Not So Classy
In my last blog I wrote about the contestants on American Idol and how they acted very classy in their defeats and victories.
Tonight my baseball team played against a team with the exact opposite of classy in some of their parents. It is sad when you go to a baseball game in rec. league (or any league for that matter) and parents are "cussing" (that's southern for cursing) the league president, coaches on the other team are badgering our players, and coaches refusing to shake hands with kids after the game. It is sad enough to lose a game badly like we did. It's even worse when all of this unnecessary stuff has to happen.
What ever happened to baseball being fun? What happened to the concept of teaching kids proper attitudes? I was absolutely appalled tonight at the actions of adults.
When we coach youth league baseball, we are not just teaching the game, but we have many opportunities to teach about life. If you look you can even find times to teach spirituality and tonight provided the perfect opportunity. Please know that God is to receive all the glory for the following story, but it sure was a teachable moment.
We actually had two games tonight. We finished a tie game and then played a full game. We lost both games, but that's not the main story. After the first game, one of my kids (Josh), who had already been badgered by one of their coaches was going through the line to shake hands. When he got to this coach who was giving him a hard time, he removed his hand and did not shake. This coach (who happened to be the husband to the woman who cussed the director) told me that I needed to work on my kid's attitude. The audacity--him trying to tell me to work on Josh's attitude when he had been badgering this kid and his own wife had caused trouble. What hypocrite!! (Bless his heart).
As you might have guessed, he continued to harass Josh throughout the second game, which made Josh even more angry. It really affected his play. The inning before the game was over, I called all of my players together and told them that no matter the outcome, we were going to be a classy team and have the proper attitude. Josh's words were something like this, "I'm not shaking that son of a gun's hand." I doubt those were his real thoughts, but that's how he expressed it.
My words (God's words in me) to Josh were, "Wait a minute, you need to not let this man control you. You need to be the bigger person (hard for a 14 year old). " I even confessed that I would really like to slap him too, but we were a team and if one of us treated someone else badly, we were representing all of us. I asked Josh to shake the man's hand and build his character. Even if he did not want too, I asked him to do it because I know that it will be good for him.
I was so proud of Josh. As we went through the line after the second defeat he reached out to shake this coach's hand. Do you believe it? This guy took his hand away. So sad!! Josh exclaimed to me, "Did you see that!" I told him that I did, but that tonight he had shown me that he can be a bigger man than a grown up.
I hope that somehow he can understand the significance of that moment. God is awesome and I am so thankful to have been in that teachable moment.
I think that we need to pray for youth league sports that we can return it to the kids and stop the parents from messing it up.
Tonight my baseball team played against a team with the exact opposite of classy in some of their parents. It is sad when you go to a baseball game in rec. league (or any league for that matter) and parents are "cussing" (that's southern for cursing) the league president, coaches on the other team are badgering our players, and coaches refusing to shake hands with kids after the game. It is sad enough to lose a game badly like we did. It's even worse when all of this unnecessary stuff has to happen.
What ever happened to baseball being fun? What happened to the concept of teaching kids proper attitudes? I was absolutely appalled tonight at the actions of adults.
When we coach youth league baseball, we are not just teaching the game, but we have many opportunities to teach about life. If you look you can even find times to teach spirituality and tonight provided the perfect opportunity. Please know that God is to receive all the glory for the following story, but it sure was a teachable moment.
We actually had two games tonight. We finished a tie game and then played a full game. We lost both games, but that's not the main story. After the first game, one of my kids (Josh), who had already been badgered by one of their coaches was going through the line to shake hands. When he got to this coach who was giving him a hard time, he removed his hand and did not shake. This coach (who happened to be the husband to the woman who cussed the director) told me that I needed to work on my kid's attitude. The audacity--him trying to tell me to work on Josh's attitude when he had been badgering this kid and his own wife had caused trouble. What hypocrite!! (Bless his heart).
As you might have guessed, he continued to harass Josh throughout the second game, which made Josh even more angry. It really affected his play. The inning before the game was over, I called all of my players together and told them that no matter the outcome, we were going to be a classy team and have the proper attitude. Josh's words were something like this, "I'm not shaking that son of a gun's hand." I doubt those were his real thoughts, but that's how he expressed it.
My words (God's words in me) to Josh were, "Wait a minute, you need to not let this man control you. You need to be the bigger person (hard for a 14 year old). " I even confessed that I would really like to slap him too, but we were a team and if one of us treated someone else badly, we were representing all of us. I asked Josh to shake the man's hand and build his character. Even if he did not want too, I asked him to do it because I know that it will be good for him.
I was so proud of Josh. As we went through the line after the second defeat he reached out to shake this coach's hand. Do you believe it? This guy took his hand away. So sad!! Josh exclaimed to me, "Did you see that!" I told him that I did, but that tonight he had shown me that he can be a bigger man than a grown up.
I hope that somehow he can understand the significance of that moment. God is awesome and I am so thankful to have been in that teachable moment.
I think that we need to pray for youth league sports that we can return it to the kids and stop the parents from messing it up.
posted by Keith Davis at
10:38 PM
4 Comments:
And this is liable to be something that Josh will remember a long time, how to treat folks who treat you badly.
Keep up the good work.
By
Brady, at 4:51 AM
1. I love your heart brother.
2. Way to go Josh.
3. I would bring the Coach's behavior to the attention of the League (unless he is on the Board)Board.
4. Keep on being Jesus to those boys.
By
cwinwc, at 7:04 AM
Oh, to have you as Corey's coach this season! Having had a child on your baseball team in the past, I can honestly tell you and all of the bloggers that you set an example with your teams that lasts far longer than a baseball season. Darren and I still remember and talk about the game where the other team had a "challenged" child and our team helped that child get a home run. If I'm not mistaken, we lost that game because of that but that child has a wonderful memory. You not only commended the kids for doing this without your suggestion (they actually did it on their own), you gave out certificates to each child at the end of the season acknowledging their true accomplishment.
That being said, we are on a team this year that has really just about done us in. The coach is a nice enough guy but his coaching style and field persona leaves much to be desired. There was one game that he screamed at Corey and crawled him good from the dugout (Corey was in left field) for missing a ball that went over the fence. We were in the outfield and saw that the ball hit the ground about 12 feet past the fence. There was no way that Corey or any other player on the team could have caught that ball. His child is a good ball player but he's not an outstanding ball player. His child is the catcher for our team and has expressed his desire to not be the catcher all the time. There is another child that also catches some but doesn't like to do it much. Corey as you know LOVES to catch. And he is quite good. (Not just the mom talking--he really is good. Not great. But definitely good.) Both of our catchers have asked the coach to let Corey catch for them. Corey has bugged the stew out of him to let him catch. He lets him catch during practice so he doesn't have to wear out the knees of the real catchers but fusses at him the whole time for missing wild pitches. He has had many opportunities in games to let Corey catch late in the games where we were up by 8-12 runs but chooses not to do it. Now his son makes bad catches and makes bad throws as all catchers at this age do. But he is no better than Corey is. Finally a few games ago the coach let Corey catch the bottom of the 4th inning since we were winning 17-3. During that inning he fussed at Corey on every pitch. EVERY pitch. The next game we played he screamed at Corey to "wake up" during the entire game and even stopped Corey from taking the field to fuss on him because the coach felt Corey was jogging too slow to "take his field". The coach actually told Corey "If you're not going to hustle out there don't bother taking my field." By the middle of the 3rd inning he had Corey in tears. Several parents (not just me) had noticed the way Corey had apparently been singled out and there was much muttering from the stands. Thankfully, no one said much out loud, but it still speaks to the way coaches and parents are leaning more towards the aggressive competitiveness of rec league sports than the fun of the game. Corey has no desire to even finish out this season. As a parent that makes it very hard on me to enforce the rule of if you start it you finish it. Not to mention trying to convice an 11 year old to be the bigger person against a man in his 40's.
Again, oh to have you as our coach this year!!!!
phtpb: Pretty hard to play ball
By
Anonymous, at 9:31 AM
Keith, What a powerful influence you are on these young kids. Keep up your great work with young people. They will NEVER forget the good that you do every day. Swindles
By
Anonymous, at 9:34 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home