300lb 12 Year Old Denied By Mesquite Pee Wee League.

[FirefightnRick]

My first thought when I read this was a kid named Greg Blakeney, who for those of you who may have grown up in Granbury in the late 80's may remember. Greg played with my younger brother. In the 6th grade he even dwarfed his coaches, and the sight of them all huddled together was hilarious. There would be the kids, looking up at their coaches, then the coaches looking up at Greg.

Greg came to North Texas and actually walked on the basketball team here for coach Jimmy Gails for a while in '89 or '90. He was a very nice kid. I've always wondered what he's doing these days? Anyone here know or remember him?

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=8274444&city=dallas

Rick

Edited August 17, 2012 by FirefightnRick

[UNTcrazy727]

My first thought when I read this was a kid named Greg Blakeney, who for those of you who may have grown up in Granbury in the late 80's may remember. Greg played with my younger brother. In the 6th grade he even dwarfed his coaches, and the sight of them all huddled together was hilarious. There would be the kids, looking up at their coaches, then the coaches looking up at Greg.

Greg came to North Texas and actually walked on the basketball team here for coach Jimmy Gails for a while in '89 or '90. He was a very nice kid. I've always wondered what he's doing these days? Anyone here know or remember him?

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=8274444&city=dallas

Rick

I'm going to sound like a jerk here, but I don't care...

This is getting blown way out of proportion because the kid can still go play for the middle school where he'll still be twice the size of everyone else. In Grapevine it wasn't even an option to play pee-wee once you got to 7th grade. This kid needs to nut up and play in the league he belongs in.

[Green P1]

I'm going to sound like a jerk here, but I don't care...

This is getting blown way out of proportion because the kid can still go play for the middle school where he'll still be twice the size of everyone else. In Grapevine it wasn't even an option to play pee-wee once you got to 7th grade. This kid needs to nut up and play in the league he belongs in.

Agreed. 5th/6th graders play pee wee. 7th graders play middle school ball.

[UNTstormchaser]

I feel bad for the kid, but even if he doesn't have experience, he's still going to dominate in middle school. He'll make new friends on the team, and he'll be fine. The rule is the rule, and considering he is over two times the weight limit, it just wouldn't be fair at all to let him play. Even if he sucks and is too slow to play tackle and DE, stick him at guard on offense and as a DT on defense, and he'd be unstoppable. No 130 pound 7th grader can push back a 300 pound kid.

I do feel for the kid, since it was just 7 years ago when I was his age in middle school, and that's a tough time for anyone who is different. Even if nobody makes fun of him for his size, he's going to feel incredibly different and awkward in social situations, and I can understand that he's a bit hesitant to just play for the school, where he doesn't have friends. But doing things that aren't ideal are great for life experience, and his parents shouldn't be pushing for him to break the rule of the league, they should be pushing him (well, guiding, not pushing) to go against the easy route, and to dominate for the school team.

[meangreenacct]

Have we offered yet?

[outoftown]

I think this is a classic case of where the good of the group has to go before the good of the individual, even if the individual really has not done something bad... i mean if I were a parent of a 115 pound 6 th grader I would not want him to play 300 pounders either. If they did allow that I would probably start thinking about where I can find a league that is not only fun but also safe for my kid.

[UNT 90 Grad]

I'm going to sound like a jerk here, but I don't care...

This is getting blown way out of proportion because the kid can still go play for the middle school where he'll still be twice the size of everyone else. In Grapevine it wasn't even an option to play pee-wee once you got to 7th grade. This kid needs to nut up and play in the league he belongs in.

You don't care that FFR is trying to find out what happened to former UNT student Greg Blakeney? I don't know if that makes you a jerk, but it kind of sounds like you missed the point of his post.

[UNTcrazy727]

I have no idea who Greg Blakeney is. Just commenting on the story FFR linked

[ForneyGreen]

My first thought when I read this was a kid named Greg Blakeney,

My first thought was that we need to start recruiting a 300lb 12 year old in Mesquite...

[shaft]

I feel bad for the kid, because I'm scared to disagree with a 300 lbs. 12 year old up.

[GreenBat]

Does no one worry about this kid. He is twice the size of an average healthy 12-year-old. He has a high chance of Type II diabetes, and cardiac stress problems. There is also a chance he will have joint problems. I feel sorry for this child.

[UNT90]

Does no one worry about this kid. He is twice the size of an average healthy 12-year-old. He has a high chance of Type II diabetes, and cardiac stress problems. There is also a chance he will have joint problems. I feel sorry for this child.

Have you seen video of the kid? He may be a little overweight, but is mainly just a big, big, kid who is, for the most part, height and weight proportional.

With a little weight training, you should hope this kid feels sorry for you, not the other way around.

[ADLER]

I think this is a classic case of where the good of the group has to go before the good of the individual, even if the individual really has not done something bad... i mean if I were a parent of a 115 pound 6 th grader I would not want him to play 300 pounders either. If they did allow that I would probably start thinking about where I can find a league that is not only fun but also safe for my kid.

Then you should put your child in a private league where they have weight restrictions on players, and not in a public league where weight restrictions don't exist.

Wait, that's already the case, and this whole deal is just grandstanding by a family looking for a lawsuit and a coach pushing for an unfair advantage?

Solution: terminate the coach and tell the kid to play in the public league. Case closed.

[gksmith]

The kid is 300 lbs and the weight limit is 195 lbs. He needs to play at the higher level.