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the Discussion |
"I know that
life's not always fair, but do we have to teach our kids this at the early
age of 12?"
STINGERVB |
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By
Thomas Houser
Here’s what we have to decide:
Are certain kids kept on the team because they have special parents, OR
are those kids kept on the team because
THEY’RE SPECIAL, regardless
of who their parents are. Yes, even on my team, those special kids
usually make up a large % of the players......but it's NOT because their
parents are special, but it’s because the kids have been raised by special
adults, and the kids are now reaping the benefits of that. Let me
give you some examples.
These special adults have supported
their kids athletic endeavors, sent them to summer camps, paid for the
JO, given them rides and picked them up, expected their kids to give their
best effort, tried to keep them away from alcohol and teen pregnancies,
are supportive of coaches, etc, etc, etc. So these kids learn how
to play the game, they learn how to deal with different coaches, they learn
how to persevere when the outcome of a drill or match looks bleak, and,
thus, become kids that the high school coach would be crazy to cut.
They're also probably the best players on the team, and, thus, will play
every night.
Compare those special kids to the
kids:
whose
parents are working 2 jobs;
whose
parents can't afford camps and JO;
who
are already parents themselves;
who
only have 1 parent, etc.
These kids may not make the team,
not because of who their parents are, but because they're just not as good.
It’s sad and it happens at our school every year. Little Janie, who
lives 15 miles from the school on the county line, who didn't come to the
$5/day rookie camp b/c she had neither the money nor a ride, gets cut at
our high school JV team tryouts. Why? She didn't ever
have a chance. So even though we had TWO week-long rookie camps,
went out of town to three camps (had 3 fundraisers), have 3 JO teams based
at our school, and an open gym for rookies one night a week all summer,
she didn't make the team. Yep, the rich get richer, and, even though
it is unfortunate for the girls with less opportunities, our team prospers.
If you have other questions
that you think I should address, please send me an email.
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