Champer, I’m done for the season. No practices, no games, no nothing until September (if I go back at all). Well, except for training a few goalies at night and a shooting clinic that I got suckered into and maybe setting up a 24 or 30 game summer/ fall series. But other then that, I’m done. .D
I am in the exact same situation! My association probably isn't doing Fall Ball, but I have parents asking me to organize a team for it....why not!
From a pure volume standpoint though, there are far less of them. And at least they are the competition. That's better than when the douches are on your own team.
You made your choices, now live with them and stop whining, like a little girl. You could be doing this from home! If you were home then your wife wouldn't be spending the time in her class room either. So, LOl and it is at you not with you. Have I mentioned how much I am enjoying retirement and not gearing up for another year of whining kids, parents and staff?
Its interesting this thread keeps popping up. I was working a shitty red eye from PHX last night and I recognized one of the passengers. It was James Harrison formerly of the Steelers. I used the fact that I took one of his ideas about tossing participation medals in the garbage and used that as the ice breaker to chat with him. He and I had a great conversation about our kids, sports and the bullshit that is the pressure parents put their kids under. His philosophy is he just wants to see his kids give max effort. For being such an intense guy, he was pretty chill when it came to his boys and their athletics. He just wants them to work hard at whatever they do. The results will come. Wish more parents would just chill the fuck out.
So.. going into the last inning, the coaches should have met with the umpire and made an agreement. Once their team had established three outs, ump should have called it. How are you supposed to respect the game at this point? It’s not like soccer where I pull all of my defenders up into the front row and put in the third string keeper.
As it should be. For a group who hates participation trophies we sure are quick to say take it easy. As a kid I've been crushed in competition before. It told me I had to work harder and get better. Something that is still with me today. I dont think a Mercy rule is good on either side. I've played in leagues with and without it. I prefer without.
I think moving forward this is the move. Basically the game should be forfeited at the point, and everything after is just reps. And....we have a chance to play that same team again in the playoffs. I'm bringing the GoPro this time. I mean if we are going to play, play hard. I think bad play is more on the coaches than the players. The players were just not prepared, and that's a reflection on the coaches. And as Hyperdyne suggested, the move is to talk to the opposing coach and basically call the game at that point, and the inning just be a regular inning. I think their feeling since they were down 8 at that point, that they could mount a comeback. I truly did lose track of the score at 3B. There's no scoreboard. We were up 8 to start the inning, then 11, and then sent 2 home on the same play to make it 13. In the last game, we were down 8 runs and scored 7 in the top of the inning, so 10 runs alone is not safe. It's not the first time we scored 7+ in the last inning, or had 7+ scored on us.
At some Point though, your just burning daylight and beating a dead horse. I coached and refereed multiple sports over the years and your job as the ref/official/umpire etc… is to oversee the match and ensure fair play and a respectable contest. To let that go on is an insult to competition. No one wants to watch that. We are also talking about kids. Young kids for that matter. It’s just not necessary.
Too many in my generation grew up getting told they could be whatever they wanted to be and never got their teeth kicked in. This resulted in a lot of issues - adults with insurmountable debt and an inability to cope with failure. They grew up getting mercy ruled and mommmy and daddy telling them that was ok and simply trying hard was enough. It was never treated as the failure it should have been. The hard truth is that you can't always be or do whatever you want. We all have our natural talents and weaknesses. Occasionally getting your ass kicked is character building and kids are much better off experiencing that at a young age than adulthood or even adolescence for that matter.
I hear you, but these aren't 6 yr olds right? Were probably talking 10-12 yr olds I'm assuming, I dont remember. Either way I think it's a hard lesson that needs to be learned. You want to not get crushed? Then get better. I'm sure we wont have teachers adjust grading scales because the kiddo tried... or because they keep earning 59% on their school work the teacher says, well, maybe the kiddo should drop out (same as calling the game or pulling your players). I don't like the message that you should quit when something isn't going your way. Same with competing for scholarships, jobs, or anything else in the world where if you want to beat out somebody else, you have to earn it. I think sports are a great low risk route to learn these lessons and we do our kids a disservice when we try to protect them from it. I guarantee you the Russians or the Chinese won't. I used to love a quote from Terrell Owens to crybaby opposing defenses..."if you don't want to see me celebrate, then stop me scoring". Same general rule applies. You don't want to get crushed, then get better and play better.
