Zoe's basketball team are all newbs. They are adorable. They try so hard. They are improving. They have great coaches. And they are just sooo cute!
But today they basically got shellacked. This team beat them 40-0. The first time they played, even though we had forfeited b/c of lack of players, they beat us 49 to 4.
Can you say unsportsmanlike behavior? This is CYO for goodness sake! Our girls barely know how to dribble or shoot, but they played against these street-ballers who know plays, can shoot 3 pointers (at age SEVEN), and fake pass and dribble like they are in college.
This is my opinion: Running up the score is just kind of an uncool thing to do. It's this unwritten rule that you just don't do that. They had their best player in three full quarters. C'mon now. They had an entire bench of girls who aren't that good and probably don't ever get as much playing time.
I actually said something to their coach after the game. This total bitchy mom / coach said after, "Well y'all could have tried to stop us!" Um, jigga WHAT? We tried to. That was our best. And we got slaughtered. They also said, "Well we *were* city champs." And "Our second string would have beat you that bad too." Hmmm. I wonder about that. Some of them are actually timid like our girls. Not aggressive ball hogs.
Ok, so our girls are learning the basics. Your girls have NO business even playing us, much less creaming us AND gloating about it. Not just once, but three times now. I hate being upset about this, but I was an athlete for so long. I want to teach my daughter about sportsmanship and loving sports. Not about feeling bad because their team isn't very good. Or getting the crap beat out of them (literally... hello ref, it's called a FOUL).
I think I need a good workout tomorrow. I'm just too aggravated about this for my own good. I think I will, however, be writing someone at the CYO and telling them that this team is so far out of our league, that it is unfair for us to play them. I mean, yesterday we squeaked a win out at 8-4. Then today.... c'mon. How is that sportsman-like?
I can do this. I'm too irritated not to.
Does anyone else have experience with this kind of rude coaching?
That sucks. But you are a good Mama Bear for being P-O'ed.
Posted by: Kris Herbst at January 7, 2008 09:08 PMI don't have much experience with athletics but when I was the fundraising chair for our Little League I watched the transformation of the organization go from 'it's about learning team work and sportsmanship and having fun with a little competition' in the statements of the earliest organizers' (Pres, VP, Treas., etc.) when the meetings began in Dec/Jan which quickly was replaced with 'let's get our best players picked early so we can get to training them to win, win, win and stomp, trounce and annhilate the weaker teams in the season' (coaches and managers).
In short order, the LL players were divided up - coaches kids & the best players on the teams of the mouthiest coaches, poorer and less experienced players on the teams of the coaches who were newcomers to the organization or less rabid about winning.
It obviously left a lasting impression as that was about 1987. I made my own commitment to keep encouraging the kids because I felt there was no way the adults would hear anything from 'just the fundraising gal'. It was my concession stand that every kid passed through so I did get to meet and talk with every kid and the ones who needed an encouraging word got the lion's share of my time. Well, them and the ones that the parents would dump off, rain or shine, by barely slowing the car down enough to open the door and offload their kid.
I'm convinced adults who are supposed to look after kids' well being and model good behavior are often the very worst ones at successfully doing so.
My advice is to find out who sets the schedules, get to them well in advance of the next schedule setting date and find out how to influence their decision as it seems pretty clear that the team you've seen play is merely using Z's team as physical practice (but not really testing them or challenging them) and even more so as emotional protein by cutting another notch in the 'win' column at the expense of your girls' physical and emotional wellbeing.
It may help to have the whole league's schedule and see if you can find other teams that are lightly scheduled and are more closely matched skill-wise which could be rematched with Z's team.
Hope this helps. Sorry about the novel-length post. :)
Posted by: Bren/Cody'sMom at January 8, 2008 08:18 AMHi Deb,
I used to play CYO sports when I was a kid, but in a different area of the country. For our games, there was a rule that once a certain point spread was reached, the game was over, basically to prevent, or somewhat lessen, the experience Zoe's team had. I think it was 20 or 25 points.
I guess I don't know what would have happened if the point spread happened in the first quarter/half, though. Maybe there was a minimum amount of time that had to be played too? Hard to remember, but I remember the point spread rule because it applied to us a few times.
Another thing that would happen was if our team was really winning a game by a lot, the players who weren't as good would get to go in and play the rest of the game so they could get experience and even out the game a little. Too bad that team wasn't doing that - not a real team-like atmosphere for the not-so-good kids.
Sorry about their bad attitude.
Posted by: used to play sports at January 8, 2008 08:57 PMOh yea, and it pissed me right off too. The other team was twice as big as my girlies team. They were rude and pushy and it was very hard for me to keep my mouth shut. I'm glad I did though because at the end of the game, the referee came over to our team and told them he was so proud of them for not stooping to the other teams level and being rude in the extreme. He made sure the kids knew the other teams behavior wasn't ok. He later told us parents that our kids had the kindest team in the league and it was very clear they cared about each other and encouraged each other and he wished other teams were like our team.
Posted by: traci at January 8, 2008 09:12 PMDebs--I understand why you got so mad. I used to see this kind of thing when my boys played sports too, also in the CYO or city leagues. Coaches who don't understand sportsmanship! That coach should have put her other players in once they were 20 pts. ahead--what is she teaching her players by letting Zoe's team get ground into the dirt?
On the other hand, it's a great launching pad for a mother-daughter discussion about fair play.
Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne Sather at January 9, 2008 09:27 PMI'd be HOT. You needed to kick someone in the teeth. A grown up. :)
Posted by: Kami at January 9, 2008 10:13 PMI agree. That was terrible coaching. "IF" the second team could have beat you, then they should have had their second team in there.
Running up the score like that is for the coach. Not the kids. So sad.
Posted by: Tammy at January 10, 2008 07:03 AM