better coaches needed
My daughter has been playing softball for the R.W. Clark League for seven years.
The game, for her, is about having fun, going out for ice cream after the games, being with her friends, and getting the practice she needs to prepare for a scholarship sometime in the future.
Our children are put into the hands of coaches that we hope will have our children’s best interest at heart. However, in recent years, I have come to find that this is not always true.
For a handful of coaches, they care about nothing but winning. When a game is lost or a mistake is made, you can find these coaches lashing out, walking off the field, slamming hats down and stomping on them.
They also allow some girls on the team to put others down for making small mistakes in the game. They are taking the fun out of the sport, and that is something that should not occur at this age. The coaches are making the girls not even want to play if they get those particular coaches.
One season in particular, many tears were shed by many girls from the same team. The parents complained and words were exchanged. My girl had to be talked into finishing out the season by her friends and myself. This is not the playing environment that I want my daughter to be a part of.
This year, she was picked up in the draft by the same coach. She did not want to experience that nightmare all over again, and, of course, I am going to stand by her. Other coaches offered trades to try and rectify the situation, but said the coach would not allow the trade. Also, there are not too many girls willing to trade to this team for the very same reasons we have.
When speaking with the league president, we were given the options of either playing for a coach she feared or not playing at all. With either choice, my daughter would be miserable. No trade could be made because registrations were done and the draft was over.
However, if she decided not to play, her coach is allowed to pull girls from other leagues to fill her position. I understand that rules are rules, and my daughter decided that she is going to play.
But my concern is this: Why does the R.W. Clark League continue to have these types of coaches when they are supposed to have role model figures in those positions? When this question was proposed to the league president, the response that I got was that this coach only had three complaints, me being the third. Mind you, the season has not even begun. So how many complaints will it take and how many tears need to be shed again this season before they realize that something must be wrong?
These girls are at the age where they need to be learning sportsmanship so that when they are on a more competitive ball field, they know how to handle the situations.
Part of this sportsmanship is when your teammates, opponents, and coaches all treat each other with respect — win, lose, or draw. I have found an extreme lack of this term in the R.W. Clark League with some of these coaches.
My daughter has been very fortunate to have had a coach last year who taught her the proper way to handle herself on the ball field.
This is in reference to not screaming, crying, slamming things, walking off of the field in a huff of anger. We all just hope that any coaches similar to this particular coach know that the R.W. Clark League needs more mentors like you. And as far as what this season will bring, my daughter has made it her choice to stand her ground and hold her head high whether they win or lose, because that’s what a good sportsman does.
Jennifer McManus is a resident of Uniontown.