COLUMNIST: Parents need to know their place

Amy B.
Perham, MN     02/04/2010 5:16 PM

It is sad that this has gotten to this point. There was never one time at the school board meeting that playing time was ever brought up. The reason us parents were at the meeting was because an incident arose when my son decided to quit basketball, and the blame for him quitting was wrongfully put onto the other boy. I wrote a letter to the school board members sharing my sons reasoning for wanting to quit. ...None of the letter was ever discussed at the meeting. Becky said nothing at all at the meeting and I only asked if the board received my letter.....nothing else was ever discussed by Becky or I. At the end of the meeting I directly told Louis Hougland I did not want any part of the letter to be in the newspaper...I also called him the next day to be assurred no part of the letter would be mentioned...the letter was written to explain what led up to my son wanting to quit...and assure there was no reason for Keith to be involved in the situation. The newspaper took parts of the letter and made it sound as if we were complaining about our kids playing time and made it into a story. Becky and I were at the meeting in case the issue was discussed....the issue was not discussed. From what the paper printed the real issue of why we were at the meeting was lost and miscongrued. Since this issue began Dave has encouraged our son to go back to basketball and we have supported our son as we always have. It is sad that because of the paper a lot of people have been wrongly accused and hurt. Thank you for your time. Amy B.

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Mike B.
02/04/2010 3:56 PM

My thing is this, did the parents think about how much garbage their kids are going to get at school and from teammates for complaining about the coach? Probably not, they think of themselves. Did they ask their kids about how they felt? Now these kids are going to be going around school with the student body talking about how they need the bottle taken out of their mouths. I really feel for these kids. Now the issue about the letter. I couldn't agree with John more. These know-it-all parents really know nothing. Every parent thinks that they know what's best for the team and that their little darling deserves to be out there the most. Parents GROW UP. Stay in the stands and cheer for the team. All you're with your meaningless complaining is hurting the team. I'm sure the next time you're at a game you will have no one around you or wants to be near you. Way to screw up a great program that Dave has built up.

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Seth S.
02/04/2010 3:46 PM

"You know as well as I do that there are plenty of coaches just putting in there time for a paycheck." Dave Cresap is not one of them. Great article John!

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Michael S.
Hewitt, MN     02/04/2010 12:38 PM

Those in it for the paycheck are very slim in numbers. The amount of time that these coaches give to their programs isn't "worth it" if you are doing it for the money. I coach at many levels and I alwasy tell my athletes "Whenever I yell it isn't at you personally, but in an effort to make you better." I tell them that if I yell it means I am watching. They need to worry when I DON'T yell at them as this is when I have given up on them and am not watching them anymore! Totally agree that no matter what the age, be it 13 or 18, the best players should be playing at the Varsity level. You play to WIN that is simple. If you don't want your child in that environment, take them to a church league!

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derek g.
02/04/2010 11:53 AM

You put every coach on a pedestal. You know as well as I do that there are plenty of coaches just putting in there time for a paycheck.

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