As someone that played 3 sports at Canfield High School, was a head coach in two different sports (one boys, one girls) at Canfield High School, and is a father of 3, I will offer this. (A) Parents are biased. They are biased with their kids and the investments they have made in their kids potential. (B) 9 out of 10 times, parents biases are typically skewed as to what their child's skill level really is and respond irrationally to any assessment not aligned with theirs. (C) Coaches are biased in their belief that they have been hired to do a job based on their skills/experience and have a skewed view in their ability to assess talent and handle situations (both on the field and off). (D) Coaches typically don't get rewarded for playing inferior talent so they have a bias to respond to good talent by focusing attention on those players and playing them accordingly. I cannot speak to the current administrations handling of this situation. But, to assume that the coach had no part in the 2008 state title is a ludicrous assessment. Similarly ludicrous is the expectation that parents can do/say whatever they way with no downstream impact to their kids. Trust me, the only impact to the kids is the embarrassment they feel. Coaching is simple. Be fair by treating everyone/situation differently based on the facts and in all things, use your best judgement. Parenting is very similar until the skewed biases enter the equation and they always do. I can't speak to this coaches issues or perceived issues, but I can see issues abounding by the adults (parents and administration) who were supposed to handle it with the kids intentions in mind. The comments I read say that in spades.
Canfield replaces girls softball coach
As someone that played 3 sports at Canfield High School, was a head coach in two different sports (one boys, one girls) at Canfield High School, and is a father of 3, I will offer this. (A) Parents are biased. They are biased with their kids and the investments they have made in their kids potential. (B) 9 out of 10 times, parents biases are typically skewed as to what their child's skill level really is and respond irrationally to any assessment not aligned with theirs. (C) Coaches are biased in their belief that they have been hired to do a job based on their skills/experience and have a skewed view in their ability to assess talent and handle situations (both on the field and off). (D) Coaches typically don't get rewarded for playing inferior talent so they have a bias to respond to good talent by focusing attention on those players and playing them accordingly. I cannot speak to the current administrations handling of this situation. But, to assume that the coach had no part in the 2008 state title is a ludicrous assessment. Similarly ludicrous is the expectation that parents can do/say whatever they way with no downstream impact to their kids. Trust me, the only impact to the kids is the embarrassment they feel. Coaching is simple. Be fair by treating everyone/situation differently based on the facts and in all things, use your best judgement. Parenting is very similar until the skewed biases enter the equation and they always do. I can't speak to this coaches issues or perceived issues, but I can see issues abounding by the adults (parents and administration) who were supposed to handle it with the kids intentions in mind. The comments I read say that in spades.
February 10, 2012 at 9:28 a.m. permalink suggest removal