Travesty or Travel...

[johnny d]

Originally Posted by BryanV21

Sure, when you take the situation there then it's unreasonable, and it's silly to expect both coaches to be okay with it. But that's not what we're talking about. Anybody can take something to the extreme to "win" an argument, but how about we stick with the situation as described?

And what part of the country do you live in where empathy doesn't exist? We're talking about a kid with downs syndrome that wants to play basketball, not some war where one side is telling the other not to use real bullets.

Sucks that sportsmanship doesn't exist in some places.

It doesn't have anything to do with empathy. Nobody said the kid shouldn't play basketball either. It is great that this kid and his parents want him to be included in these activities, but if his disability is such that he cannot participate at a level that is even remotely within the rules he and his parents should explore other options for him to continue to play basketball. Around here, they have Special Olympic teams for this purpose. I have volunteered to officiate their games many times and from my perspective, the kids enjoy playing games against and with kids that have similar disabilities and abilities as they themselves have.

[BryanV21]

Originally Posted by johnny d

It doesn't have anything to do with empathy. Nobody said the kid shouldn't play basketball either. It is great that this kid and his parents want him to be included in these activities, but if his disability is such that he cannot participate at a level that is even remotely within the rules he and his parents should explore other options for him to continue to play basketball. Around here, they have Special Olympic teams for this purpose. I have volunteered to officiate their games many times and from my perspective, the kids enjoy playing games against and with kids that have similar disabilities and abilities as they themselves have.

Unfortunately, not everybody lives in areas with other options. And you're forgetting that we're talking about KIDS. It's people with that attitude that's the problem with youth sports.

[Adam]

It's freaking middle school, b squad. This IS the 'other options' IMO. He'll probably be done after this season.

I probably would have likely responded like Dan in the game, and any guilty feelings I had would have disappeared when the coach started acting like a dick after the game.