Black Diamond District
The A Black Diamond District is a high school conference of the Virginia High School League which draws its members from the western part of Southwest Virginia. The schools in the Black Diamond District compete in A Region D with the schools of the A Cumberland District, and the A Lonesome Pine District. The district gets its name from the "black diamond," a nickname for the coal whose mining formed the backbone of the region's economy until the 1980s. Haysi and Honaker have a larger enrollment than the other schools in the district, sometimes leading to disparities, mostly in football. This is aggravated by Council choosing not to field a football team due to the schools small size and inability to produce enough athletes (typical Council football teams consisted of 15-20 players). In Scholastic Bowl, Honaker has been the dominant force, winning either the district regular season and/or district tournament for 12 consecutive years. While Haysi has traditionally been the dominant team in the sports arena winning nearly all of the boys track titles and a majority of the districts football titles. However, all members have proven competitive in basketball and other activities, with Council, Hurley, and Twin Valley all