You have to love the Georgia High School Association.

(Long pause later) No, doesn’t look like I’m getting any ‘Amens’ on that.

Why did I just make such a statement? Well, I wasn’t planning on a personal editorial this week until Tuesday, when I came across the GHSA newsletter for April. It’s called ‘Items of Interest’ and is always released the first working day most months of the year.

What you can count on every once in a while is a piece on the opening page that is spot-on about issues involving high school athletics. And it’s always penned by the executive director, a post which hasn’t gone quite through as many changes as most in the executive branch of our federal government just in the past 15 months.

The subject matters addressed include the classification challenges in Georgia and sportsmanship, such as in the February 2018 edition where the headline pleaded for student-athletes to win humbly and lose gracefully. It reported, at that time, that ejections from basketball games already exceeded the number from the previous season.

Currently, the GHSA boss is Robin Hines, someone familiar with Moultrie as a former Packer assistant football coach and with myself. For the latest newsletter, the attribution is both for Hines and the National Federation of High Schools executive director, Bob Gardner. It’s on a subject that’s sure to grab the attention of anyone with a serious personal stake in high school athletics: college scholarships.

I’ll summarize their points while adding some of my own views. For more than 25 years, this sports reporter covered numerous high school games and, subsequently, more than my fair share of ‘scholarship signings.’ Those ranged from Division I to junior colleges to a place where you spend the day helping build military vessels and then play college-level football to the Atlanta Sports Academy in Fayetteville (not a junior college, but not really a ‘prep school’ either). From doing these stories, you learn several things along the way, like how not every college sport gives out ‘full rides’ to everyone and that one level, NCAA Division III, does not give out athletic scholarships.

My memory on some of these assignments is pretty bad. Right before I left Houston County, I looked back at issues from my first year 10 years before. There’s my byline on a story about somebody going to play college soccer or something like that. It’s like I’m learning about this player for the first time, for I could not recall that name or even doing that story. Maybe it’s because I just got there and didn’t follow their career all the way through, if ever.

Like Wayne Grandy does with his ‘notes’ column, I often tried to see what scholarship signers I covered are doing at that school. I make an effort of trying to remember as many as possible, sport by sport. When I look up the school’s athletic page, maybe I find the name, or maybe it turns out he/she never enrolled. Sometimes they transfer to another college, and it turns out to be a good move.

It’s made me wonder what the percentage is of those who actually did go to the college I did the big story about, where they loved the campus, felt like home there, etc. I would hope, from being in four different locations, it’s more than 50 percent.

Don’t get me wrong. I anticipate each and every one of these assignments and pray things work out for the young lady or gentleman at the next level. There are still some more I know are out there for the 2017-18 Colquitt County High graduating class, and this is always a great time to profile them.

Getting now to what the execs had to say, it starts with that age-old statement that could contain a hint of cynicism, that some parents are out there living through the accomplishments of their children. The idea is that specializing in one sport every day of the year equals college athletic scholarship.

The reality of the situation is, as stated before, most college sports don’t provide student-athletes with that ‘full ride.’ You name it, it’s paid for.

But just in the NCAA, there are not enough scholarships allotted for every player on certain teams to have one. Those coaches can divvy up the loot any way he or she sees fit, and if you get a full one … very lucky. Those coaches then rely heavily on walk-ons to fill out a full roster.

Walk-ons, to explain, aren’t getting any aid from the school, but they could get some eventually. That happened to UGA football kicker Rodrigo Blankenship after the 2017 season got underway.

A handful of those ’signing’ ceremonies of mine were actually for ‘preferred walk-ons,’ which means while you don’t get assistance now, you do have an assured spot on the team.

This GHSA article says NCAA data shows the average Division I athletic scholarship is worth $10,400 and that fewer than two percent of all high school student-athletes, or one out of 54, will suit up for a D-I team.

So if you know anybody who had a four-year career at this level – and I do – congratulate them sincerely.

Next is this piece is where the writers take a bold stab at what most see as the sure route to college success. I’ll let their words speak for themselves: “Even if the dream is realized, parents likely will spend more money for club sports than they ever regain through college athletic scholarships.”

Club sports, or as some like to call it, travel ball. Maybe you can claim these writers are biased, because they follow it up with this suggestion: play for your high school.

Wait a minute. They do, don’t they? Yes, but it’s also pointed out that with school sports, you get the academic setting stressing grades with coaches who must adhere to the standards set by a school district. You also don’t have the participation fees and the tournament fees that add up to billions per year for the private organizations.

But the counter is that there are two reasons the youngster needs travel ball. The first is exposure to college scouts. This is probably true for what colleges may deem ‘minor’ or ‘non-revenue’ sports like baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball.

Basketball could certainly go either way, because college coaches are as likely to be at the GHSA state finals as they are any AAU event.

Football may be the only one where recruiting is mostly done at the schools when assistants show up at practice or household name coaches are seen at your local Friday night venue.

If you are lucky, you can get an offer at somebody’s camp.

The other reason? Well, you could argue getting athletes to play something year round increases the chances of winning championships at the high school level. There’s the other avenue of prestige and bragging rights as a team supporter.

Hey, if the travel world is what you want for your child, more power to you.

Full disclosure, my own niece played club volleyball for years, which was essentially her classmates at her Christian school in Brunswick. She had a good high school career with two area championships at Glynn Academy, but she will not play in college.

The one time I saw her play live was in last season’s state first round, and they won easily over a team that did not have year-round players. Developing skills over time is a big advantage, no doubt.

Sometimes, though, I feel sorry for the high school coach who is indirectly competing with the club coach over philosophies with certain players. “That is one tough player to coach,” I have heard. Maybe the softball pitcher has that coach’s voice in her ear during a high school game and makes decisions based on that.

I say you must respect who is in charge of your team at that time, because any insight could be valuable. I even heard one high school coach call out her players (soccer) for listening more to the spectator side of the field than the bench.

One final point I will pull from the newsletter is that being in school opens you up to other scholarship opportunities. It’s said that $3 billion per year is available for athletic scholarships, $11 billion plus for academics and other financial aid.