High School Sports

[Steiny]

Has anyone seen/read (Bee News) the ongoing complaints about certain football teams in the are (i.e., Williamsville), where the parents complain that the teams don't win (0-8).

Should coaches be fired/reassigned for losing? When did High School Sports become like professional sports? Isn't education more important?

What does everyone think?

[mesue]

I think education is more important.
Unfortunately parents see dollar signs when Jr starts to play varsity football. Everyone's son is a potential pro no matter how well, or not, they actually play. Some parents forget that the sport is supposed to teach, or enhance, team work skills and sportsmanship. I find the older I get the worse this poor parental attitude gets.

[atotaltotalfan2001]

I think education is more important.
Unfortunately parents see dollar signs when Jr starts to play varsity football. Everyone's son is a potential pro no matter how well, or not, they actually play. Some parents forget that the sport is supposed to teach, or enhance, team work skills and sportsmanship. I find the older I get the worse this poor parental attitude gets.

I think the attitudes of parents are getting worse because they're getting more desperate for scholarship money.

Beyond that, I think the belief is that for their kids to get into top schools, the kids have to be both super academics and super at sports.

My kids went to Williamsville schools and I can't tell you how obsessed parents were with getting their kids into top universities or colleges -- whether or not it was really best for the kids, or what they even wanted.

[Steiny]

Great discussion!

Yes, I agree!

We must not fear these HELICOPTER PARENTS!

[TOOLBAGS]

No kid wants to lose. If coaches are paid, they should produce wins. I see nothing wrong with firing high school coaches if they are getting paid to coach. Obviously your not a very good coach of you can't win a game. Or is it the kids fault??? I say the blame goes on the coach. Losing is just as important as winning, but you don't want kids to lose interest in a sport they are good at.

[mesue]

I think the attitudes of parents are getting worse because they're getting more desperate for scholarship money.

Beyond that, I think the belief is that for their kids to get into top schools, the kids have to be both super academics and super at sports.

My kids went to Williamsville schools and I can't tell you how obsessed parents were with getting their kids into top universities or colleges -- whether or not it was really best for the kids, or what they even wanted.

My kids went to lancaster, they are competative there as well. It's unfortunate.

[Steiny]

No kid wants to lose. If coaches are paid, they should produce wins. I see nothing wrong with firing high school coaches if they are getting paid to coach. Obviously your not a very good coach of you can't win a game. Or is it the kids fault??? I say the blame goes on the coach. Losing is just as important as winning, but you don't want kids to lose interest in a sport they are good at.

Education first and make sports fun!

[TOOLBAGS]

Education first and make sports fun!

Thats kinda obvious (education first). Most kids are not able to play if their grades are failing. How fun is going 0-8? I bet if we ask those kids, it wasnt very fun. As a former football player who's highschool also went 0- for whatever it was...it wasnt very fun. Needless the say, the coaches didnt last long and the new ones produced wins. Kids appear to be enjoying themselves much more when winning....No?

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Education first and make sports fun!

Yea...I am sure all parents looking at $200k for a College Education would think just the same thing.

Sports in WNY are a complete joke. Not only does Section 6 get their panties in a bunch over playing private schools, they do not allow for full programs to develop.

What people like you fail to grasp is there is a lot of lessons learned in sports. How to commit yourself to improvement. How to work with others. How to take instructions. How to learn to win and deal with failure. It is not just about fun.

Another way to grasp it is there are:

120 FBS/D-1 schools. Each school can offer 85 Football scholarships.
125 FCS/D-1AA schools. Each school can offer 63 Football scholarships.
156 D-II Schools. Each school can offer 34 Football scholarships.

For those of you who can not do the math, that is 23,379 scholarships it HIGHER EDUCATION given every year. Out of that, New York State has a tiny fraction of the players. Most of these go to kids from California, Texas and Florida.

It is not because these states have better athletes but rather these states allow for football programs. A lot of these football programs are in the inner city or in poor sections of town. It is often the ONLY chance for kids to get out. Yet what does WNY do? Well it plays sports for fun and does things the way they have always been done.

People sit here and talk about finding ways for kids in the City of Buffalo to get a chance to stay in school, have some structure in their life and get an opportunity to get a college education. When a solution that would help LOTS of kids is sitting right there in front of them.

WNY does put a good amount of kids on scholarship for Basketball. The reason is the programs are developed by the AAU system. Sweet Home had an amazing run in womens volleyball in the 80's and I think the 84' was considered one of the top 10 ALL TIME. Sally Krus fed that with a feeder program.

So sure...just consider sports fun. Most likely it is because either you or your kid has zero athletic ability.

[CAugust]

Education first of course - but not at the welfare of the child either - Williamsville is notorious for pushing kids - an 80 in Williamsville for an average would probably be around a 90 in a city school, well most of them, but not all.

Do we fire the coaches? Well it depends on if they are doing the correct job or not - obviously not everyone is going to win, you have winners and losers - if a coach loses continuously, then maybe he or she does need to be reevaluated

Helicopter parents????? yeah, they exist - they drive me nuts and look at me like I am nuts, because i have my own kids take responsibility for their actions - i really dont care if they dont do their homework, they are not 6 years old, they will face the consequences if they dont do the homework, that's life...............now I am not saying that i would not go out and get supplies and things that are needed, but the days of me sitting down and really working on homework with them is over...

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Do we fire the coaches? Well it depends on if they are doing the correct job or not - obviously not everyone is going to win, you have winners and losers - if a coach loses continuously, then maybe he or she does need to be reevaluated

The problem stems from who they hire. Coaching positions are given to teachers first in that specific school system...regardless of their skill.

When I was in HS, an awesome soccer coach was removed from his position because a higher ranking teacher wanted the job. The program sucked afterward.

At Williamsville South, they have an awesome girls softball program. Several girls are playing D-1 and one almost made the Olympic team. That program is run by a father of one of the former players. The parents made it clear they did not want a teacher coaching. There was some noise but in that case...the system did not win. South girls softball did...for years.

Allow these schools to fund athletic programs year round. Give the kids some structure during the summer. Give the kids a chance to earn a scholarship for higher education.

The system can spend BILLIONS on head start programs. Billions sunk into school programs that do not work. Yet, every example I know of, kids do better in life when they are playing sports. They have an additional set of rules to live by to play sports.

In the Williamsville schools, if you are caught drinking or doing drugs you are done from sports for the year. Does it prevent every kid from drinking...no. But it does for some. You can't bounce a kid from class for getting high but you can bounce him or her from a team.

[Steiny]

Yea...I am sure all parents looking at $200k for a College Education would think just the same thing.

Sports in WNY are a complete joke. Not only does Section 6 get their panties in a bunch over playing private schools, they do not allow for full programs to develop.

What people like you fail to grasp is there is a lot of lessons learned in sports. How to commit yourself to improvement. How to work with others. How to take instructions. How to learn to win and deal with failure. It is not just about fun.

Another way to grasp it is there are:

120 FBS/D-1 schools. Each school can offer 85 Football scholarships.
125 FCS/D-1AA schools. Each school can offer 63 Football scholarships.
156 D-II Schools. Each school can offer 34 Football scholarships.

For those of you who can not do the math, that is 23,379 scholarships it HIGHER EDUCATION given every year. Out of that, New York State has a tiny fraction of the players. Most of these go to kids from California, Texas and Florida.

It is not because these states have better athletes but rather these states allow for football programs. A lot of these football programs are in the inner city or in poor sections of town. It is often the ONLY chance for kids to get out. Yet what does WNY do? Well it plays sports for fun and does things the way they have always been done.

People sit here and talk about finding ways for kids in the City of Buffalo to get a chance to stay in school, have some structure in their life and get an opportunity to get a college education. When a solution that would help LOTS of kids is sitting right there in front of them.

WNY does put a good amount of kids on scholarship for Basketball. The reason is the programs are developed by the AAU system. Sweet Home had an amazing run in womens volleyball in the 80's and I think the 84' was considered one of the top 10 ALL TIME. Sally Krus fed that with a feeder program.

So sure...just consider sports fun. Most likely it is because either you or your kid has zero athletic ability.

Yawn Yawn!

Always gets personal when someone disagrees right???? How does one not know if someone (me?) was a top notch athetle and got injured? One will never know huh? None of anyone's business here of course!

Anways, Yeah, it is not all about winning which is the main issue here. I never said that sports was not important and that one does not learn leadership and other great life skills. The winning part is alarming part of course. IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT WINNING!!!!!!!

What a nice day today! Sun Sun Sun!

[TOOLBAGS]

Yawn Yawn!

Always gets personal when someone disagrees right???? How does one not know if someone (me?) was a top notch athetle and got injured? One will never know huh? None of anyone's business here of course!

Anways, Yeah, it is not all about winning which is the main issue here. I never said that sports was not important and that one does not learn leadership and other great life skills. The winning part is alarming part of course. IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT WINNING!!!!!!!

What a nice day today! Sun Sun Sun!

who said its all about winning? Think everybody understands losing is important.....but never winning? Please explain how this helps...

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Yawn Yawn!

Always gets personal when someone disagrees right???? How does one not know if someone (me?) was a top notch athetle and got injured? One will never know huh? None of anyone's business here of course!

Yea just as you will not tell anyone about your race. Whatever guy.

Anways, Yeah, it is not all about winning which is the main issue here. I never said that sports was not important and that one does not learn leadership and other great life skills. The winning part is alarming part of course. IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT WINNING!!!!!!!

It is about being the best you can be. In order to do this, you need to focus on WINNING. Nobody ever advanced themselves by having the mindset of just wanting to participate.

If it is just about showing up and having fun...well after time kids stop showing up.

[Steiny]

I agree that winning can be important in the spirit to be successful and of course competition. It should just never get to the level of what how certain parent behavior and make their kids cry because they are not winning.

Of course going something like 0-8 is no fun, but should the high school coach be fired over it?