Today we finished our annual Girl's Basketball Memorial Weekend Tournament at FCC ( prior to FCC, we ran this at Reedley College). It is a great fundraiser for our program, but more importantly, it brings all the girls together for some early bonding. We have about 20 local high school teams who participate. It is well organized, and run professionally with CIF officials. Teams are guaranteed 5 games. Good Stuff.

Today, I witnessed three coaches exhibit questionable behavior. The first coach felt an out-of bounds call did not go his way. He held the ball under his arm, arguing with the ref. The ref explained the call, and asked politely for the ball 5 times. The coach would not give up the ball and continued to argue. He finally gave up, dropped the ball to the ground, then walked away. The ref gave him technical. This is a ref who I have known for many years, and it takes a lot to get under his skin. Very porfessional guy. There may have been more said, but I don't think so in this case. The coach came over to me, and said he was leaving at half-time. Okay......

The second coach, with different officials, didn't like a call. After riding the ref for some time, he finally used the "F" word. BAM! Technical. (Deservedly so in m opinion) The coach kept it up. The second ref came over, asked the coach to calm down, and to please to not use the word. The coach says it again to this official. BAM! Second technical. The coach takes his team off the court, down by about six with maybe four minutes left in the first half of the game. Hmmmm...

The third coach, in a quartrfinal game is riding the officails hard. He was unhappy about several no calls during the game. The coach finally calls a time-out. Instead of talking to his team, he goes up to an official and gets right in his face. BAM---technical. He continues to get in this guys grill---BAM...#2!

I don't even know where to begin with this behavior. FIrst, what do any of these situations teach your athletes? Nothing. Period. Second, by walking off the court, all you do is hurt your team and the other team because the coach essentially did not get his own way. If the games is out of control, and people are getting hurt, I might be able to understand, if both coaches are in agreeance. That was not the case here at all. In addition, all the refs were verterans. Not rookies who personalize things that are said. Not yong trainees. In my opinion, each coach acted unprofessionaly, unethically, and with little reagard for his team.

And people wonder where kids pick it up? My six year old was with me all day. A long, 10 hour day in the gym. He behaved better than these three. he got ice cream....again.

Too far...

Yesterday an incident occured at my son's final day of instructional league baseball. He was wrapping up a season of fun, and boy did he have a great time! Who doesn't remember their first baseball season as a little kid...

As I was sitting down, waiting for my son to bat for the final time this year, another parent from a different team walked up to me. He made some small talk, too which I paid little attention, as I watched my kid hit the second pitch over the third basemans' head. I cheered on my son like any parent. After he reached second base and the play was over, my jubilation quickly diminshed. Something I heard clicked on in my head. I turned to this parent, and said "What?" He asked if I was going to hold my son back a year in school to repeat kindergarten. Perplexed and scratching my head, I told him that my son was doing well in school. He looked at me, pulling down on his faded Red Sox ball cap, and said, "No, I meant for sports. He's a big kid. He could shine later on down the road." i thought he was joking, but sadly, he wasn't. I just kind of stared at this guy before i said no.

I watched my son chase a grasshopper as we left the field, headed for some well deserved pizza, trying to forget what I had heard just ten minutes earlier. Where has the innocense of sport, the "love of the game" gone? Has corruption filtered down this far? What fantasy is swimming through the mind of this guy?

Sports should be fun at this level, like in the movie "The Sandlot." Scarfing down a hot dog on the fourth of july as you run to a night game, pretending you are the greatest player who ever lived, going to the community swimming pool, and hanging with friends....pure fun! Just play. Pretend. Imagine.

I love sports and all they have to offer. My son likes playing sports. My wife and I don't force him to do anything, we ask him if wants to play. He may change his mind later down the road and decide he would rather be in a band, drama, or modern dance. Forcing him into a sport is not going to change the fact that he doesn't want to do it. What does matter is that he choses something he enjoys doing.

I feel bad for the child of this one parent. What chance in life does he have to be a kid or ever make his own choices later down the road? What does this incident say about society as a whole? I am afraid to answer this question. I think I'll just share a root beer float with my son.

First post

Hey all! This is the first post on this site. This blog was created as an assignment for a technology class in my MA program.

My technology skills tend to be on the lower end of the spectrum. However, I have been reading more articles on how technology, particularly the Internet, podcasting, and blogging, are the top forms of entertainment for teens. If this is what students like, maybe presenting information on these mediums might enrich their learning.

This forum will entertain multiple topics for discussion. Sports will be the primary focus since that is what i enjoy! Other topics related to health, fitness, education, coaching, and philosophy will pop up from time to time....but you never know what might be brought to the Forum by the public...