Skip to main content

Sit Down Please

 




There are instances in life when someone achieves something in sports, where there are those who want to take credit for it. Or think that they could've done a better job at playing and or at coaching it. I am certain it happens quite often privately inside sport loving minds. Yet, I've witnessed it publicly.  And I'm not directing this to the aspect of social media.   I'm speaking of the pseudo-coaching-parents criticizing from the bleachers. If you ain't helping. Guess what? You ain't helping.

Helping is watching.  Helping is, if you know something that lacked in your child's body movement that he/she could be aware of.  And it is something that you could discuss at home prior to the event, then fine.  As well, knowing it could be congruent with a coaches’ thinking. Perhaps, it’s something simple like bending their knees to prevent an injury and getting a better result. Or perhaps to quash a child's frustration. If the coach is unavailable, that might be a feasible prospect that you as a parent may have experienced and understand.

Trust me, it's one thing to discuss something after the event, privately. Perhaps, later at the dinner table as the child may bring up why they hit the ball a certain way. Or why they are saying, even when their team won, that they themselves think they didn't play well. Even if no one on the team says anything of the sort to them, after the event. If the child brings it up, then it is open for discussion.  It’s quite another thing for a parent to criticize a player or a coach while seated in the bleachers. Even if the coaches, the players, nor the referees are in earshot, the spectators do hear it. I’ve seen parents barrage the coach after a meet or game with ‘woulda’, ‘shoulda’, ‘couldas’ to the coach. I find it not only uncool. Yet unethical, as the parent seems to be lacking in self-discipline, aligned with their own self-importance and a flair of arrogance, to boot.

Losing a game, a match, an event, etc... is part of the lessons from the school system that demonstrates once again an important aspect of life and living.  Playing sports, is just that. Its playing. Learning to take instruction from someone other than a parent, outside of academia. The coach may not appear perfect, but they have that coaching position most times for a good reason.

By the way, plenty of times high school coaches coach out passion for the sport first. The other two areas that might be reasons for them becoming a high school coach, are making a few more dollars, and school politics. As this does actually show the administration that the teacher who takes on a coaching job, that he/she truly wants to go the extra mile, showing teamwork and loyalty to the school system. If that is their agenda, so be it. It can be and most times is a noble agenda to have. ---Jody-Lynn Reicher

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2023 Holiday Letter from the Reicher's

Well, I didn't think I'd be doing a Holiday Letter this year, but here goes... The Spirit of Norm is in the air. As the wind whips with minus a true snowstorm.  In hopes the Farmers Almanac was correct, I pray to the snow gods. Rain ensued the month of December thus far. We have nearly tripled the amount of rainfall usual for December in New Jersey. And I've witnessed its treachery. Storms such as these hit us hardest in July. Then remained fairly intense through til about early October.  Our daughters are doing well, Thank God.  Their Dad would be proud of them. Our oldest Sarah, now a Junior at UCLA pursuing her degree in Chemical Engineering. She's digging the whole California scene. Which I thought it was for her. She's had some good traveling on her off times from school. For her March 2023 week off, she drove her and a few friends out to Lake Tahoe and went downhill skiing for a first in nearly 5 years. She had to rent the ski equipment.  Funny enough when ...

"It’s the Hardest Thing..."

My friend since 1996, neighbor and pet care person texted back, "It's the hardest thing...". She texted back the morning just hours prior to my decision to have our last pet euthanized. It's not something I'd ever done. Although I've been told I have a killer instinct. Which I've discovered over the past 20 years that would be true. A promoter said that to my fight coach after my first cage fight. The promoter saw the charged smile on my face after I'd just lost to a decision. I am disciplined, so thank God for that. My feeling is we all have that, but not the amount I've discovered I have, and most certainly most do not have the obsessive level of discipline I have had or have. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon holding our bunny for quite sometime before her sedation in a veterinary treatment room.  About 20 minutes later the vet and vet tech arrived finding a spot to inject a sedative into our pet bunny. They said it would take ten minutes, th...

June 12th 2025

  Finally getting our oldest on the phone. "Mom! Chill! A man faceplanted on the ground. Blood was everywhere. It was so bloody Mom. We helped him."  She continues her hyper mode annoyed I called/texted 6x in one hour when no response was received from them. You know that parenting Mom thingy.  Oldest: "Didn't she tell you? We're doing pictures near sunset." She remarked, annoyed. Me/Mom: "Oh. Wow. Okay. And Thank you for being kind."  That's what I was reduced to. Hours later... Youngest explains now in my hotel room. Me/Mom: "So, what happened?" Youngest: "Mom, I thought he was like praying. He was laying facedown." Me/Mom: "Oh. Did it just happen?" Youngest: "People were passing by. But we didn't see the faceplant. As I approached, I realized he wasn't praying... you know like some religions do at certain times." Me thinking... I guess that ten years in the morning of teaching the kids religi...