Watching game 7 of the World Series last night and I couldn't help but think about last weeks' news in local sports.
For those of you who may not have heard or read about it, yet another left wing genius - this time a sports executive - or someone on the board of the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association (EODSA) decided that its just not fun for 50% of the players when a team loses. So, rather than focus on the positives, they decided they will just stop keeping score - and while they are at it, not bother handing out medals either.
Talk about catering to the lowest common denominator!
While this lack of score keeping only happened for the under 9 year-olds, and the choice to not give any medals or awards was not across the league, but only in the development level (ie: not competitive levels), its still an experiment that should not have started in the first place.
Here's a quote from the EODSA website: Try and wrap your head around this?
The ODL concept is firmly grounded in the Long-Term Player Development model for which the Ontario Soccer Association is currently developing an implementation plan, with a focus on developing players’ individual skills rather than on teams or winning games and leagues. No scores or standings were recorded during the summer leagues, and that theme was carried into the Festival, where there were no game sheets, no standings, and no medals.
Now - I've been a baseball coach for 12 years. In my first couple of years I coached house league, in later years, and as my children developed more skills in the sport, I coached competitive levels. In all my years coaching, not once did a player or a parent or a bystander ever say 'we should stop keeping score and hand out toilet paper rolls as an award at the end of the season".
The fact is - they improved their skills - and we kept score - and - Oh My God -we handed out medals and awards based on achievements! The score was the end goal/result of their efforts. Trying to tie the game, or beat an opponent on the scoreboard made everyone of these people a better player on the field and a better person in life.
By the way - none of my boys (in fact none of the players I coached) have become radical Jihadists, or gone on a store robbing bender because we kept score. They didn't quit the sport because we once lost 8-3 in the league finals in 2008. None have become neo-nazis or started their own cult because they didn't get a trophy or medal! Nope, they still play the game in adult leagues, love the competition and strive to be their best on and (often) off the field.
This seems like yet another left wing sham aimed at making our kids more and more dependent on the state and less able to stand on their own two feet. Either that or some parent complained that little Johnny felt bad cause his team lost 12-2 yet again, and the parent felt an injustice had taken place, so they complained to the league.
Imagine if we were watching last nights World Series and in the bottom of the 9th the announcer sounded like this:
"Here we are folks, this is what the players on both teams have been playing all year for..... bottom of the ninth, runners on second and third, Allen Craig coming up to bat with 2 out" Here's the pitch - a fastball - but since we're not keeping track of individual records, we're not sure of the speed of that pitch. Strike 1, but that doesn't matter! Nolan Ryan has suddenly entered the ball-game - he was feeling left out - so the league decided he could pitch an inning to make him feel better. We don't want him to feel bad because he's too old - so they are letting him pitch! What a nice bunch of people those league executives are! Here's the pitch and its a homerun, Allen Craig has done it again. - and the score is still 0-0 folks. The game is over but we're not crowning a World Series champ this year - not because nobody won, but because we don't want the Texas Rangers to feel bad, so nobody kept score!"
When are people in positions of authority going to learn that we have to stop making life so darn easy for children? We are slowly raising a nation of whiners and softies. Life isn't easy! Its damn difficult! Are we preparing our kids for the real world, or just trying to shield them from the harsh realities of life?
Look at the current school system. A kid fails a test ... give him a make up test ... allow him a second chance. Another kid gets bullied and fights back - what is the result? They punish both the bully and the kid who defended himself. A player 'tries out' for a sports team, he isn't cut because he isn't not good enough, he simply makes the team and consequently sits on the bench all season. Were not teaching children to be better, we're showing them that being obsolete/sub-par/poor/awful/horrendous is okay and acceptable in our society.
Wonder which is better for a child's attitude and mental state.... to be cut and told you need to get better in certain areas and next year you will make the football team, or to accept a player the way he is, (so he or his parents aren't offended) and sit on the bench all season, while his friends play and win/lose?
This season - at D'Arcy McGee HS - was the worst football year they have had in ages. The team went 0-6, and only the last 2 games of the year were they even slightly in the game. But if you were to ask the players about their season, to a man, they will tell you they lost all their games, got blown out several times and had a lot of fun. Then each one will recount some moment where they sacked the opposing QB, or intercepted a pass, or made a 30 yard run up the middle. At this point the score (yes they kept score despite losses such as 42-0) is irrelevant. The fact the league kept game scores and stats didn't hurt them. In fact most of the scores were published in local newspapers, and no they didn't die of embarrassment (although I'm sure a few felt like they would - they will get over it!).
When I in my first year of coaching, the league director told me the rules in house league were that every player should play not only equal time, but every position as well. After 3 games I gave that policy the heave-ho. Some of the players couldn't throw a ball to save their lives, yet I was supposed to have them pitching or catching?
Yes, I got some parents angry when their precious son or daughter sat on the bench for 2 innings, or wasn't the starting pitcher or short-stop. But to this day, those kids still see me in passing and they remember getting to the league finals and almost beating the top team (despite us finishing second last in the season). Do they remember having to sit an inning, while a better hitter was at the plate? Do they remember being put into right field so a better second baseman took stop a ground ball? Do they even remember the score of the game? Nope - none of that - they remember an exciting game vs the top team in the league ... they remember the suicide squeeze we pulled to tie the game in the top of the 5th inning ... they remember the pick off at third base in the bottom of the fifth to send the game to extra innings. Most - including me - don't even remember the final score.
Without a score keeper and keeping track of the score none of these would be memories. Without giving medals and awards, they wouldn't have even bothered trying to beat an undefeated team in the finals.
Competition isn't bad. It drives us. It forces us to be better. Competition gets us places that we wouldn't normally get to. Competition gets us jobs, keeps us in shape, allows us to improve ourselves at every turn.
So hopefully, this policy by the The ODSA is something that NEVER spreads across any other sports or society. It will - as surely as the sun will rise, kill soccer and sports if they adopt or continue this.
For those of you who may not have heard or read about it, yet another left wing genius - this time a sports executive - or someone on the board of the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association (EODSA) decided that its just not fun for 50% of the players when a team loses. So, rather than focus on the positives, they decided they will just stop keeping score - and while they are at it, not bother handing out medals either.
Talk about catering to the lowest common denominator!
While this lack of score keeping only happened for the under 9 year-olds, and the choice to not give any medals or awards was not across the league, but only in the development level (ie: not competitive levels), its still an experiment that should not have started in the first place.
Here's a quote from the EODSA website: Try and wrap your head around this?
The ODL concept is firmly grounded in the Long-Term Player Development model for which the Ontario Soccer Association is currently developing an implementation plan, with a focus on developing players’ individual skills rather than on teams or winning games and leagues. No scores or standings were recorded during the summer leagues, and that theme was carried into the Festival, where there were no game sheets, no standings, and no medals.
Now - I've been a baseball coach for 12 years. In my first couple of years I coached house league, in later years, and as my children developed more skills in the sport, I coached competitive levels. In all my years coaching, not once did a player or a parent or a bystander ever say 'we should stop keeping score and hand out toilet paper rolls as an award at the end of the season".
The fact is - they improved their skills - and we kept score - and - Oh My God -we handed out medals and awards based on achievements! The score was the end goal/result of their efforts. Trying to tie the game, or beat an opponent on the scoreboard made everyone of these people a better player on the field and a better person in life.
By the way - none of my boys (in fact none of the players I coached) have become radical Jihadists, or gone on a store robbing bender because we kept score. They didn't quit the sport because we once lost 8-3 in the league finals in 2008. None have become neo-nazis or started their own cult because they didn't get a trophy or medal! Nope, they still play the game in adult leagues, love the competition and strive to be their best on and (often) off the field.
This seems like yet another left wing sham aimed at making our kids more and more dependent on the state and less able to stand on their own two feet. Either that or some parent complained that little Johnny felt bad cause his team lost 12-2 yet again, and the parent felt an injustice had taken place, so they complained to the league.
Imagine if we were watching last nights World Series and in the bottom of the 9th the announcer sounded like this:
"Here we are folks, this is what the players on both teams have been playing all year for..... bottom of the ninth, runners on second and third, Allen Craig coming up to bat with 2 out" Here's the pitch - a fastball - but since we're not keeping track of individual records, we're not sure of the speed of that pitch. Strike 1, but that doesn't matter! Nolan Ryan has suddenly entered the ball-game - he was feeling left out - so the league decided he could pitch an inning to make him feel better. We don't want him to feel bad because he's too old - so they are letting him pitch! What a nice bunch of people those league executives are! Here's the pitch and its a homerun, Allen Craig has done it again. - and the score is still 0-0 folks. The game is over but we're not crowning a World Series champ this year - not because nobody won, but because we don't want the Texas Rangers to feel bad, so nobody kept score!"
When are people in positions of authority going to learn that we have to stop making life so darn easy for children? We are slowly raising a nation of whiners and softies. Life isn't easy! Its damn difficult! Are we preparing our kids for the real world, or just trying to shield them from the harsh realities of life?
Look at the current school system. A kid fails a test ... give him a make up test ... allow him a second chance. Another kid gets bullied and fights back - what is the result? They punish both the bully and the kid who defended himself. A player 'tries out' for a sports team, he isn't cut because he isn't not good enough, he simply makes the team and consequently sits on the bench all season. Were not teaching children to be better, we're showing them that being obsolete/sub-par/poor/awful/horrendous is okay and acceptable in our society.
Wonder which is better for a child's attitude and mental state.... to be cut and told you need to get better in certain areas and next year you will make the football team, or to accept a player the way he is, (so he or his parents aren't offended) and sit on the bench all season, while his friends play and win/lose?
This season - at D'Arcy McGee HS - was the worst football year they have had in ages. The team went 0-6, and only the last 2 games of the year were they even slightly in the game. But if you were to ask the players about their season, to a man, they will tell you they lost all their games, got blown out several times and had a lot of fun. Then each one will recount some moment where they sacked the opposing QB, or intercepted a pass, or made a 30 yard run up the middle. At this point the score (yes they kept score despite losses such as 42-0) is irrelevant. The fact the league kept game scores and stats didn't hurt them. In fact most of the scores were published in local newspapers, and no they didn't die of embarrassment (although I'm sure a few felt like they would - they will get over it!).
When I in my first year of coaching, the league director told me the rules in house league were that every player should play not only equal time, but every position as well. After 3 games I gave that policy the heave-ho. Some of the players couldn't throw a ball to save their lives, yet I was supposed to have them pitching or catching?
Yes, I got some parents angry when their precious son or daughter sat on the bench for 2 innings, or wasn't the starting pitcher or short-stop. But to this day, those kids still see me in passing and they remember getting to the league finals and almost beating the top team (despite us finishing second last in the season). Do they remember having to sit an inning, while a better hitter was at the plate? Do they remember being put into right field so a better second baseman took stop a ground ball? Do they even remember the score of the game? Nope - none of that - they remember an exciting game vs the top team in the league ... they remember the suicide squeeze we pulled to tie the game in the top of the 5th inning ... they remember the pick off at third base in the bottom of the fifth to send the game to extra innings. Most - including me - don't even remember the final score.
Without a score keeper and keeping track of the score none of these would be memories. Without giving medals and awards, they wouldn't have even bothered trying to beat an undefeated team in the finals.
Competition isn't bad. It drives us. It forces us to be better. Competition gets us places that we wouldn't normally get to. Competition gets us jobs, keeps us in shape, allows us to improve ourselves at every turn.
So hopefully, this policy by the The ODSA is something that NEVER spreads across any other sports or society. It will - as surely as the sun will rise, kill soccer and sports if they adopt or continue this.
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