Grades and T/B

No need for the yellow bus

....hhhmm?, gotta good point there javcat, but the reality is, when a parent draws the line in the sand to a kid,....trust me, taking the cell phone works everytime!

Dr. PhilFish

 

I appreciate everyones comments, coaches and parents alike. I was just curious how everyone felt. Thanks for a lot of great input and most importantly, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays to all.

 

awesome!

Excellent point! Where are the parents? But how does a coach turning a blind eye help the situation?

 

No Blind Eye's Here...

I wouldn't say that a coach would be turning a "blind eye". But if someone is relying on a TB (or even HS) coach to be the final safety net, the family is really working with no safety net at all.

We enthusiastically monitors grades, talk and encourage those players that are struggling, and even offer tutoring depending on the subject. But if grades are so low that a coach has to get involved with 'removal from team considerations' - I would ask why/how have we gotten to this point?

 

good points and by scal....

one of the most profound things I ever heard was one Tuesday at my weekly Rotary lunch.. forget the program specifics but the speaker said something I have never forgotten: "not everyone was raised in the same family you were". We dont really realize how bad some "normal" situations are.

 

This is so true!

Two of the organizations I have been involved with, the NC Challengers and Triangle Lightning, make it a point to be sure no kid is denied an opportunity to play. I've witnessed both organizations taking extra effort to make sure their players kept up their school work, making sure players could get to practices, tournaments, etc.

And the result of their efforts are some of the many that sign each year at the next level.

These are two organizations that develop players; many times from the ground up.

 

U Big Time TH !!

I need to borrow about $5,000.00...Rotary Club --I Hear You !!!

Guru

 

Guru, this could fit with your signature quote:

Don't be afraid to strikeout when you step up to the plate!

Just a thought.

 

Our youngest daughter struggled with grades in school. There were many times where she brought mid-term grades home that were Ds or Fs. She would be immediately grounded from softball until her grades came up--they always did.

What I learned since then.....

Our dear friend and hitting instructor of our daughter noticed some things in my daughter during lessons that caused him to realize that she had a learning disability. Unfortunately, this was during her senior year in high school, and the school would not recognize all the symptoms that were pretty obvious.

The hitting instructor found ways to work with my daughter in a way that she immediately began to improve her hitting.

If I had to do it over again....

If my daughter were to have bad mid-term grades in school now, she still would not be able to play softball as some of the responsibility belonged to her. The grounding motivated her to bring her grades up because softball was her #1 love.

The thing I would change is that I would also find her academic help in the form of a tutor or one of the learning agencies that are out there. I did not give her any tools to improve her grades--just forced her to improve them on her own. Thus, the pattern continued, and she had several low grades in high school--almost cost her her freshman season.

The good news....

Now that she knows she has a learning disability (untested by professionals), she has learned how to adapt her studies and is doing well in college. Her first semester is now complete, and she has all B's so far. That is a major accomplishment that comes from hours of extra studying as she knows she will not test well and has to keep her other grades up high as a cushion for finals.

Her incentive is still softball as she loves the game and wants to be a major impact on her team.