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Appreciating what we had.

wvbossman

Junior Varsity Poster
Nov 1, 2012
120
143
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The situation we are currently in is a difficult one. My heart goes out to the athletes who didn't have the opportunity to finish their winter seasons or even get to start their spring seasons. I feel really bad for the seniors, for many of them it was their last shot and now it's gone.

What I am going to express here is purely opinion and I have no problem with anyone who may feel differently, no opinion is wrong in this discussion. I have always maintained that many times some good can come out of a bad situation. Through adversity you always have the ability to grow and become a better person.

To begin I have over 30 years in education and have coached a variety of sports at many different levels. Coaching is the most rewarding and at the same time most challenging job you may experience. I coached up until a few years ago when family circumstances made me step away.

Although I couldn't coach I continued attending games, supporting my current and former students and maintained contact with many of my coaching friends. The things that I observed and heard from fellow coaches often made me wonder if we had lost our appreciation for sports, the role it plays and the people who coach, organize and officiate the games.

I have two friends who are high school football coaches. They both are very successful and extremely dedicated. They care more about developing their players into better men than they do wins and losses but they still win, make playoffs and win state championships.

They both have expressed doubts about continuing to coach. It's not the time or energy that is the problem, it's not the players for the most part. It's the selfishness and greed of many of the parents and fans. The coaches preach team, sacftice and playing for each other. The parents and fans want stats, scholarship promises and only what's best for their kids. Nobody thanks them for their efforts or shows much appreciation for what they do. Their phones ding at all hours with questions from parents about playing time, carries, minutes played etc. No appreciation for the opportunity these kids have to be part of a team with great role models as coaches.

I know this part wil offend some but it is my opinion and I am fine with disagreement, but be respectful. I do not like travel sports, particularly when it requires young athletes to play multiple sports in one season or pulls them away from playing on their local teams. With the way travel ball was building I see it being only a matter of time when some athletes no longer see the reason to play for their local teams and small schools really begin to suffer with numbers in many sports. To me the practical time to engage in travel sports is the summer. I also do not like the financial burdens and time demands it places on families. Family time, down time is essential for young people.

When I have the opportunity to attend games whether it be football, basketball, baseball or most any other sport the behaviors and level of hostility I see are alarming. I went to several middle school basketball games this year and watched several average teams playing regular season games. Fans were yelling at coaches, coaches were yelling at each other and everybody was yelling at the officials. It's no wonder why some kids don't want to play, it's not an environment that many kids want to be a part of. It was pretty much the same at many of the other sporting events I attended all the way down to pee wee football and baseball.

Now we have no sports but perhaps we have the opportunity to look at what we had, where we were headed and hopefully get our priorities straightened out. My hope is we begin to do what's best for the young athletes and not the parents or adults. We see the value in sports as the chance to learn great life lessons, learn how to win and lose, how to be part of a team, deal with adversity and grow as a person. For those select few it may also be an opportunity to advance your career and get some of your college paid for and for the even more select few a shot at professional sports.

I hope we appreciate the people who unselfishly give their time to coach, and do it with the proper perspective, and give them the credit and respect they deserve. I hope we give the officials,who are for the most part, doing their best the respect they deserve by not judging them on a job that is extremely difficult. I hope we make sports about what is best in the long-term for the student athletes because that is what it REALLY is all about. I am excited for the day that our student athletes get to resume their seasons.
 
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Well stated.

Having experienced travel teams, I would never do it again. If my children had not experienced it, I don’t believe they would have been any less the student-athletes they were in high school or college.

With all that being said, I am not 100% certain they would have had the playing time and leadership opportunities at the high school level had they not played travel ball. It became a community expectation in a few sports.

It is, well, overrated, and those who can consistently afford it - “pay to play.”

Having experienced success and heartache as a former coach, I put as much or more time into teams and individuals that were not championship caliber to those that were. In the end, they got better.

Regardless of the sport, it takes time and commitment to coach. If done right, it takes sacrifice; often-times from one’s family.
 
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The situation we are currently in is a difficult one. My heart goes out to the athletes who didn't have the opportunity to finish their winter seasons or even get to start their spring seasons. I feel really bad for the seniors, for many of them it was their last shot and now it's gone.

What I am going to express here is purely opinion and I have no problem with anyone who may feel differently, no opinion is wrong in this discussion. I have always maintained that many times some good can come out of a bad situation. Through adversity you always have the ability to grow and become a better person.

To begin I have over 30 years in education and have coached a variety of sports at many different levels. Coaching is the most rewarding and at the same time most challenging job you may experience. I coached up until a few years ago when family circumstances made me step away.

Although I couldn't coach I continued attending games, supporting my current and former students and maintained contact with many of my coaching friends. The things that I observed and heard from fellow coaches often made me wonder if we had lost our appreciation for sports, the role it plays and the people who coach, organize and officiate the games.

I have two friends who are high school football coaches. They both are very successful and extremely dedicated. They care more about developing their players into better men than they do wins and losses but they still win, make playoffs and win state championships.

They both have expressed doubts about continuing to coach. It's not the time or energy that is the problem, it's not the players for the most part. It's the selfishness and greed of many of the parents and fans. The coaches preach team, sacftice and playing for each other. The parents and fans want stats, scholarship promises and only what's best for their kids. Nobody thanks them for their efforts or shows much appreciation for what they do. Their phones ding at all hours with questions from parents about playing time, carries, minutes played etc. No appreciation for the opportunity these kids have to be part of a team with great role models as coaches.

I know this part wil offend some but it is my opinion and I am fine with disagreement, but be respectful. I do not like travel sports, particularly when it requires young athletes to play multiple sports in one season or pulls them away from playing on their local teams. With the way travel ball was building I see it being only a matter of time when some athletes no longer see the reason to play for their local teams and small schools really begin to suffer with numbers in many sports. To me the practical time to engage in travel sports is the summer. I also do not like the financial burdens and time demands it places on families. Family time, down time is essential for young people.

When I have the opportunity to attend games whether it be football, basketball, baseball or most any other sport the behaviors and level of hostility I see are alarming. I went to several middle school basketball games this year and watched several average teams playing regular season games. Fans were yelling at coaches, coaches were yelling at each other and everybody was yelling at the officials. It's no wonder why some kids don't want to play, it's not an environment that many kids want to be a part of. It was pretty much the same at many of the other sporting events I attended all the way down to pee wee football and baseball.

Now we have no sports but perhaps we have the opportunity to look at what we had, where we were headed and hopefully get our priorities straightened out. My hope is we begin to do what's best for the young athletes and not the parents or adults. We see the value in sports as the chance to learn great life lessons, learn how to win and lose, how to be part of a team, deal with adversity and grow as a person. For those select few it may also be an opportunity to advance your career and get some of your college paid for and for the even more select few a shot at professional sports.

I hope we appreciate the people who unselfishly give their time to coach, and do it with the proper perspective, and give them the credit and respect they deserve. I hope we give the officials,who are for the most part, doing their best the respect they deserve by not judging them on a job that is extremely difficult. I hope we make sports about what is best in the long-term for the student athletes because that is what it REALLY is all about. I am excited for the day that our student athletes get to resume their seasons.
Travel ball has created more entitled thinking among athletes as well. They think time spent with a travel team out of season shouldn't affect their standing with another school sport where they are missing workouts because of traveling. If you want to concentrate on one sport... great. Travel teams are perfect for that. It's messed up, though, to be on a traveling softball team, for example, and then question why the volleyball coach is getting on you for missing stuff.
 
Travel ball has created more entitled thinking among athletes as well. They think time spent with a travel team out of season shouldn't affect their standing with another school sport where they are missing workouts because of traveling. If you want to concentrate on one sport... great. Travel teams are perfect for that. It's messed up, though, to be on a traveling softball team, for example, and then question why the volleyball coach is getting on you for missing stuff.

My son plays basketball and my daughter plays soccer and I haven't experienced these type of issues. Are there some situations that force the kids to choose between the travel team and in-season team?
 
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