OT: need a little HS sports advice

[Parkview57]

Thanks everyone.

I want to apologize for skipping down and commenting and not reading through this like I should have.

 

[303vND]

So? It's still just a double in a game their getting destroyed in.

Now if he rarely gets a hit and knocked a double, I can get behind the kid celebrating. Other than hitting for the cycle, i dont see a reason to be celebrating down by 7. Trying to use your double as a rally the troops moment... all for it. Celebrating just a double in the name of fun down by 7, get out of here.

It is the coaches job to set the tone. If those kids are having fun losing by 7, then they shouldn't be out there! This is not little league anymore. At some point , and I would say HS varsity is that point, they need to learn to start manning up.

It’s a teaching moment - if he gets to the professional level with the same mentality then that’s a different discussion.

 

[pittdan77]

It’s a teaching moment - if he gets to the professional level with the same mentality then that’s a different discussion.

I see your side of this but to be honest, why wouldn't a coach admonish a kid for showing some energy when they were losing? Maybe it was too far gone for a comeback but at least he has a kid giving it his all.

 

[303vND]

I see your side of this but to be honest, why wouldn't a coach admonish a kid for showing some energy when they were losing? Maybe it was too far gone for a comeback but at least he has a kid giving it his all.

Let me be clear - the coach should absolutely send a message to the young man but you don't have to berate him in front of the entire team. I would have sent a pinch runner in to get him and then pulled him to the side and called him everything but a child of God.

 

[PittPharm2002]

Not completely HS Sports, but very HS Sports related.

Tonight is our baseball team's senior night. Since my wife & I are the only junior family that has been with these seniors for the past few years (my son has played up, JV as a Freshman, Varsity since then), we are pretty much running the festivities tonight.

As usual, the kids filled out a questionnaire that I'll read while introducing each senior and their family. Our HC is a different breed. Zero sense of humor and rules the program with an iron fist. He really diminishes the kids' fun and joy of playing the game. (He is a solid coach as far as trying to teach the game and overall running of the program - but he just doesn't understand teens at all).

So, earlier this season, one of our best players (a senior) got benched for celebrating a double late in a game in which we were getting beat by about 7 runs and then berated in front of the team after the game for being "selfish". In the "advice for future players" portion of the questionnaire, he wrote "Be yourself regardless of how much a coach tries to prevent you from having fun and don't stop celebrating success". This isn't just one disgruntled kid (he has since been reinstated). He is pretty much saying what most of the kids and parents have been feeling. So I applaud him for being willing to say this.

My dilemma is, do I just read the script and defend myself by saying "my job is to read the script, not editorialize" and that "this was his wish - your issue is with him, not me" when the coach confronts me after the game (which has about a 75% chance of happening). I did discuss with the kids parents and they had a very emotionally intelligent response "we read it and agree with how he feels and we explained to him that there could be consequences for him and he will just have to learn from it if there are." So, they are fine with me reading it. What they aren't considering is whether or not they are putting me in a bad spot. He's a senior and our season is almost over. But my kid is a junior and while he is one of the, if not the best, junior on the team (and one of the top overall), he hasn't been treated very well all season either. Our coach could punish him because he is mad at me for reading that.

Add to this that our team gets some of the best attendance I've seen for HS baseball. We play Friday night games under the lights. Some games have had as many as 300+ people. Tonight will be no exception being senior night and youth baseball night. So it will be crowded. So, do I refuse to read it? Or do I just respect the kid's senior night wish?

The event is for the kids
The coach needs to find something else to do with his life .
Eff him for being a prick to kids playing a game

 

[Parkview57]

The event is for the kids

Waah, Waah, I don't get to do what I want to do 24/, waah, waah, waah, someone criticized me, waah, waah, I'm only 18 years old, waah, waah.....sob, sob,

 

[PittPharm2002]

Waah, Waah, I don't get to do what I want to do 24/, waah, waah, waah, someone criticized me, waah, waah, I'm only 18 years old, waah, waah.....sob, sob,

Seems the coach doesn’t hold himself to the same standard .
The kid was competing
The coach should have conceded the game if he didn’t want a kid to compete


Tell me who acted like a loser in this situation again ?