May, 2003

Win Or Else

Professional athletes, players, and coaches are measured by the win/loss ratio that they produce over time. To my way of thinking, that's OK because these are paid professionals and if they are unable to perform up to expectation, they should find some other line of work.

Even college level sports are pretty much measured the same way. That too is OK since they are, in a real sense, paid professionals (salaries for coaches, scholarships and accommodations for players.)

But, when this win/loss measurement device filters down in to the high school and even elementary school level, I have a problem accommodating the application to these young school kids.

Recently, grandma and I spent 6 bucks and 5 ½ hours traveling to an out of town game to watch our grandson play basketball. His team won by 10 points, but he and one other boy got no playing time at all. Apparently his coach was more concerned with the win/loss record than fairly distributing the playing time amongst the team members.

In addition to academics, it was my impression that the function of education was to develop, build, and enrich "character" along with the disciplines necessary to sustain it. Apparently, I am in error, at least in the athletic portion of kids' education. It seems that winning is everything!

My grandson never misses practice, except for Wednesdays, when he leaves practice 1 hour early to attend church. Could this be the reason why he wasn't allowed to play?

Actually, grandma and I spent the time and money not to watch the "team" play, but to see our grandson play on the team. Had we known that he was not going to play, we would not have made the trip.

Finally, we have to assume that both the school administration and the school board are aware of these discriminatory policies by their coaching staffs and approve of them. If not, they should be corrected!

- Bob Murphy