Father of Six

Good Morning to all.

I mentioned in my last post that I was helping coach a football team of 12-year olds, and that there was some associated drama.

Here is the quick story. I had a really big itch to coach football that needed to be scratched, so I contacted an associate at work who I knew was involved with the local youth football league. He put me in touch with the head coach of a team that was looking for some help with defensive backs and wide receivers. I joined the staff with three weeks to go in a eight week season, with the distinct possibility for post season play. The team finished the season undefeated at 8-0 and was looking forward to running the playoff tables.

Then disaster struck. A parent from an opposing team filmed one of our practices and submitted it as evidence for violating team practice rules. (A poorly written and essentially inconsequential rule, and as written there is no question that the head coach had violated league policy.) The league originally chose to suspend the head coach for the rest of the season (playoffs) and let the kids play, as they were rightly judged to be innocent of any complicity in the matter. That suspension evidently wasn’t good enough for the “investigating parent” and they pushed for a harsher sentence. The league board succumbed to the parental pressure and suspended our team from post-season play. We were out of the playoffs and our kids were devastated.

Our parents got together and determined that a number of grievances were apparent, and decided to take action. They filed a lawsuit. The courts ruled in favor of our parents, and the team is now back in the playoffs. Our head coach has been suspended for one year.

I have a number of personal values and principles that have put me in a very compromised position. I made a commitment to these kids to help coach their team. But I also am a very strong proponent of fair play, sportsmanship and personal accountability. To be associated with this situation is something that I am very uncomfortable with. And I failed myself by not being aware of the league policies. I put my trust in the other coaches and now I am guilty by association.

At the end of the day, I have made a commitment to these 12 year old young men, and I intend to honor that commitment. After the dust has settled, I will take all necessary and appropriate action.

Meanwhile, our team plays in the first round of the playoffs at 10:30 this morning, and I will be on the sidelines.

(The situation has received some unfortunate publicity. I was shocked and embarrassed to see that a local television station did a report on the situation on the 10 o’clock news last night. This is the link to the story. And by the way, I wasn’t contacted to comment.)