Years ago, I wrote a small piece for a Track & Field magazine that ended up being widely syndicated… and created much controversy among the holy clerics of American track & field. It questioned what they ‘believed’, for them , it was a form of religious heresy.
I have met some wonderful coaches who take a scientific approach to all they do & they genuinely care and develope the young student-athletes in their charge… but there are those coaches who have long since failed to think for themselves and trot out worn cliché’s and continue to quote books written by those even less enlightened than themselves.
Some coaches make up for their intellectual short comings with various ethical shortcuts and by throwing their athletes against the proverbial wall and looking for those ‘who stick!’ … and discarding the rest. Many are as ruthless as they are ignorant. There is no excuse for lapses in professionalism or the toleration of poor character in our athletes or coaches.
It may be hard for a coach to watch a young person ‘dribbling their career down the court’, but this should not be all about the coach’s career. The athlete deserves a prize for playing the game, specifically a real future…. and part of that is an education…. and to leave the university a better person than they entered.
Roger Freberg