DECISIONS AND SLEEPING WELL
I recently had a call from a friend of mine regarding his brother. His brother is in his first year of being an athletic administrator at a local high school. I was told, he had a problem with a parent, the parent was threatening to go to the media and give his department a large dose of unpleasant and embarrassing information via the media. He asked if I may be able to give this new athletic director some advice.
I called this rookie A.D. He shared with me his problem. Basically, a member of a team, had gotten out of control and took out their own frustration by critically and disrespectfully attacking the head coach during a contest. The head coach tried to quiet the athlete down and ended up introducing that athlete to the bench for the remainder of the contest. The parents went balistic. Their child is a senior, and this may effect a scholarship opportunity. They have threatened to go to the media and expose this horrible situation to the press. This resulted in a great deal of stress and concern on the new administrator.
Questions for the administrator: 1. Was their coach out of line? Had the coach maintained his professional and proper approach? As the A.D. had already done his home work, he could tell me the coach was not out of line and had dealt with this athlete and all of his athletes in a proper and professional manner, not only through this situation, but overall as well.
I shared with the administrator I felt he had no problem. He was very fortunate, his coach handled things correctly and professionally. He simply needs to be supported. That is very easy, as opposed to on some occasions (in 27 years of being an athletic director) I had situations in which the coach did not handle things well, and then I truly had problems.
Parents may threaten – that is their right. It is not news that an athlete misbehaves and is disciplined correctly. If the parents wish to share with the world their child was innappropriate and was disciplined, it is them with the problem. They have that right to go to the media – although they may follow through – experience tells me, when they slow down from the heat of the moment, they will realize their child was wrong. (In some cases they are simply threating the department to have their child feel they are on their side)
As far as the athletic administrator, he had verified everything was handled correctly and professionally. He cannot control everyone. Knowing it was handled correctly, he can sleep well. If someone has a problem with his decision, it should not be him. Let those with the problem have difficulty sleeping.
Time and time again, things like this do come up. Just like in raising our own children, we are constantly tested. We can still love our kids, but we must pass the tests they provide. The above is just one of those tests. If we do not pass the tests given us by the kids we coach, we will loose them, their respect, and the benefits of us having our kids in sports. As always, high expectations and justifiable rules do not do anything to kids, but for them.
Sleep well.
