Got word through the grapevine (that's the grapevine that has been around since time began - now called the GV) about a parent comment recently. Let's go backwards.
Like I said in a previous post, SoulSlam is coaching a 5th grade travel basketball team. Had tryouts in October. Now last season, due to the demise of an older team, our program had two teams of 4th graders playing travel, with 17 boys split up. 17 came out, we kept all 17. This year, it was made 100% clear that there would be one team. And a max of ten slots. It's basketball.
So tryouts roll around over two sessions to accommodate other sports schedules. And I get 10 boys total come out. Through the GV SoulSlam hears that a bunch of boys don't want to come down because they might get cut. Which would happen if we had more than 10. All of these boys play in a soccer program which has a no cut policy (to be fair, 3 boys who did come down also play soccer). Now, these boys are 10 and 11 years old, so I don't blame them for feeling like they do. But the parental units...
Look, SoulSlam go cut as a young man. OSSS (Oldest Son of SoulSlam) has been cut as a 7th grader for his MS hoops team. It happens. And as a father, I know what it feels like. A little anger and wonder why. But ultimately, it isn't the end of the world. And may make your child better. We all have heard that Air Jordan got cut in HS...and that didn't turn out too badly. It is nothing to feel ashamed about. And as SoulSlam types, OSSS has tried out as an 8th grader for the MS team again and finds out Monday if he made the cut. He's grown a year, in both stature and skill. Originally he wasn't going to tryout, which made me sad. I didn't want him not to try because he was unsuccessful last year. But he decided to give it a shot and, make it or not, I am incredibly proud of him for trying again.
Anyway, back to that GV. So a parent from my current team told somebody else that we should have kept two team again this year so all the boys (the soccer boys by the way) could still play together, and that we shouldn't cut boys. And truth be known, if a couple had come out they probably would have made roster in lieu of others. But they (parent and child)didn't take the chance and we will never know. And the comment? It's from somebody who thinks that Everybody Gets A Trophy is the way we should deal with today's youth. Which is wrong, IMHO.
As Nietsche said "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."
True that. Out.
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