Dear Coach,
On Friday December 13, 2002, I
attended the girls high school basketball game. For the past 7 years I
have been religiously attending girl's basketball, softball, and field
hockey games home and away. A coaching decision that you made in the
final 20 seconds of that game compelled me to write this letter to you.
My daughter (name withheld) was not
allowed to participate as a team member until you called her off the
bench with 20 seconds remaining in the game with her team leading by 8
points. Proudly, I watched as she politely refused to take the court.
Perhaps as a protest for not being allowed to contribute to any other
portion of the game, or perhaps out of fear of being embarrassed. Either
way, her decision displayed more class and maturity than did your
decision not to play her for the entire game. The applause from many of
the fans who realized what had happened confirmed my thought that she
had turned the embarrassment from herself on to you. Also, I might point
out that another "teammate" was only allowed to play for a
period of 1 minute, 10 seconds late in the game. In that short time,
this girl scored 2 points, I believe the same 2 points that put your
team ahead. Her time played/points scored ratio was better than any
other member of the team. She can also salvage some pride out of an
embarrassing situation.
When my daughter refused to take the
court, you told her, "Aren't you part of this team?" A
rhetorical question I suppose. You didn't really think she could
honestly answer yes, did you? Quite honestly, with her team ahead by 8
points and 20 seconds left, nothing my daughter could have done would
have affected the outcome of the game. With my daughter not taking the
court, you could have played the last 20 seconds with only 4 players and
the outcome would have been the same. A part of the team, you say?
Giving a locker room pep talk about team play and teaching kids to work
as a team and then using players only in meaningless situations, are the
most hollow and hypocritical words a coach can say. You are guilty of
that.
Some day you may be blessed with
children of your own. You will soon learn, that as a parent one of the
most heartbreaking feelings you will experience is one of watching your
child be embarrassed. I can thank you for that feeling. Conversely, one
of the most rewarding feelings you will experience is seeing your child
demonstrate the values and character that you try to instill in them. I
can thank my daughter for that feeling.
When I confronted you and voiced my
displeasure over this incident, your answer to me was, "We had to
win." Those four words spoke volumes regarding your character and
intentions. There has never been a coach in the history of this school
that was relieved of their coaching duties based on their win-loss
record - you did not have to win. There has never been a student who has
quit the team because they were not satisfied with the team's won-loss
record - you did not have to win. To my knowledge, no student has ever
lost an athletic scholarship based on the win-loss record of the team -
you did not have to win. Winning means fulfilling your duties as a
coach, teacher and mentor. Despite the final score, you did not win. In
fact you lost.
Except for the basic rules of play, a
high school athletic team has nothing in common with a professional or
college team. At the professional or collegiate level, players are
recruited from all over the world. Only the best players make it to that
level and are monetarily rewarded commensurate to their talent in that
particular sport compared to every other hopeful in that same sport.
High school athletes volunteer to be a part of a team. An athlete plays
for that particular high school only because his parents choose to live
in that community. High school athletes are not recruited from other
areas with promises if tuition, playing for the best coaches,
state-of-the art sport complexes, or impressive won-loss records. A high
school athlete's only reward is to play in front of his fellow students,
family and friends. No high school athlete should have to forfeit his
reward in favor of satisfying the coaches desire to win a game.
Perhaps some day this school board of
education will adopt a policy making winning the most important part of
the sports program. If such is ever the case, the first place to begin
building on this type of program would be to recruit the best coaches
from anywhere in the state or further. Every top-notch professional
sports team begins with the best available coach. Until then, the
students are coached by teachers who are awarded coaching positions
based on union contracts. It seems ironic that a coach can participate
100% of the time regardless of his coaching ability, but can limit a
player's participation to 0% based on his playing ability. Even a coach
with mediocre coaching skills could certainly filter in all of the
players on a 9 girl squad equally. A coach who considers himself a
professional or college level coach in a high school setting should seek
employment in the professional or college ranks.
In closing, allow me to make a point
with a hypothetical situation. Imagine that you voluntarily joined an
adult, evening basketball league. And, suppose your coach required you
to attend a 2-hour practice everyday after work. This commitment would
leave you with little spare time to spend with family and friends and
less time to spend with other interests. Correcting papers, exams, and
planning the next day's lessons would have to be done after practice,
sometimes keeping you up late at night. Now here comes the game. This is
what you practiced and sacrificed all week for. Your wife comes to
watch, your children, maybe a couple of your friends and maybe even your
parents. But guess what? You never get in the game. This leaves you
puzzled and embarrassed. You search for a reason that you were not
allowed to play. Am I that bad? Would the coach have been fired if we
lost? What will the people that came to watch me play have to say? What
will I say to them? Do I want to do this anymore? Notice that I didn't
include the outcome of this hypothetical game. After all, does it seem
to matter now?
Sincerely,
<name withheld>
