Does politics come into play in high school sports? Absolutely, 100% positive it comes into play at my son’s school, and I will never be convinced otherwise by anybody who says anything different. It has not yet affected my son, and I pray it will not, but it definitely happens.
I will site an example of what happened on the freshman football team. One player did not attend the summer camp put on by the coaches because his family was on vacation; he missed the first 3 days of regular practice for some other reason. He shows up to practice on the 4th day and on the 5th day is placed as a defensive starter. There were 75 players on the freshman football team, so it’s not like they were lacking talent. This player’s mom is very active in all aspects of youth sports and high-school boosters, is chats up the coaches, makes cupcakes - all that stuff. I do not pay much attention to her or her antics, but many people do. Whether or not the player was good enough to be the starter is irrelevant, he missed the 2 week camp while all the other players worked through the 95 degree weather in July, missed the first 3 days of practice and “won” the job after 1 practice. Maybe the coach saw something that knocked his socks off, but I will never believe politics did not play a role. Thankfully this player did not play the same position as my son, so he personally was not affected.
Unless you are a parent like this mom and have cozied yourself up to the coaches, or you are the parent of the rare extremely gifted, true 5 tool player, you may be a little nervous like I am approaching tryouts. My son is not one of those “5 tool players”, he is undersized and is not very fast, what he does have is instincts. On the football team he did not get a chance to play until the 3rd game. Since they do not scrimmage anymore (this I do not understand), he never got a chance to show what he could do at practice. Once he got a chance to play in a game, he never left the field for the rest of the year. He has a nose for where the ball is going and hits harder than kids outweighing him by 20-30 pounds. In baseball, he will probably lose most foot races, but if you have a runner on 2nd with 1 out – he will hit the ball to right side and get that run in or at least move him over. If he is playing infield he will get to the ball and fire a rocket across the diamond. He has terrific instincts, and that you cannot teach or coach – but he is always a bubble kid because of his lack of size and speed.
Now, since I know politics plays a role, and my son is probably a bubble kid that can very easily be the odd-man out due to a political pick, what can I do about it? The answer is absolutely nothing! Let’s explore a few of my options of this actually happens.
I can...
1. Complain to the coach that he is unfair and he let politics influence his decision.
2. Rally the members of HSBBWEB to e-mail the AD and have the coach fired.
3. Complain to any parent that will listen and speak loudly enough so the one’s that won’t listen will at least hear me.
4. Tell my son he was cheated and that the coach does not know what he is doing.
5. Move or switch schools.
Now let’s talk reality and what I tell my son, does he listen to all of it all the time? Probably about as well as your 14 year old does, or did.
1. You need to work harder than everybody else at every practice every day.
2. You are not naturally fast, you should be working on that and running sprints every day to improve your speed.
3. Never miss a workout organized by your coaches unless it has something to do with improving your grades (tutoring, etc), or you are sick and excused. He needs to call the coach if he will miss. There is no way I would plan a family vacation during summer football/baseball camp.
4. Make sure you say hi to your coaches every time you see them. Make sure they know you are in the weight room and running. No a**-kissing, just say hi so they see you and know you are there. Always be respectful, say “Hi Coach”, not “hey”
5. Stay away from the goof-offs at practice and in the weightroom, in fact, stay away in general. This does not mean “no fun” - you know what I’m talking about.
6. Do not let your coach see you with your pants hanging halfway down you’re a** and your hat on sideways, in fact, don’t let anybody see you looking like that.
7. Keep the grades up.
8. When you get a chance to hit, throw, or catch for your coaches, stay focused and relaxed. You may not get a second chance so be prepared.
9. You never know who is watching you or when, always work out and prepare as if your coach were right next to you.
10. Nothing will be handed to you, you will have to work for everything you get for the rest of your life. Might as well get used to it now.
11. If you can look yourself in the mirror at night and say “Today I did my best” then you had a good day. If you can’t say that then work so you can say it tomorrow night.
Now if my son gets cut and I think “politics” were involved, I will be very disappointed and hurt for him – but I hope I will take the high road.
Bottom line. Politics, patronage, cronyism, pay-to-play exists everywhere in all walks of life. Happens at your church, work, grammar school, high school, local government, state government, federal government, etc. It is part of life….
