I’m fed up with youth sports. My girlfriend says it is really about my inability to have much control in a situation where my kids end up in a bad spot. She isn’t wrong. I dislike putting the boys in a bad situation and time and again this is exactly where they end up. My 5th grader went from starting on the Jr. High Basketball team to earning a minute of playing time per game following some concerns I voiced to the Athletic Director. I still don’t think I was wrong for speaking out. The coach cussed out the team during half time of the game, he failed to provide any substantive training, and he refused to coach both during the warmups and the majority of actual games. Yeah, I had cause to be pissed. Still, when did I become the dad who bitches every time a kid is in a less than perfect situation?
I bitched about that coach. I bitched about previous coaches in other sports. After a time the common denominator looks to be me. The latest situation has me feeling like I’m seen as the bad guy when in reality I’m trying to be a stand up dad. Here’s what happened: Due to unforeseen league circumstances, my 9 and seven year olds are required to play in the same division. The head coach of the team I coach with doesn’t want both boys. He wants the kid he had and to let the other kid play for a different team in the division. I don’t want to do that. See, I’m a single dad and, for all intents and purposes, the only parent who regularly attends game. So, the real choice I’m being asked to make is to put the kids on separate teams and leave one kid without parents to support him for the season. That’s a really crappy choice. In fact it is no choice at all.
At this age siblings ought to be a package deal, but that is not always the case. As a result I am left to either pull the one kid off his team to join the other on a new (and likely lesser) team or split and leave one kid dangling. It is not worth the drama and mental stress. It also isn’t like I’m forcing a terrible athlete down the coaches throat. I’m giving him a solid young athlete who led his team in the previous season.
This brings us back to the control part. If I had more control I wouldn’t be asked to choose between my kids. In reality, I am not going to. It might mean both kids play for the lesser team or it could mean leaving the organization entirely. One thing is for certain, I’m not going to break up dem franchise boys.