Secret to sports success: Cartoons

Saw this come across earlier today and thought of adding it to Flexmaster's post, but that deserves not to be threadjacked. This one can stand on its own too ... and I think all of us who have covered preps have wanted to write this at one time or another.

Touch them all, Eric Sondheimer:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0401-sondheimer-20110401,0,619557.column

 

I hope he can sleep at night knowing he is ultimately denying a kid of 4 1/2 the chance to ply his trade.

 

Running an 11-year-old photo?

I'd think you could do better.

 

Standing up -- clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap

Well done and needing to be said.

 

One day, I picked up my son from preschool. One mommy, whose bragging about her son's wrestling victories made me want to pimp-slap her, got mad at her son. My son and I walked past her as she made her son drop and give her 10 pushups. "That's what happens when you mess up in practice, so that's what I'll do too" is what she said.

I just don't get some people. My eldest daughter was scarred for life from fastpitch softball when after her second game (playing U10), one dad got in the face of her coach. The dad then proceeded to call his buddies and told them, "we have a problem at the softball complex. Come meet me in the parking lot." The problem? The coach let players from his U14 coach the bases for one inning. It was unreal. The team still qualified for the championship playoffs (finished fourth out of eight teams), but three girls quit before the playoffs because they didn't like the coach. Why? He didn't care about winning or losing. He tried hard to develop players and was open to the fact he didn't care about winning.

I don't get it. Why is winning so important to parents? I know this has nothing to do with the article (which I enjoyed), but with my youngest princess in competitive soccer now, I've seen the dark side of youth sports already. And I fucking hate it.

 

I'm coach of my kid's T-ball team of 5-to-6 year olds. It's a very relaxed league with no competitive atompshere. Why should it be. They are 6. At that age they are there to learn the fundamentals and have fun and get excercise.

However, I must brag on my guys a little bit. They are the best damn bug chasers and dandelion pickers I've ever had the pleasure of coaching.

 

Yes, I'm entering the world of youth sports with my own kids now, too...I think you just have to be an example and not be afraid to speak up when a parent is going over the edge. Most times I've seen it, they have this bully mentality. Not that you're going to change them, but at least they'll know someone thinks they're out of line.

Sometimes a perfectly sane parent gets too involved in the moment and goes over the line...in that case they are usually grateful to be pulled back a step.

 

Ah yes ... when I started out at a weekly, just to break up the summer doldrums, I'd assign a photographer to a tee ball game for a photo spread on kids being kids and learning baseball. One year, at the game we shot, there was a mixup in the score and one parent go so riled up he actually wrote a letter to the editor. Tee ball, up there with city council and where the bus stops should be placed!

A few years later I was driving through the same town. A spot came up on a new radio station (which must have been charging next to nothing while just getting on the air) promoting "Podunk Youth Football vs. the Springfield Junior Isotopes Saturday at the stadium. Come on out and watch future Podunk High stars today!" I hit a button for a different station ... just let kids play, don't burden them with expectations!