Spoke to a friend of mine the other day. His daughter made a developmental team (always an interesting term for me...aren't all youth teams suppose to be "developmental"?). His daughter made the "B" team (for the record, he agreed that she should have been on the "B" team). But he also observed that his kid got the "B" team coaches.
How does your program assign coaches? Do the "lesser" kids get the "lesser" coaches? Do the "better" kids get the "better" coaches? If so, how do you think your "lesser" kids will develop as compared to your "better" kids? I'll take a stab at that one! My guess is that the "lesser" develops slower than the "better"! But it will have NOTHING to do with the "lesser's" effort or focus.
Have you ever thought about giving your "lesser" kids the "better" coaches? Hopefully you are in a position to give BOTH teams the best coaches but, if you can't, how about giving those lesser kids the better coaches... just once!?!
Child development on the field (court, etc) is no different than parenting and teaching. It's not a coincidence that the best "parented", "taught" or coached kids USUALLY become the "A" team young adults (on the field and off).
Keep smiling.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Harlem Children's Zone...Think Different...Be Different!
Saw an interesting highlight on MSNBC last week. Then took some time to look at the organization's website. The Harlem Children's Zone (http://www.hcz.org/). What a great example of what people can do if they don't accept the status quo! What a great example of how an organization can positively affect a child's life by doing things differently.
Think different. BE different!
Think different. BE different!
Think different...Be different!
A couple of weeks ago I was at a year-end get together for the local high school girls lacrosse team and I was approached by a mom who asked me if I had heard the news. I hadn't. Well, it turns out the local boys lacrosse youth team (5/6th grade) won the year-end league championship tournament. Not necessarily GREAT news to me (I don't understand the point of 5/6 grade league championships) but, the good news was that this wasn't singularly THE news. THE NEWS was the team that won the championship was not an "A" team but instead a team that consisted of "A" AND "B" level players.
You see, it appears that, the adult leadership of this team or program decided to do things differently. They decided to just take the kids that signed up, make them a team and go play the season. And while I am sure they probably took a lot of heat for this decision, they went with it anyway. AND, it all turned out just fine.
I have heard a few people "qualify" the championship by saying the teams were re-seeded at the end of the year and this winning team was seeded in the lower tier of the tournament. But qualify it in any way you want. What I heard was this...all the kids played significantly during the season and in the championship game...the winning goal was scored by a kid who was relocating to CA at the end of the school year (what a great "going away present")...the kids had a ball! Am I missing something or is this what youth ball is ALL about? Or maybe better put...Is this what youth ball SHOULD be all about?
You see, IF what I have been told is accurate (and the story was confirmed by others), what qualification needs to be put on this success? It's not really about the championship. The championship just gave the team confirmation of what it already knew. They played hard, as a TEAM. They worked together, as a TEAM. They got better, as a TEAM. They were all individually required to give their best, for their TEAM. They won, as a TEAM.
The adult leadership on this team decided to THINK different (the rest of the program went the "A and B route"). More importantly, the adult leadership decided to BE different. And everything appears to have worked out just fine. And the kids (all of the kids) are better off for it. A big THANKS to the adult leadership because they realized that It's About the Kids...ALL of the kids.
Keep smiling!
You see, it appears that, the adult leadership of this team or program decided to do things differently. They decided to just take the kids that signed up, make them a team and go play the season. And while I am sure they probably took a lot of heat for this decision, they went with it anyway. AND, it all turned out just fine.
I have heard a few people "qualify" the championship by saying the teams were re-seeded at the end of the year and this winning team was seeded in the lower tier of the tournament. But qualify it in any way you want. What I heard was this...all the kids played significantly during the season and in the championship game...the winning goal was scored by a kid who was relocating to CA at the end of the school year (what a great "going away present")...the kids had a ball! Am I missing something or is this what youth ball is ALL about? Or maybe better put...Is this what youth ball SHOULD be all about?
You see, IF what I have been told is accurate (and the story was confirmed by others), what qualification needs to be put on this success? It's not really about the championship. The championship just gave the team confirmation of what it already knew. They played hard, as a TEAM. They worked together, as a TEAM. They got better, as a TEAM. They were all individually required to give their best, for their TEAM. They won, as a TEAM.
The adult leadership on this team decided to THINK different (the rest of the program went the "A and B route"). More importantly, the adult leadership decided to BE different. And everything appears to have worked out just fine. And the kids (all of the kids) are better off for it. A big THANKS to the adult leadership because they realized that It's About the Kids...ALL of the kids.
Keep smiling!
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