|
Two different perspectives
1) Author is right that there are too many parents who care a little too much and get a little too involved in what is going on with their kid's team. And the parents can be a nightmare to the point that you cut a parent rather than a kid - I have done it and will do it even quicker in the future. These parents are poison to a team and to youth sports in general. And, like a Greek tragedy, in trying so hard to help their kids, they wind up doing more harm than good and their kids do not benefit.
2) Author is wrong in that he is listening to a guy that sounds to me likehe is a coach rather than a parent (granted he may be both). If you coach a serious level of play, the kind of issues he is talking about come up. It's wrong to criticize this guy just based on his physical appearance. Author doesn't know him. It's not like Don Zimmer looks like a baseball player, but nobody says anything about him coaching. This guy could have been a four-year three-sport letterman 20 years ago but let himself go.
I deal with a coupple of the issues that the author criticizes this coach for addressing. We are an 8th grade AAU team with a couple of players who would normally be cut, but I kept them because this is probably their last season with our club and they have 3 years playing in the club. We have advanced, they have not - they work hard, but are limited in their potential for athletics. I have to constantly try to find ways to get these kids on the court while allowing a high level team to play competitively in high level games against superior competition. And I am looking for those weaker teams as an opportunity to play my lower level players who can't run with the best teams we play.
I also have ongoing discussions about the "mechanics" of some of my best players, and their ups and downs. They go through slumps, they struggle with confidence, they make a consistent fundamental mistake, etc. And I have to discuss these things with my fellow coaches. And that is my role as a coach. That's what these kids need from me if they are going to play college ball, and some of them have that potential.
I didn't read much in that one side of a phone conversation that differed from many conversations I have had, and think I have a pretty good perspective on how to balance winning and player devleopment. And I agree with Mick - teaching high level athletes how to win is part of player development, just as is teaching them the rules, sportsmanship, and fundamentals of their sport.
|