Cardiff/Russell: I’ve coached T-Ball through Pee Wee youth football and I’ve seen it all. From wonderfully supportive parents to parents you want to drag behind the athletic shed and beat with a shovel.
However, and in agreement with Cardiff here, Russ, you’re taking too hard a line and making some fairly sweeping and incorrect statements. All kids go through varying stages of athletic ability and confidence. Yeah, bad coaching or bad parenting can wreck a kid’s confidence and enthusiasm and turn off any desire to participate. However, I think that’s the exception and not the rule.
If you look at Cardiff’s experiences as a player and a coach, you’ll find far more guys like him volunteering their time than the overbearing “win-at-all-costs” guys. Not all kids are meant for sports and, as kids get older, the dividing line grows ever clearer. Yes, kids below a certain age should be participating for the “fun factor” and to learn new things, but let’s also be honest enough to admit that, at a certain point, its about competition and winning. Its sports. As Vince Lombardi once said, “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, why do they always keep score?”.
And this is where I break with the rest of the PC “Everybody should win a trophy just for trying” crowd. Bullshit. At a certain level, it becomes about victory and defeat and pushing one’s self to the limit. Its about teamwork and carrying the load and not letting those around you down. I’ve seen 18yo varsity athletes crying their eyes out, and after both defeat AND victory. I don’t want a trophy if I lose, what’s the friggin’ point? I want to earn it. I want the victory to matter. If everyone gets a trophy regardless of outcome, how does that teach any lessons of value?
If everyone is excellent, than no one is. And that is precisely what is wrong with our society today: We’re a bunch of entitled, lazy victims who always want to win, but without expending any of the necessary effort or making the sacrifice.
