A little lengthy, hopefully youll take the time to read. About high school sports, particularly football and private schools. First of all, I have no connection or vested interest in any private school. I feel that the fact the private schools can attract players from a wide area does indeed give them a competitive advantage, but not to the degree the kids can just show up and magically become great players. What they do have on their side is that success begets success which causes players to want to attend a particular school and as far as I am concerned you cant blame the kid or his parents for that. Knowing if you are a decent player and you remain playing in a sub par district the chance you will be noticed by a college scout drops off considerably which in turn can cost you over $100,000 in scholarship money these days. So I fully understand the motivation for kids to transfer to these schools. It is the same motivation that anyone would have in there own careers, more money, working for a winning company etc. My biggest problem with the whole controversy is the attitude people are passing along to the players in high school, that it isnt fair that we should have to play them. That, to me, is bullshit. When these kids get out of high school and enter college or the work force they will be competing with the best of the best for jobs, for academic honors, for starting spots on college teams and these opponents will come from all walks of life and from all over the world. What we should be teaching the kids is that the reason some of these private school teams are so much better than the competition isnt really the fact they can bring in players from all over, but in fact what those players are willing to do when they get there. They buy into the commitment required to be as successful as they are. In individual sports (wrestling, track, tennis, golf etc) the kids who rise to the top and become champs do so because they are a special breed willing to go the extra mile needed to win. The same goes for football, however it is not as easy to sell that commitment to 30 or 40 kids across the board. That is in my mind what separates the private school from the public schools. The private schools are bringing in kids that are not much different from the kids at public schools, but when they get there and are faced with the choice of committing to the work involved or not playing they put in the work and become better players because of it. Any public school, if they are able to have the right group of kids for a few years in a row can have the same success (i.e. in past years Manheim Central, Strath Haven, Berwick, Central Bucks West to name a few). So instead of teaching our kids to wave the white flag of surrender, lets teach them that if they want to be successful it is entirely up to them, and although it will take hard work and sacrifice, it is indeed possible. And in the environment of team sports, they need to convince their team mates to jump on board and hold them accountable. As long as people walk around saying Its not fair, well never beat them we never will.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 22:07:19 +0000
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