Not Everybody Gets a Trophy...

A couple of months ago, I went to my daughter Samantha's 2nd grade assembly at her school. She was receiving a reading award for being the top reader in her class. As I sat and waited anxiously for my daughter to get her certificate, I watched as teachers hand out awards to students like "Social Butterfly Award" and "Use of the Most Colors in a Painting".

I shook my head in disbelief. I thought these awards might help the self esteem of the recipients and their parents but at the same time it cheapened the Academic awards kids were getting for hard work and achievement. Heck, it made me wish I could have made the Dean's List for "Pencil Sharpening Technologies".

We live in a society where everybody gets a trophy. Personal achievement, hard work and dedication is overlooked for receiving an award for just showing up. This is not a realistic view of the real world.

After Thursday's victory over Westhills, a parent was upset that her son did not play. (He did play the 5th Quarter) She wanted to know why her son wasn't playing in front of the other player and she thought he needed to be a starter over the incumbent.

My policy is not to discuss playing time with parents. It is the responsibility of the player to come to me and discuss what is on their mind. I am trying to teach our young men to be responsible and have a say in their future. This parent refused to listen to my reasoning and insisted since she was the parent, she had the right to know.

The voice in my head started to play, "Everybody gets a trophy." Her ill tempered outburst ruined what would have been a night of celebration for me.

So I will pass on the following information for everybody. My personal goal is to play everybody as much as I possibly can. We have 81 players and we can only put 11 on the field at one time. But if a player does not know his assignments, he will not play. It is not to punish him, it is to insure the safety of the other 10 players on the field.

Also, a player has to earn the right to play in the game. Merely showing up to practice is not enough. Our players need to show their coach during the individual and group periods of our practice that they can compete and earn that right to be on the field.