It’s been 40 years since I lived in Ridley; in that span I have kept passive attention to Ridley football. From reading posts, some have alluded to the changing demographics of the Ridley community as part of a perceived decline of the program. Can someone honestly share with me what “changing demographics” actually means specifically regarding to Ridley?
Ridley Demographics
- Thread starter Chadds
- Start date
-More poverty/low-income families (I have a few rental properties within the school district I have sold b/c finding quality renters was becoming problematic)
-Many senior citizens/fewer young families
-Young families, despite astronomical tax bills, finding ways to send their children to parochial/private schools.
-Declining enrollment (2010-almost 2,100 students. Now around 1,800)
-More single-parent families with parents working multiple jobs, kids just not playing sports; sports are not emphasized the way they used to be. Look at Ridley sports across the board-their teams have struggled recently in all sports, not just football. Kids have to work now so that they can pay car insurance, phones etc., hence they don't or can't make the commitment to athletics the way they used to.
The demographic/socioeconomic across the Central League has changed. Students who used to go to private/parochial schools in other districts now stay b/c tax bills outpace tuition. The growth of Garnet Valley, featuring a lot of families from the Ridley/Springfield area, reflects this.
I'm sure there are more reasons.
-Many senior citizens/fewer young families
-Young families, despite astronomical tax bills, finding ways to send their children to parochial/private schools.
-Declining enrollment (2010-almost 2,100 students. Now around 1,800)
-More single-parent families with parents working multiple jobs, kids just not playing sports; sports are not emphasized the way they used to be. Look at Ridley sports across the board-their teams have struggled recently in all sports, not just football. Kids have to work now so that they can pay car insurance, phones etc., hence they don't or can't make the commitment to athletics the way they used to.
The demographic/socioeconomic across the Central League has changed. Students who used to go to private/parochial schools in other districts now stay b/c tax bills outpace tuition. The growth of Garnet Valley, featuring a lot of families from the Ridley/Springfield area, reflects this.
I'm sure there are more reasons.
For one, the baby boomers are getting up there and of course their parents have mostly passed on. I see more city people moving into my neighborhood (Ridley Park, Essingtown, Prospect Park, Norwood, etc, et al) plus those that can afford it move west as the sprawl continues in that direction to western Delco.... Concordeville, Garnet Valley, Kennett, Chadds Ford and beyond.
The 202/1 intersection is/has sprawled N,S and West, making it one big parking lot down 202 past Ethan Allen, Target Master gun club/shooting range, to Applebees….Concord Mall to Wilmington. Used to be a few open spots along 202 but it is really booked now. Has been for years.
With Delco being the first sprawl in this direction from the city, it looks and is long in the tooth so is more likely less appealing architecturally/aesthetically to a younger or more professional crowd. Was once a blue collar stronghold. But when the plants and factories close or modernize, everything changes.
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Its not just the amount of kids, but what you do with the kids you get. If all it took was more kids, Reading & Upper Darby would win everything. While Garnet Valley's numbers are growing, they are still the smallest 6A school in the Central League. But they do more with their numbers than most schools, especially Ridley.
I always liked using participation numbers as a barometer for schools that have active and thriving sports programs. For example, GV has approximately 840 boys in the school. For spring sports only, the have a 90 person track program, 100 person lacrosse program, 45 person baseball team and another 40 playing tennis. So about 1/3 of their boys are doing a sport. If you factor in another 100 kids lifting every day for off season football, and the percentage jumps to close to %45 of boys doing something athletic in the spring.
Ridley has about 100 more boys ( about 930), but has about 50 for track, 50 for lacrosse, 40 for baseball and 15 for tennis, or about %17. Toss in another 50 kids lifting and the number jumps to about %22 , or and half the number that GV has. If you add in girls, the nujmbers get progressively worse.
Bottom line-Ridley has less kids doing sports by a large margin compared to the smallest school in its classification. And you cannot win with those numbers. Now, why the kids arent coming out is probably for many of the reasons others have posted. But I do not think its just demographics or economics becuase if that were so, you would not have the Coatesvilles or Harrisburgs of the world.
I always liked using participation numbers as a barometer for schools that have active and thriving sports programs. For example, GV has approximately 840 boys in the school. For spring sports only, the have a 90 person track program, 100 person lacrosse program, 45 person baseball team and another 40 playing tennis. So about 1/3 of their boys are doing a sport. If you factor in another 100 kids lifting every day for off season football, and the percentage jumps to close to %45 of boys doing something athletic in the spring.
Ridley has about 100 more boys ( about 930), but has about 50 for track, 50 for lacrosse, 40 for baseball and 15 for tennis, or about %17. Toss in another 50 kids lifting and the number jumps to about %22 , or and half the number that GV has. If you add in girls, the nujmbers get progressively worse.
Bottom line-Ridley has less kids doing sports by a large margin compared to the smallest school in its classification. And you cannot win with those numbers. Now, why the kids arent coming out is probably for many of the reasons others have posted. But I do not think its just demographics or economics becuase if that were so, you would not have the Coatesvilles or Harrisburgs of the world.
Speed - that’s a great point. Why are athletics so popular at a place like GV? One the other hand, why aren’t kids coming out for sports at a place like Ridley? It’s an interesting dynamic.
Speed,
Read on social media that Ridley hired a coach from Academy Park (Ewing) to be their DC. I can't imagine Wood giving up his title or play calling. Any insight into this?
Read on social media that Ridley hired a coach from Academy Park (Ewing) to be their DC. I can't imagine Wood giving up his title or play calling. Any insight into this?
Status of Ridley Sports in a nutshell:
Long time prominent local school board member who has been calling the shots at Ridley for years has a son who was an All American lacrosse player at Ridley when they were winning state titles years ago. Son marries a Ridley grad who herself was D1 college lacrosse star in college, and they settle in Ridley of course. They have a daughter who obviously is raised playing lacrosse and is one of the top ( if not the top ) 8 th graders in Pennsylvania while attending Ridley Middle School last year . She would have easily been the best player on the high school team if rules allowed it. But no worries , as a double or triple legacy , she will have 4 great years at Ridley starting in the spring of 2019. Except an end run was pulled and she is now playing lacrosse at an Inter Ac program. So if an athlete with that background isn’t playing at Ridley , then you know something is wrong somewhere . I’m its heyday, no one , or almost no one left Ridley.
Long time prominent local school board member who has been calling the shots at Ridley for years has a son who was an All American lacrosse player at Ridley when they were winning state titles years ago. Son marries a Ridley grad who herself was D1 college lacrosse star in college, and they settle in Ridley of course. They have a daughter who obviously is raised playing lacrosse and is one of the top ( if not the top ) 8 th graders in Pennsylvania while attending Ridley Middle School last year . She would have easily been the best player on the high school team if rules allowed it. But no worries , as a double or triple legacy , she will have 4 great years at Ridley starting in the spring of 2019. Except an end run was pulled and she is now playing lacrosse at an Inter Ac program. So if an athlete with that background isn’t playing at Ridley , then you know something is wrong somewhere . I’m its heyday, no one , or almost no one left Ridley.
While that may be true, the point is you have life long ridley people going to other schools for sports and this almost never happened years ago.
Very true, but times have changed as you expressed. Ridley used to mean family. The community had your back as long as they knew you were teaching and had their kids best interest at heart. Today .... not so much.The old heads are delusional “OLD CROWS NEST” are just that , OLD. The RIDLEY COMMUNITY needs to stop worrying about winning little league championships and start to CONCENTRATE on development of skills in our youth regardless of sport. Wins and losses occur because of fundamentals at the youth level. High School coaching is over rated as a whole.
It hurts me to hear someone say, "high school coaching is over rated" in any context.
Sad mostly!
I think it's because the coaching I had in high school helped me more in life than any experience I ever had in the military or in life. To me, at that age, high school football coaches were much more than X and O guys calling plays.
What's going on at Ridley is very complex. Kids, parents, school administration, tradition, coaching staff all play a part in where that program stands today. From the outside I still think it can turn around but it will take a dramatic shift in thinking about football. That shift starts at the very top.
Sad mostly!
I think it's because the coaching I had in high school helped me more in life than any experience I ever had in the military or in life. To me, at that age, high school football coaches were much more than X and O guys calling plays.
What's going on at Ridley is very complex. Kids, parents, school administration, tradition, coaching staff all play a part in where that program stands today. From the outside I still think it can turn around but it will take a dramatic shift in thinking about football. That shift starts at the very top.