Okay, I'm going to rant. I get it. I
live in a small town. One with literally three stop lights (one of which just
really doesn't need to be there). A tradition in this small town is sports. It
lives and breathes football. If your child doesn't play football, then you
aren't in the 'it' crowd. Well, if you know me then you know that I don't quite
give a darn, my darling, if I'm in that 'it' crowd. My main concern in life is
that my sons are good people that give fair chances and in turn get fair
chances. I'm not a delusional nut that thinks the world spins on a Disney
Channel axis and that these fair chances always occur. I just expect that when
it comes to kids these fair chances occur more often than not. That's not quite
the case in small town sports though.
How do I know this? Well, my oldest son played youth football last season. He's fast, likes to learn, and he's eager to play...as are many boys out there. Now I don't know about the rest of the boys, but my son didn't get paid to play peewee football. He didn't sign a second-string contract that stated he would see limited playing time either. So, I think it only fair that he saw equal playing time. I paid the same fees as the other parents did. He spent the same amount of time at the practices as the other kids. He is an athletic kid, more so than others. Maybe less than those superstar kids you see on YouTube videos that are recruited by the time they are four years-old. However, he does have coordination and drive. Let's face it though, young boys rarely are coordinated so that's not what should matter in youth sports. What should matter is "teaching" each kid and giving each kid the same shot at success and failure as the next kid. That means giving them equal play time. Regardless of how good they are, because that can change. Here I am telling my kid they can be anything they want to be in life and yet, here's some coach telling them they can't be anything but that kid on the sideline.
Maybe you'll win that championship title at the end of the year, maybe you won't. So what if you don't? Does that mean your school won't get the Super Bowl trip to Disney World? It means you just made a difference in some kid's life. You may have created the next Michael Oher or Eli Manning. Playing favorites in youth sports only encourages favoritism. Plain and simple...and it makes the coaches look like tools. Little do they know they let those elite few kids play over and over, but the majority of the kids they seldom play have 100 fans in the bleachers talking smack about how the coaches play favorites. Run for office mister coach man. You're not going to win!
After the season of peewee sports is over, their title means nothing and that sideline kid's ego is still crushed. Here sit these hidden talents discouraged from ever playing a sport again, because a coach failed to see what they had to offer that one time they decided to take a shot at playing. Of course they may not be great right from the get-go, but nobody is perfect at anything their first time. It's disheartening to see any child discouraged. What that coach doesn't see is how that kid played in the yard every day that they didn't have practice trying to get better or how they would watch the pros to see how they played the game. They didn't play because they wanted to be in the 'it' crowd, they play because they like to. They are kids.
Each and every kid in the youth organizations deserves equal playing time. Regardless of whether it causes a team to win or lose. Who knows, maybe if a coach is good enough to get the entire machine to work properly as a whole instead of just the little pieces they choose to use they may just come up with an unstoppable winning force. It'd be interesting to see if there was a coach good enough to take on this challenge. Unrealistic, probably. Impossible, no.
How do I know this? Well, my oldest son played youth football last season. He's fast, likes to learn, and he's eager to play...as are many boys out there. Now I don't know about the rest of the boys, but my son didn't get paid to play peewee football. He didn't sign a second-string contract that stated he would see limited playing time either. So, I think it only fair that he saw equal playing time. I paid the same fees as the other parents did. He spent the same amount of time at the practices as the other kids. He is an athletic kid, more so than others. Maybe less than those superstar kids you see on YouTube videos that are recruited by the time they are four years-old. However, he does have coordination and drive. Let's face it though, young boys rarely are coordinated so that's not what should matter in youth sports. What should matter is "teaching" each kid and giving each kid the same shot at success and failure as the next kid. That means giving them equal play time. Regardless of how good they are, because that can change. Here I am telling my kid they can be anything they want to be in life and yet, here's some coach telling them they can't be anything but that kid on the sideline.
Maybe you'll win that championship title at the end of the year, maybe you won't. So what if you don't? Does that mean your school won't get the Super Bowl trip to Disney World? It means you just made a difference in some kid's life. You may have created the next Michael Oher or Eli Manning. Playing favorites in youth sports only encourages favoritism. Plain and simple...and it makes the coaches look like tools. Little do they know they let those elite few kids play over and over, but the majority of the kids they seldom play have 100 fans in the bleachers talking smack about how the coaches play favorites. Run for office mister coach man. You're not going to win!
After the season of peewee sports is over, their title means nothing and that sideline kid's ego is still crushed. Here sit these hidden talents discouraged from ever playing a sport again, because a coach failed to see what they had to offer that one time they decided to take a shot at playing. Of course they may not be great right from the get-go, but nobody is perfect at anything their first time. It's disheartening to see any child discouraged. What that coach doesn't see is how that kid played in the yard every day that they didn't have practice trying to get better or how they would watch the pros to see how they played the game. They didn't play because they wanted to be in the 'it' crowd, they play because they like to. They are kids.
Each and every kid in the youth organizations deserves equal playing time. Regardless of whether it causes a team to win or lose. Who knows, maybe if a coach is good enough to get the entire machine to work properly as a whole instead of just the little pieces they choose to use they may just come up with an unstoppable winning force. It'd be interesting to see if there was a coach good enough to take on this challenge. Unrealistic, probably. Impossible, no.
NB
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I enjoy reader feedback and I respond as soon as I can. Take care :)