bounce back from this problem and perform well in regionals, and we will next hear them performing their routine at the state competition in Charleston!  We have many great cheerleaders and an excellent competition squad so let’s go out and support them this weekend in Parkersburg Saturday morning!  

College prep > west test & portfolio fair

                Here at Poca High School, I sometimes feel we do some things that aren’t needed.  Many teachers and staff members feel we need some of these things, but some of them aren’t really needed for our future.

The big thing at Poca High is the portfolio fair.  You start this your freshman year and you present it when you’re a senior.  The semester you have your 12^th grade English class determines which semester you present our portfolio.  The portfolio has the categories of academic achievements, educational career interests, hobbies & interests, positive work habits, and work & community service.  You fill your portfolio with awards, certificates, metals, pictures, school papers, report cards, and much more.  I think the portfolio fair is helpful in some ways but Poca High School’s staff member stress about it too much and blow it out of proportion.  I’m not saying we should completely get rid of it, it is a good tool to help us get ready for future job interviews and presentations, but we need to start worrying more about other things like the ACT, SAT, and college prep.  Many teachers focus on our college education and financial aid but they forget to prepare us for the test we actually need to get in to college.  The staff says well you need to study and do this for your ACT, but they are so worried about the portfolio fair, west test, and school duties they don’t prepare us enough for the tests. 

Another thing we focus too much on is the west test.  I understand that it is a bigger deal than what I think, and it shows our progress along with our teachers’ progress but we focus too much on it.  We do practice tests of the west test and we prepare for the west test so why don’t we do the same thing for the ACT, SAT, and college material?  This is something I hope we can fix here at Poca High School.

I’m not trying to down Poca High at all.  We have many great teachers and facility members here that always try to help us succeed.  I just think they focus a little too much on the portfolio fair and west test when we should be getting us ready for college and the tests we have to take to get there.   

Proving Them Wrong

               The Lady Dots soccer team of 2011-2012 is having the best season Poca High School’s soccer program has ever had.  Not only have the lady dots had an outstanding record; they have also broken the school record for most wins.  They are now in sectional play and one game away from the Sectional Championship. 

                The lady dots have not only won games many people thought little Poca could never do, they have earned respect from other teams and soccer fans through West Virginia.  The Lady Dots now have a school record of 17-4-1.  They are also 4^th in the state and have the leading defense in all of double A.  The defense has an average of 1.1 goals scored on them per game.  They also won their first sectional game 3 to 0 against Hoover and then went on to play the sectional championship game.  This was a huge game because they played Charleston Catholic, the three time state champions who hadn’t lost a post season game in three years.  The dots came away with a great victory over Charleston Catholic with the score of 1 to 0.  The dots scored their goal in the first half of the match and managed to hold Catholic scoreless for the rest of the game.  The Dots are now sectional champs and headed to Regional’s.  For the first time ever at Poca High School, the lady dots soccer team won a sectional championship and is going to the regionals.  The regional game will be played at Point Pleasant Thursday October 27, 2011.  The dots will face their biggest rivals, the Sissonville Indians.  Even though Sissonville is #1 in the state it should be a hard fought game.  The winner of the game will advance to states and have a shot for the state title.  Two of the dots four losses have came from Sissonville, but if the soccer team can play a hard aggressive game, they most definitely can come out on top.  Hopefully everyone will go out and cheer on the soccer team.  The support has been great this year, and hopefully there will be a large crowd at the regional game.  This has been an outstanding year for the dot’s soccer team and they are not ready to quit yet; ladies just play hard and you can kill the ville! (:

Poca needs some new activities!

Poca High School is definite need of some new activities or extra curricular activities.  Considering we are a very small AA high school, I know it isn't real easy for us to just start new activities at any time like other large schools, but I feel we could have a few more things to offer at Poca High School.  
    Poca definitely has quite a few extra curricular activities, but there is a few more I believe we could add.  I think a boy’s soccer team, a dance team, and possibly a swimming team could be added here at Poca High School.  Many people say all the time, “Oh we don’t have enough kids here to have a boy’s soccer team, and it would just take away from our football team!” I really beg to differ.  Many high school boys and students at Poca High also think there would be enough boys interested in playing.  I also think it’s not fair to the boys here that want to play soccer because almost every other school has a boy’s soccer team.  I really don’t think that it would take very many football players away from the football team.  I mean, it’s not like we have a state champion football team anyways.  I think they should start a sign up sheet in the office just to see who is interested and if there would be enough boys to play soccer.  If there would not be enough interested I would understand but if there is enough wanting to play we NEED to get a boys soccer team.  It really just isn’t fair for the ones that want to play.
   Another activity Poca should consider is having a dance team.  I kow we had one at one point, but it had more to do with flag core.  We have many successful dancers at Poca High and some even compete competitively. I truly believe we could start an awesome dance team here, and it doesn’t only have to be cheerleaders and actual dancers.  I think it should be anyone that wants to work and have fun while dancing.
   The last thing I think Poca High should consider is a swim team.  This is another thing I think several kids would be interested in.  I know we don’t have a school pool but practices could be held in Charleston or anywhere close that has an indoor pool.  This another thing that many schools offer that we don’t.   We should just have a sign up sheet in the office just to see who is interested and if we could start a swim team here at Poca.

Spirit Week 2011!

 As most of us know, Homecoming week and Homecoming itself is a pretty big thing at Poca High school.  From red and grey day to class competitions, homecoming is always a fun and exciting time at Poca.

This year homecoming should be even more special due to the extra activities throughout the week.  We have get up and go day on Monday, mismatch day on Tuesday, cowboy and Indian day on Wednesday, character day is on Thursday, and red and grey day is Friday.  We have also added powder-puff, class competitions, class posters, and tailgating before the homecoming football game Friday.  The regular and the new homecoming activities will make a fun and exciting week during homecoming. 

In previous years, about 75 percent of people dress up and actually participate in the days of spirit week.  It would make spirit week and homecoming a lot more fun and exciting if everyone participated and got into it.  All of us know that Poca High School isn’t best known for having the most school spirit and that really needs to change!  This year, I think the more people will participate in the days of spirit week because they are easier to do and more exciting than usual.

Personally, I’m most excited for powder-puff and competing with all the other classes.  The last time we played powder-puff was our freshman year and we tied with the seniors.  This isn’t one of our regular or traditional activities during spirit week, but most likely after this year it will be.  Even though it was a successful turn out a few years ago, we haven’t really had time or put fourth any effort to play powder-puff since then.  Each class gets to design their own shirt for the game and schedule practices for their team. Hopefully the seniors will come out on top this year and show the freshman, sophomores, and juniors what’s up.  It is also the last day of spirit week, (Friday) so everyone should be excited and ready to play. 

I know each class will be competing, but I really hope this year’s spirit week and homecoming will really bring our school together and boost our schools spirit.