What a day yesterday. Our little rant caused quite a stir. We received 54 supportive e-mails, 8 comments on the blog and we went on High School Baseball Web and that discussion is still going on…40+ replies later.
But then we realized, of course we would get supportive e-mails. The fans of our site and the readers of HSBW are the non-whiners. They are the parents that get it and are constantly in search of more information and education. They understand that there is only one way for their sons to achieve success and that’s through hard work, a great attitude and an undying passion for the sport. If they don’t have those three attributes, along with their talent, then their chances of success will be greatly diminished.
Most of our readers have sons that play travel ball and through that experience, they understand that there is always a better player ready to take their sons position…many parents want their son in that position…it’s an incredible life lesson…because in the real world, there are tons of obstacles, thousands of competitors, mounds of stress and grizzly, man eating bosses and executives ready to churn and burn your ego. My son loved those hard nosed coaches…still does. They motivate, exhilarate and create a desire to be better…not to mention make life very interesting.
The parents that need this the most don’t read this site. They don’t care to. They live in their overly protected world and create drama for those that dare trespass into it. They don’t want competition, they want democracy. They don’t want their son to have to put up with a grizzly coach…they want Ward Cleaver. They protect their son, but in the process leave him so vulnerable to the realities of the outside world. They only want to win, if their son is part of the victory..,otherwise, they are the type of parent that loves to see a .450 hitter strike out and then say. “See, he’s not that good, my son could do better than that.”
So send a copy of our articles to a parent that doesn’t care to read what we have to say, but has to…Who doesn’t think that what we say is of any importance, but is important for them to know that there are others who don’t agree with them…to a parent that will read this and feel real uncomfortable and hopefully find comfort in our message. Then send it to your coach and tell them that we have their backs…and so do you. More on this topic tomorrow.
RT Staff
2 comments:
There's a story our coach tells about this fanatical parent that thought his son deserved more playing time. The coaches response...
"Oh, so you want me to play my best 8 players and your son?"
Here is your advice to the player: "[Succeed] through hard work, a great attitude and an undying passion for the sport." But you assume way too much about the coach. As I said in a post to another of your articles on this topic, coaches, being human, make mistakes. I have seen kids bust their tails harder than anyone else on the team, go above and beyond in cheering on teammates, picking up bats, and slapping high-fives, and truly possess an undying passion for baseball--and still not get even a chance--even behind a .250 hitter. And again, why? Either because the coach is a poor judge of talent or he has so heavily invested himself and his reputation in that kid he is playing that he is going to make his own brilliance show by giving that kid all the reps and experience and opportunity.
Don't assume that some parents and some players don't have valid complaints. How they air those complaints is one thing. The fact that they are valid is another.
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