Sports teach. They teach the value of hard work and working together. They teach about preparation, sacrifice, success, and disappointment. Sports teach young athletes to push themselves and believe in themselves and so many other important lessons that are difficult to replicate any other way. And, sports teach responsibility. At least, they should.
If you ask me, the failure of people to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences which follow is among the major problems in our society. We are constantly looking to pass the buck, to point a finger, to place the blame on anyone else. We make excuses for ourselves. It's human nature, it seems. It happens in life and on the field of play. Something goes wrong and it's our fault - because of something we did or maybe didn't do - but we want to blame someone else. The line should have blocked. The receiver should have caught the ball. The linebacker should have made the tackle. And so forth. Of course they say, what doesn't come out in the wash, comes out in the rinse (or for our purposes, the film room). Teammates depend on each other. Teams are more successful when each player is responsible for doing his or her part. You don't make excuses, you do it right next time. See, sports teach.
And, coaches are great teachers. Or, they should be. And, here it comes: my comments on the Clay-Chalkville debacle. If you aren't familiar, Clay-Chalkville was ranked number 1 in 6A and undefeated heading into the playoffs just a week ago. Then, it was reported that they were playing an ineligible player, who had been expelled from another public high school for a year. The AHSAA investigated and determined that the player was, in fact, ineligible and stripped Clay of its 9 wins. Since then, the school has filed for an injunction which would overturn the AHSAA ruling and allow them to participate in the playoffs. A judge granted the injunction, putting Clay in and the team that had gained a playoff berth due to the initial ruling back out. Now this team has filed a suit.
By now, the entire situation is a complete mess. Somewhere in the middle of it all, something important is being overlooked. Clay is making every attempt to shift the blame to someone else in order to avoid the consequences. The player was ineligible. Someone dropped the ball. The AHSAA places the responsibility of determining eligibility statuses on each member school. Basically, the AD (which is usually the head coach) has to do his job. I feel for Clay's players. I can only imagine how devastating it would be to have such an amazing season only to see it stripped away because of something like this. But rules are rules. Someone signed his name on a document declaring this kids as eligible when he wasn't. Stop making excuses and pointing fingers and start apologizing to the kids you let down. Use this to teach your athletes how important it is to be responsible, do your job, and when you've made a mistake, face it like a man.
As if they didn't have enough to do, coaches have the added responsibility of being examples for their athletes. They must not lose sight of what is really important. And yes, there are more important things than playoff games, like the kind of men they are creating. Fortunately, I think there are more good coaches than bad. And, Woodland, in case you didn't know, has some of the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment