The record for my 7th graders this season is 0-4. The score from our last losing game was 59-2. Did you hear that? FIFTY-NINE to TWO!!! Who loses by 57 points? And the opposing coach had the cojones to play her first string for the entire 4th quarter. Has she taught her kids humility and class? Apparently not while they blew bubbles, smacking their gum, jogging up and down the court, slapping basketballs out of my girls hands because they have at minimum a foot and a half of height on us. I've never wanted to punch 12yr. olds so much as I did Thursday night.
Kids don't realize this, but I think losing is even harder on the coaches. I'm so helpless there on the sidelines. They get panicky and don't remember where to go, they can't hear me on the sidelines, there isn't enough time to kinetically re-explain the plays. I can't go out on to the court myself with my 5'7 stature and help them out. And so not only did we lose, but we were humiliated.
I don't want to get in trouble with my job, but if I ever leave this district I intend to send a letter to our athletics department telling them how stupid I think it is that we play so many games with an affluent school district. Supposedly it makes us "better" to play against them. Well have you ever had to coach the UN-affluent side? It doesn't make them better, it kills their morale. Some of them already feel like losers because they struggle with their grades...which probably has a lot to do with school being taught in their second language...they have problems out of their control at home....some of those problems carry weight that should never be put on a twelve year old...and now you want them to pick up a basketball for literally the first time in their lives and play a game against another set of girls whose parents have paid for them to play on select basketball teams since they were 4yrs. old?? Are you retarded???
Perhaps I should go ahead and send an anonymous letter, perhaps pretending to be a parent since I have no voice as an employee. Should we play in tournaments against girls who are really good? Sure. Should we play two or three games per season with that affluent district? Absolutely, they need to know what they'll be up against in high school. But, should we play the majority of our games against teams who will not only beat us...but will humiliate us in the process? I say no. I say you get off your idealistic high horse and come down to the trenches and get involved in the lives of these kids and then tell me if it actually "makes them better". I can tell you from experience...it makes them want to quit. Sometimes I can understand why kids turn to drugs and gangs...it's an easy way for them to feel like big shots.
