Issues That Make You Say: "Hmmm..."

Let me embrace a simple premise for my writing this week:

Things that make me scratch my head in our ever-devolving athletic world:

How can administration in general, and athletic directors specifically, not really have a game-plan to combat the over-zealous parental influence that is crippling the dynamic of interscholastic sports?

They can't be that ignorant, and they certainly can't be that blind so as to not see what is happening in high school athletics at a far too significant pace. Maybe they are just too consumed with the fear of litigation and/or the fear of losing a student and the cash loss it means for a school district. Whatever the reasons, since they ask athletes and coaches to step-up and be leaders, it's probably (way past) time for them to blaze that trail for all of us to see. It is very troubling for me to witness athletic directors shrug their shoulders and shake their heads when asked what they can do to put the reins on parental (mis)behavior.

There are options out there.....It just takes a leader (with courage) to define them and then draw the line.

And that time is now.

When did the model of "Amateur Athletics" finally pass away?

The degree to which money dictates every phase of the sporting experience is downright frightening. NBA and NHL Playoffs extend until almost the 4th of July....especially troubling since the playoffs started in early to mid-April. I realize that it is couched under the premise that it is "safer for the athlete", but it is really about fattening the wallets of all internal factions and their partners in cable and television. But money has also permeated the youth and high school athletic dynamic, since the cost of equipping and training an athlete to pursue their dreams of fame and fortune has gone right through the roof. Money may not directly influence the sport, but it is forever altering the perspectives and the relationships that once constructed a healthy by-product of athletic competition and/or participation.

Why is the pressure defined in athletic competition considered a "dangerous" by-product?

In Section Tournaments, I watch athletes I coach be put into the meat-grinder of a two-day State qualifying tournament. Day one of the event would best be classified as "collegial". But once the cuts were made and day two ensued, it became an entirely new dynamic. Where there was once friendly conversation among opponents had now become a silent undertaking, where personal objectives trumped interpersonal obligations. It was a time for these athletes to step into the fray and attempt to define themselves - for this day - as a Champion. In reality, they won because they handled the pressure that was present on all participants better than their opponents.

Does that make them "superior" than the others? For today, yes.

Does that make the vanquished lesser for having fallen short of their quest? Obviously not.

Life (and sports) must be structured with perspectives of balance. Winning or losing does not define us - those are mere designations of rank in the snap-shot analysis of our existence. We most assuredly cannot be consumed with the pressure of competition to the point where we experience physical and emotional decay. But that is more of a reflection of the individual as opposed to the actual athletic event. Some thrive on the stimulus, others are deconstructed by it. I have been on both sides of the equation and I can unequivocally state that the differences between one group winning and the other losing is rooted in personal processing of the situation you are facing.

For in the end, we are not really competing against our opponent, we are competing against the mechanism in our heads that try to tell us that we are not capable. And that may be athletics’ greatest gift to us - showing us within this educational opportunity, that we are fully capable.

And if we fall short....there is always another day.

If that is classified as "dangerous", then I remain more than a little confused.