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Health & Fitness

Youth Will Be Served

"Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver but the other gold."

 

The Boston Celtics began their rebuilding program, trading Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets for five players and three first-round draft choices. Management believed the team could no longer compete for a championship with former championship graybeards.

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In his landmark book "The Politics of Coaching", Carl Pierson describes a situation where anonymous parents demand that talented eighth grade players not be allowed to practice with high school players. The complaint was that these players "took reps" from varsity players. Pierson recognized this for what it was, a reaction where parents sought to preserve their children's status, playing time, and opportunity. At the same time, this created a negative situation for the program, limiting young players' development.

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Sport is the ultimate meritocracy. Players in every sport force their way onto the playing field, by virtue of talent, hard work, mental and physical preparation, and the ability to accept coaching at young ages. For example, in the sport of rockclimbing, two budding superstars are preteens, Ashima Shiraishi and Brooke Roboutou. Both elementary students are household names in the sport.

 

"Fear is the mind killer." It is perfectly normal for parents and players to feel that younger players haven't "paid their dues". However, how many of us have seen our competitors away from practice, examining their work ethic, skill building, conditioning, athletic training, and mental development for us to make that judgment? And is it our place to make that determination?

 

We honor the game through competition, sportsmanship, and recognizing performance, not politics, age, sex, race, religion, or national origin as decision analytics. Athletes and coaches who develop a great process, with superior work ethic, and sometimes physical or mental gifts deserve equal opportunity. Anything less cheats the sport and the community.


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