Sports thoughts
The worst thing in the world that could happen to me as a fifth grader were words. Words from your teacher. Words so horrible you wished it were a terrible nightmare, but it wasn’t. “I’m going to call your parents.” Judge, jury, and executioner all in one short horrific phrase. Thirty-four faces in the classroom stared at you in unison. All had the same exact thought. “You are a dead man.” In your mind the walk home had to be similar to the history lesson you just had, The Bataan Death March.
Circa 2019, “Johnny, your teacher called and said you weren’t behaving in class,” mother said gently. “I told her it was her job as an educator to perk your interest in mathematics, and to make it more fun. Johnny, learning should be enjoyable. Now, go get some Cheetos and relax in from of your Playstation.”
What have these scenarios have to do with sports you ask? Well, sports fans, the pendulum has swung. No longer do parents drop you off at practice. Sorry, you walked to practice. No longer do parents say, “I’ll try to see you play if I can get out of work early.” Now we have helicopter parents in sports. They hover over every move you make at practice and during games. They question every move the coach makes. You will never hear a parent say, “Hey
son, you better learn to hit a curve ball or you’re going to be on the bench.” The response today, “I’m going to find out if the pitcher was within the proper age group for your league. And if you’re having a slight problem with the curve ball, Mom and I will get you a personal trainer.”
We are not talking about little league or high school coaches now. Mike Brey, the very successful basketball coach at Notre Dame had this to say about parents and his program at a coaches clinic, “When I think about my next coaching job, I think it should be in an orphanage.” He received a standing ovation from high school coaches present.
The term “helicopter parent” has been replaced with a new term “snowplow parents.” The snowplow parents pave the way over every problem their athlete son or daughter might have. College and professional teams now have coaches assigned to parents, who