Please note that I've consolidated some of the information and edited other portions along with adding bold face on some portions for emphasis. Selected portions from:
San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, October 22, 2006.
Parents vs. Coach: Battle Goes WildBy: C.W. Nevius.
quote:
It's the kind of over-the-top behavior that's increasingly common -- parents running on the field, screaming from the sidelines and, in the worst cases, punching out officials. It happens when well-intentioned parents let their protective instincts for their children overwhelm their good judgment.
Well-intentioned parents using poor judgment. I could not agree more with that. This certainly is not limited to the Bay Area.
quote:
As Castro Valley athletic director Marie Gray said when she addressed the school board last week, "Thanks. You put Castro Valley on the map."
Thank goodness for that...at first I thought they were talking about the
Artichoke Capital of the World...Castroville. We can't be having unrest like this in our nation's artichoke
heartland. What a relief!
quote:
At the center of the seven-month maelstrom is Nancy Nibarger, a quiet 20-year teaching veteran who is beginning her third year as head girls basketball coach at Castro Valley. She played college basketball at Kansas State and was an assistant coach at high-powered college programs like Cal and Kansas.
Who wouldn't want such a highly experienced coach like this teaching and coaching your kids? Who can blame her if she ends up sitting in the corner of the gym muttering "I've a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore."
quote:
In fact, many think the sanctions were designed to force her to quit, but Nibarger is sticking it out. "Some of the kids who chose to back me, and even some who decided to stay out of it altogether, are kind of being bullied," Nibarger says. "That's one of the reasons I decided not to quit. It seemed like the right thing to do."
This is an example of why she is, by all appearances, a very good coach.
quote:
The two assistant coaches Nibarger had last year are not being asked to return. Those two, a member of the Cal women's basketball Hall of Fame and a San Leandro policeman, were told by the school board they were not welcome back, even though there was not a single complaint filed against them.
This is even more troubling than it seems...who would even think about volunteering their valuable time to help the kids if this is how you are treated in this district?
quote:
"Look," says Lauren Otten, a co-captain on Nibarger's first team three years ago and a unanimous all-district choice. "I have played basketball all my life. I played year-round basketball for six years. I know coaches. And she was the calmest, nicest coach I ever had in my life."
What is her agenda? This kid seems like a very credible witness...listen to her.
quote:
"They'd get a little cadre of parents together and itch and moan," says Martha Kohl, a middle school teacher who has been the basketball team scorekeeper for 10 years. Nibarger thinks the heart of the issue is the difference between offseason, paid programs and varsity high school sports, and her former team captain agrees.
Warmer, warmer...now we're getting somewhere!
quote:
Otten says parents typically pay $1,500 a year for private basketball club teams. They don't expect to shell out that kind of money to see their daughter sit on the bench. Nor is it atypical for club coaches to praise a marginal player to the skies. After all, the program needs to keep that money coming. That environment sets unrealistic expectations.
B-I-N-G-O!quote:
"A lot of people came in thinking great things about themselves," says Otten. "They were expecting a lot of playing time just because they were on the team.'' That sense of entitlement is threatening to overwhelm varsity sports in high school. Parents aren't just questioning the coaches, they are demanding their heads on a platter.
This is just really sad.
quote:
"First," Sweet said, "I want to dispel one story line, which is that this is somehow Judge Goodman's case. That's not true." Maybe not, but the swashbuckling judge -- who pilots a 32-foot gunboat as a "homeland security maritime specialist" for the Alameda County Sheriff's Department -- is certainly deeply involved. Goodman was an assistant coach for the junior varsity team two years ago whose daughter, a guard, will be a senior this season. Although they are careful not to accuse him directly, almost all of Nibarger's supporters believe Goodman spearheaded the protests.
What was the name of the last newsworthy person to be piloting his boat around San Francisco Bay? Scott? Scott who? Oh yeah...Scott Peterson. I know...I know...that's totally irrelevant and absurd...that's exactly why I mentioned it.
quote:
"I think the community kowtowed to these people," says Barbara Siegel, president of the Castro Valley Teachers Association. "He was certainly a part of that power group. He wasn't the only one, but he was one of them.'' Someone certainly had some juice. Although Gray says she didn't "get a single complaint in the AD's office during the season, even an anonymous phone call," the parents group presented Nibarger with a formal letter just after the final game of the season.
Again, very sad.
quote:
"She's making it all about herself," says Sweet. "She has never once acknowledged that there might be a problem." In fact, Sweet says, half of the 14 girls on last year's team signed the original letter protesting Nibarger's coaching. He says Nibarger's supporters would not be standing with her if they knew the real facts.
I actually agree with some of this. I've been vocal on the HSBBW on other threads concerning problems with coaches and problems do exist at times with a coach, but in this case it seems apparent that the facts point to the coach
not being a problem.
quote:
"What I want to know," says coach Rodriguez, "is what are these kids going to do when they leave home and have a boss or a professor they don't like? They can't destroy everyone they don't like."
Double
B-I-N-G-O...or whatever it is you say after hitting BINGO twice.
C.W. Nevius' column appears regularly. His blog C.W.Nevius.blog and podcast "News Wrap," can be found at SFGate.com. E-mail him at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.
44
