Right off the top...this is NOT a rant, it is NOT aimed at demeaning coaches, and it is NOT being written without many hours of careful reflection both as a Coach/Parent AND a Spectator/Parent..I have had the wonderful opportunity to experience both...!!!
How did you feel when the coaches kids played nearly every inning of every game while your kids warmed the bench...
When you registered your kids to play football, baseball, basketball or whatever, were you told they would receive the finest instruction only to find out that your kids were merely pawns that permitted the coaches and their kids an opportunity to fulfill some childhood dream, albeit at the expense of instilling in your kids feelings of low self esteem and self worth...
How did your children feel when they witnessed other kids, especially those of the coaches, getting a lot of playing time even though your children knew the coaches kids didn't deserve it...
Are you tired of explaining away these events to your kids as 'TEACHING MOMENTS'...
You don't need to answer these questions...they are merely meant to be rhetorical and thought provoking...LET ME DIGRESS...
All the sports I played as a kid was of THE SANDLOT VARIETY...
For those of you who are unfamiliar with ‘sandlot ball', let me explain some fundamentals and dynamics of 'SANDLOT BALL'...
First, you gathered together as many neighborhood kids as you could muster...
Next, you went to the closest available 'OPEN SPACE'...Could have been a vacant lot, a parking lot, or some large field...
Then, you selected two kids of about equal talent to ‘CHOOSE SIDES'...(remember now, there were no coaches, no parents, no adults around...JUST US KIDS)
And you then ended up with two teams about as equally matched and equally talented man for man as you could get...
Then the fun began...With no more than an old glove, a paper plate, or a nice flat stone you ‘PREPARED THE FIELD FOR PLAY'...
Kids shared gloves, bats, and even softdrinks...
If its beginning to sound like adults screw up youth sports...relax...It's only the adult? coaches, and then not all of them, that are guilty...
You know...one simple rule would suffice to bring the fun back into youth sports...
EVERY KID PLAYS.......AND EVERY KID SITS...!!!
This should be the defining rule for all youth sports...and don't tell me kids don't want to win...!!! I NEVER met a kid who didn't want to win...!!!
Adopt this simple fundamental rule for your youth sports organization and see what a difference it makes...
Let the fun (and fairness) begin...!!!
