I’ve become one of those parents. One of those sports parents who yell and complain. I don’t think I’m out of control but I could use improvement, which as an intense and passionate individual, is hard.
There are really just two things that bother me when I watch my kids play sports. Kids that play rough or dirty and cocky kids. My oldest boys are 8 and 6 and that’s too early to be starting this shit. It’s also the age to crack down on this behavior so it doesn’t become a continued habit as they get older.
That leads me to Chase’s basketball game Sunday night. His team played a good team and lost. The opposing team had some good and better players including one tall player who had a big advantage because of his height. The problem I had was this player fouled nearly every time on the court. He would reach across players, grab over the back for rebounds and push off on offense.
Now I understand you can’t call every little thing especially at this beginner level or games would take forever. But it’s also a teaching level and these kids need to learn basic fouls. Reaching is one of the most common fouls called in basketball. You can’t rebound and reach over an opponent. You can’t push over a player. Basic basketball.
Now I don’t entirely blame the refs. This also falls on the coaches who I could tell thought they were hot shit. These hot shots even tried to open up the last quarter in a zone defense which is not allowed at this level. These kids need to learn the foundations of basketball which is man to man defense before starting to learn zone (which is why zone is allowed yet)!
So I was probably a little too loud in my comments about the player who kept fouling every play but enough was enough. Kids this young need to learn the right way to play and the way this player was playing was not right. This falls on the coaches who didn’t say a word and had this player play three quarters (they only had 9 players so 2 players had to be 3 quarters instead of the usual 2) because it was clear this team only cared about winning. And in beginner level rec basketball that should not be the most important thing.
So I do apologize for being loud in my comments throughout the game yesterday. While I did feel the refs should have called a lot more than they did, this was on the coaches and parents of this kid. Having a player dominate because he fouls every play isn’t winning basketball. This level of competition is about learning the foundations of the sport and you clearly don’t teach that when you allow your player to foul almost every play.
And since I’m petty I’ll add that I’m not just a random parent. I played basketball for 10 years, started all four years of high school basketball and scored over 1,000 points. I know the sport and I know what I saw. And what I saw wasn’t winning basketball.
So I’m vocal because it wasn’t fair to Chase’s team who plays fair and by the rules. I’ve seen Chase’s practices and the coaches really emphasize the foundations of the sport and don’t get too fancy or advanced for the kids. His coach also does a nice job rotating who plays the extra quarter when they don’t have all ten players there. That is what rec beginner level basketball is about and I’m grateful Chase is on a team where winning isn’t the most important thing.
#sportsparents #youthbasketball #winningisnteverything #foundationsofbasketball #fouls #vocalparent #playfair #onetoughmother