Back in 2018 we all heard about the New York high school basketball coach and the father of one of his players getting shot during a fight at the coach’s home. The father, 47-year-old Christopher Hooks, went to the home of Paul Robeson High School head coach, Todd Myles, to confront him because his son was not playing enough.
During the fight, according to police, someone else showed up and shot the both of them. The father was shot in the neck and the coach was grazed on his left leg.
What’s so crazy is that we don’t have to follow that story. We can just show up to any gymnasium in any city and see parents acting a fool about their kid not playing and blaming the coach. They’re hollering and cursing folks out all because of playing time. Incredible.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Some of these parents are out of control. By the time your child get’s to high school it’s no longer Daddy Ball or in other words, little league ball where everybody on the roster has to play. Now I have no idea what the circumstances were as to why the kid wasn’t playing but there is no excuse to show up to the coach’s home to confront him. There is no excuse to roll up on the coach on the court when your kid isn’t playing. EVERYBODY can’t play. There are only so many spots on the floor. Somebody’s got to sit on the bench. The best will always play. It’s always possible that your kid may not be one of the best, his work ethic may be in question or his attitude could be terrible.
There are a ton of reasons why your kid isn’t playing. It’s not always the coach’s fault.
However, there are a ton of lessons that can be taught while playing sports. Kids learn how to persevere, overcome obstacles, they learn the lessons of work hard etc. So if you’re the parent that is getting in the way of all of that what are you teaching your child?
It’s high school ball bruh!! Everybody isn’t going to play!! That’s just real life. Instead of showing up at the coach’s home to fight. Why don’t you teach your child the lessons of real life? Just because you’re on the job and you’re one of the best on the job doesn’t mean that you’re always going to get the promotion. You can’t make people promote you or in this case play you. Sometimes you’ve got to let the kid go through the adversity and guide him or her through it. Forcing the coach to play your kid doesn’t teach the kid a darn thing.
If the kid isn’t playing then you need to handle the situation on your end. Teach him to continue to work extremely hard, be the first person at practice and the last to leave. Don’t EVER be out-worked and always ask the coach what you (as a player) can do to get more playing time. Then the coach has to give your kid some type of answer and now it’s up to them to do the things they’ve been told to do.
If they still aren’t playing keep putting in the work and guess what playa? In the process they’ve gotten better whether they’re playing or not. At some point they’re going to play because the coach is trying to win. If he doesn’t win he’s going to get fired.
I’ve been around sports my entire life either as an athlete or a sports writer. Most of the time when kids aren’t playing they aren’t the best players or if they are the best players many times they’ve got a terrible attitude and don’t get along with the coach. It’s seldom that the kid is doing everything asked of them and they’re better than the guys playing in front of them and still not playing. That’s not happening playa because the coach is trying to win especially at the high school level.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t have butt hole coaches that have no idea what there doing but the best players are typically playing. Stop blaming everybody else for your kid not playing. At some point your kid has to own it and most importantly as a parent, you’ve got to tell your kid the truth. Everybody playing basketball isn’t a basketball player. In the words of my old school coaches, “You don’t choose the sport the sport chooses you.” Just because you’re kid is on the team doesn’t mean he’s supposed to play. Stop me when I start lyin’!
