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New "After High School" Forum Member

SP Southpaw Pop100+ posts
I am very pleased to now join the "After High School" forum.

Last week, my son, his mother and I attended son's last high school function, the end-of-season baseball banquet. A few weeks prior to the banquet, my son and other team members had been HONORED by being named to and participated in the GWTBCA All-Star Game. There was no mention of this honor in our local newspaper or by his coach at the banquet. Again at the banquet, there was frequent praise by the coach for a single player and his accomplishments. He is a very talented player, but he had only attended our school two years as an out-of-state, move in. The player earned mention, but not to the expense of all the other team members that had competed for this coach, their school & team-mates for their entire high school career. However, that is what I witnessed. Many parents promptly left following coach's closing statement because of the lack of praise for team accomplishments and minimum praise for their own son's role. As presented by the coach, you would have thought one player had won all the 2004 wins on his own.

This coach needs to re-evaluate his approach. It IS a TEAM sport! The team wins & loses as a team. The wins help him keep his job. The trophies look good in the school trophy case. Who REALLY cares? Consider the team members & parents he insulted. Before the first pitch is thrown next season, parents should ask the coach the hard question: Why do you coach - REALLY? I wish I had years ago.

My family followed that slap-in-the-face banquet with a very encouraging college visit the very next day. Son has not committed, but the offers have been narrowed considerably. One more invited tryout scheduled and prayerfully, his committment will follow within the next few weeks.

Forgiveness of this high school coach will be hard, but God is at work on me. I pray God is working in the coach's life. He chose his career and as a high school educator, he should reward all students (players that stick it out) with equal praise for equal effort, whether they have equal skills or not.
A TEAM IS A SUCCESSFUL TEAM THANKS TO THE ENTIRE TEAM(all players, coaches & parents).
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BK'sMOMBK'sMOM1,000+ posts
Southpaw Pop...we could have attended the same banquet...although ours was in May...sounds so familiar...

my son was the only (ONLY) baseball player headed to college with a scholly who was not mentioned at the banquet...even though this was a spring banquet...mention of those players in volleyball and football who had scholly's were remembered...as well as track and basketball...

so the only player you don't recognize is the only player who decided to not be pressured into playing football...

(now, I must add...that my son's AD had not spoken to him since he decided to not play football his senior year...son was our punter and receiver...it was son's choice)

I feel your pain and I often cannot understand the "why" of events in our kids lives...

I've raised two children in this school district and my second son pursued his dream...of baseball...

And no one from his school (staff) ever said congrats...to him...makes me sad...

Pam
rz1rz15,000+ posts
HS baseball is like a river. Some parts go into the current that leads to bigger and better things. Some get caught in those little whirlpools on the side that may feel good but go nowhere. And still others become stagnent puddles that give water a bad name.

It sounds like your son is ready to move on in the right direction. Everyone should forever enjoy the good High School expriences and learn from the bad. It's over now, you can't change things, but YOU know where your son stood within that team and that's whats most important to him. No media release or coaches remarks can replace family thoughts. Welcome to the "after hs" forum.
Last edited by rz1
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Just for the record .... There are some great coaches out there as well.....

I remeber my oldest son's high school football banquet, after the end of his senior season.

The head coach, who was new that year, announced that this was going to take a while. I groaned inside.

He then started with his players that did not play enough to earn a letter that season. One by one he had them come up to the front, they shook hands and the coach had something positive to say about each one of them. Each player was encouraged to work hard in the off-season because he wanted to be able to hand them their letter "next year."

Then he went to the underclass letterwinners and the same thing with each of those players.

Finally the seniors ... players that he had coached for only one season. He spoke glowingly about each young man, made sure that he added a personal touch, maybe something he had witnessed in the classroom or a hallway, etc.

Not once did he single out one player over another. If a senior player was moving on to play in college it was mentioned, if the player had earned a post-season honor it was mentioned, but in such a way as not to make anyone uncomfortable.

He finished by thanking the parents for allowing him the opportunity to coach their sons.

When he finished I glanced at my watch ... the "introductions" had taken 1 hour and 35 minutes. It was odd though .... it only seemed like a few minutes.

Oh and by the way the football team that season won one (1) game. As the banquet ended you would have never known what the record had been. The room was buzzing, parents and grandparents grinning from ear to ear. And the football team made the play-offs the next season, first time in many years.

One of the classiest banquets that I have attended. This gentleman also went on to be my youngest sons high school baseball coach. We were extremely lucky as a family!

I wish every athlete could play for a coach like this one.
jemazjemaz1,000+ posts
It's a banqueut, guys. You play for fun, not recognition. I am not defending the coach, but I must say that I am amazed at the sensitivities displayed here. And the bottom line remains: if the kid is good enough, eveyone will know. If not, then enjoy what you get and don't fret what does not come along.
bballmom2bballmom2100+ posts
Southpaw, know exactly how you feel only ours occurred earlier in the season. Coach gave a pre-season interview to the local newspaper about the team and who to watch, etc. He mentioned several kids as the hitters to watch and our son was not one of them. HA! Our son finished with team high BA of .477 and won the Offensive Player of the Year award for team. Hard work pays off though as our son is only one from his HS team (as of today) who has signed to play next year. We are SOOO glad to be out of high school and all the politics etc that go with it. Good luck to your son! Hope everything works out for the best. BTW, we probably saw you at the All Star game as our son was on the 4A/5A squad.
take care and be sure to post where son will attend in the fall.
SP Southpaw Pop100+ posts
Thanks to all for the words.

jemaz,
As parents who have invested love, time & $, you want the best for your son. In closing out a three year high school varsity career, to have a move-in player mentioned for ALMOST breaking a school record get mentioned and having others voted in and participate in an area All-Star game NOT GET MENTIONED or acknowledged in the newspaper is a slap in the face to the players & parents.

bballmom2,
I believe your son led off my son's second inning of mound work at the 4A-5A WTGBCA All-Star game with a double to left field. Son got the next three guys out to leave your son standing on 2nd base. Sound familiar? I wish him the best at Weatherford. Your son has a great stick as proof by his batting average & offensive honor!

College baseball. We look forward to the experience. I know my son is excited about the challenge.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
So sorry that your son and his teamates didn't get any recognition, expecially the seniors.
As much as I hear many complaints about my son's fromer HS coach, he always gives the recognitionthe players derserve, or sometimes don't deserve. We even had an incident this year that affected the whole team due to poor judgment by some players and that was brought up also.
He may not be the best coach, but in the end does the right thing.
bballmom2bballmom2100+ posts
congrats Southpaw! applaude Son's team played at Hardin Simmons 2 weekends ago - they have very nice facilities plus its a great school and Abilene is a nice town - probably a little further away than you had hoped for. how far is it for y'all? about 5-6 hr drive? we'll probably be seeing you on the road on our way to Weatherford! Best of luck!
Last edited by bballmom2

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