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Press Box

By Staff | Jun 1, 2022

I sat down at a little league field in my car the other night watching kids in the 8-10 year old range playing ball. Other kids were strung out all over the park playing on playground equipment and just having a good old time. Among them were mothers and fathers and many friends and grandparents.

As I sat there it came to my mind that someone could easily walk into the park and open up on these little innocent children. After all there were no locks on any gates and nothing from preventing it from happening. I thought about the recent shooting in Buffalo, NY, and the attack at the elementary school in Texas and the horror those little kids faced and the life the surviving children will have to live with. And I wondered what would cause someone to do such a terrible act.

I thought about the high school athletic events in our area, where you can walk into a gym, or a football or baseball stadium and no precautions are taken to prevent it from happening to our own.

I am not against the 2nd amendment, I believe everyone should have the right to own a firearm for hunting, protection and any other legitimate reason. However I don’t believe we’ll ever get a grip on the mass killing epidemic until we pass laws to protect ourselves from those individuals who perform those acts. Until we take the Assault rifles out of the hands of young people and for that matter most anyone else, we will continue to have a problem.

It’s a sad state of affairs when a parent cannot even drop their child off for school and know they will be safe. Can you imagine the fear in these small kids when they go to school? While most of the shootings have occurred in schools and colleges, think what it would be like if they start occurring in wide open areas where no protection is afforded. How could we stop that? The answer is we can’t, and I believe most people know it.

While we’re talking about protection lets think about our students at the high school level. Most every student athlete will remember their coaches long after they are out of school. Some memories will be good, some not so good. I have fond memories of my coaches. They left me with an understanding that it takes hard work to achieve success. I believe most coaches today are like that. However as with everything a few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch.

Coaches have a tough job today, but the basic ingredients of a good coach are the same. They should be well educated or experienced in the sport they decide to teach and they should understand from the beginning that they are dealing with kids, and their primary job is to teach them the skills they need to improve their performance. Nothing more, nothing less.

A good coach is also a good leader, with strong communication skills. Coaches should know how to motivate athletes to get the best out of them. They should be good instructors who can point out the good and bad in a positive and understandable way.

A good coach should be organized and committed to helping kids become the best they can be at their chosen sport. When coaching kids at the high school level it should be understood when hired for the position that you are the head of the team and individuals you coach. You take on a great responsibility when you are chosen to coach and mentor other peoples children.

Never should a coach build or attempt to build a relationship with their athletes that extends beyond the playing field. Never, never, never! It seems in recent years that more and more coaches are calling their athletes their “buddies.” I have seen it posted on social media and heard it with my own ears. A player does well or makes a game winning play and the coach immediately says, “good job buddy.” It’s part of a coaches job to congratulate or give a pat on the back for a job well done. Just remember you are the coach not their best friend. Getting too close to your athletes almost always leads to trouble.

Every individual who coaches high school sports should view him or herself as a teacher first, and part of that experience is to teach positive life lessons. Time spent with coaches should be safe, enjoyable, educational, positive and worthwhile, because, in most instances, during the season they spend a great deal of time under their supervision. Therefore a coach should be carefully selected, as someone parents and athletes can trust.

All (100 percent) of participants in school athletics should expect to be treated within the fair and normal boundaries of the sport they participate in. Anything outside those boundaries in any way, shape or form is outside the realm of coaching responsibilities and should never be tolerated.