WingMan Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 My Two Cents: 1. Schools should interview individuals regardless of their age and respond appropriately to the individual who applies for the job, whatever the position. There are middle-age creeps out there, just read the papers. Does a clean "back-ground check" give them a free ride to be a part of a program? There are also a lot of dads who are on coaching staffs who don't really contribute to the team, as they only take up space, cheer/coach only for their wrestler, eat up the free admission and hospitality food. Why are these individuals approved? 2. Believe it or not, there are some very young kids out there who are squared away and who would excel at such an opportunity. I truly believe the school policies are out there to protect everyone. But many times, their intentions have the opposite effect. Blanket policies are equivalent to "group punishment" in my book. See comment #3 which is my "two cents"/opinion on how this should be handled. 3. Can said "squared away" athlete contribute in camps, middle-school or elementary programs which are crucial to the buiding of a competitive Varsity/high school program? Wouldn't this remove the issue with relationships with high-schoolers? 4. Schools could benefit in bringing back good role models for their programs. The age of this particular kid could benefit the school immensly as young kids will associate with him. Believe it or not, it's not only professional athletes that young kids idolize, many time it is the high-school football quarterback, captain of the basketball team or volleyball team and as much as I hate to say it, the cheerleading captain. Every school should be concerned about getting young kids into programs (whether they are sports, FFA, drama...). They should capitalize on young talent who have proven themselves to be good role models. 4. Failure to give these "squared-away" young people a fair chance could result in seeing them do very well for another team. It sucks to see talent on the other side of the mat. Especially if he/she wanted to coach/contribute to your program. Bottom line, give the kid a chance at the feeder programs and watch the progress. Once he/she has proven how responsible they are, then give them more opportunity in the upper grades. This would show how serious the school is about the kid and give the kid a chance to show the administration, parents and coaches that he is serious. Last comment, if a high school girl or boy is spending time with a coach in a relationship that is other than coach or mentor, then the parent is not doing their job and the administration is not doing their job. If this is an unacceptable rule for any applicant, then don't apply for a position in a high school. I personally would like to believe that this doesn't happen very often. Also, this topic applies to every sport and extra-curricular activity schools offer...has anybody looked at how substitute teachers are hired anymore? A school I pulled my kids out of recently had every "bad seed" I went to high school with (same school) on the sub list. Many of them were eventually pulled after several parent complaints. Each school administration needs to control who is around "our" kids both during school and after. Good judgement goes along way, however common sense does not always prevail. To the originator of this thread, ask you school about their substitute teaching policy and see how hard it is to get on that list. It may fire you up even more. My feedback is based on my being a former coach, my spouse has been a varsity coach for over 14 years and I have three children (two in high school, one in middle school) who are all multiple sport athletes. I have seen this crap many times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awood1 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Some of you are not getting the point I was trying to make. You act like the school would have been doing him a huge favor by letting him help out. Trust me he's got plenty on his plate and just happen to have a break from college. He is the one who would of been doing our program a huge favor by giving back a little of his time and experience, he is not from our school so he doesn't have all these teen connections that some of you worry about. The way I see it this young man is way more mature than his age, heck he would have to be to accomplish what he has. 18 is old enough and mature enough to vote, go to war and fight for our freedoms, I'll even bet some of our war leaders are only 19 or 20. But its not old enough to give a helping hand in a wrestling room? There are coaches young and old who have messed up for various reasons. Address the problem then, if and when it does occur but don't stereotype our young as all being to immature. I agree...BUT, I can tell you that the world is no longer guided by common sense. If there were ever any doubt, it was all removed when a women spilled her Mickey D's coffee in her lap and it was someone else's fault. Fact is "we" (and especially shool districts) are motivated by CYA more than common sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimtownFather Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I agree...BUT, I can tell you that the world is no longer guided by common sense. If there were ever any doubt, it was all removed when a women spilled her Mickey D's coffee in her lap and it was someone else's fault. Fact is "we" (and especially shool districts) are motivated by CYA more than common sense. I wouldn't necessarily say that is our motivation. But we REALLY need to consider the possible liabilities in all of our decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lock Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 Ok all, let me ask you this, How many of your programs currently have a last year grad helping out in some capacity this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awood1 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 We don't have any. The "youngest" coach in the room is graduated in '93. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon Wrestling Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 I coached "fresh" out of high school at the age of 18 as an assistant for Winchester Community High. I believe the principal did not want me to coach because of the maturity thing but the head coach said either me or he does not coach so here I am in my third year coaching at the age of 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCWrestling Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Our Staff has a 23 year old, two 22 year olds, and a 21 year old. We are a young staff and we get nothing but compliments from our parents and fans all the time telling us how much the appreciate what we do for their kids. Falcon Wrestling, how are you guys looking for the TEC this weekend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon Wrestling Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 we should do alright for how young and inexperienced we are, but i would expect union county to take the title this year they are very strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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