The Lost Art of Competition

I went to my mom's house today, and after several beers, got into a heated discussion about the future of the basketball program at my old high school. My buddy coaches there now and is running the basketball off-season program. He was shocked to discover that most of the freshman in his off-season don't know what a double-dribble is, can't shoot a layup, and can't pivot.
Now, this may not seem like a big deal to you, but to me, it's not just disturbing, but embarrassing, ridiculous, and just plain sad. This is a school that holds 11 state titles, holds tons of records at the state tournament, and just seven years ago, saw the girls team win their ninth straight district title and the boys team two points away from the state tournament. Last year, the girls team did not win a single game, and the boys team not many more.
Any coach will tell you that programs go through cycles, that talent can go stagnant for a few years, that eventually things turn around. But as a coach at the varsity level, I know EXACTLY how long it takes to build a program, and for freshman to come to high school lacking basic fundamentals is simply unacceptable.
My hometown was once a huge supporter of the Little Dribblers program, a program that taught me not only how to play the sport, but life lessons as well. That program has all but vanished in the few years since I graduated high school. Replacing it is the ever-popular "Upward" basketball sponsored by a local church. A good idea, except every game ends in a tie, every kid gets a sticker at the end of the game for doing something good, and the spirit of competition has gone by the wayside. I understand the importance of building a child's self-esteem at an early age, but really, what is this program teaching our kids? Does it teach them to win respectfully? No, because everyone wins. Does it teach them to accept defeat with grace? No, because they are never put in that position. Does it teach them that the kids who work the hardest get to play the most? No, because everyone plays the exact amount.
I've always seen sports as a metaphor for life. You learn that becoming good at something takes hours and hours of hard work and preparation, you learn that if you don't put in the time to become the best, you won't play. You learn that sometimes no matter how hard you work and how much effort you give, someone else is just better than you. You learn that you can't do everything on your own, that you have to depend on other people to help you reach your potential; you learn discipline, respect, and you learn to compete. Winning and losing IS life. It happens. The game doesn't always work out the way you want it to, and neither does life.
We are robbing kids of these valuable lessons. They can handle it. But we have to give them the chance.

The Open Mind

Sometimes teaching can feel like the most noble profession in the world. At others, the most frustrating. As a teacher of literature and psychology, I feel a constant need, almost a sense of urgency, to share with teenagers what little wisdom I have gained over the years. Unfortunately, it seems as though being close-minded, even small-minded, is plaguing youngsters the world over. I gave my psychology students an assignment to research one of the four presidential candidates, read their histories, and analyze their childhood experiences from a Freudian point of view. Then they were asked to decide which of their decisions or actions as a leader may be results of an unconscious motivation. I distributed candidates to groups of students I thought may actually be against that particular person, in hopes that they might gain some insight into a life they knew little about, and form an unbiased, intelligent opinion about that candidate's decisions.
So did it work? Well, sort of...except when it came to one particular candidate. Snide remarks, such as, "He's a Muslim" and "he hangs out with terrorists" and "he's going to be assassinated" inevitably arose. This angered me so much - are we really still that uninformed as a people? Is it because I teach in a conservative community? Or is it just because kids just don't care enough to stay informed? Probably all of the above. Why do I even let it bother me? Only about four of my students will be able to vote in November anyway. But it's just the idea that disturbs me - that these kids are probably hearing these fallacies at home, that there probably is still a lot of latent racism out there, even in the younger segment of the population. It's outrageous to me that people can be so uninformed, so small-minded to not understand the difference between a peaceful religion and a small sect of extremists, so backwards as to even entertain the idea that an assassination of a man endorsing progress should be expected.
Or maybe it's because I plan to vote for this candidate. I'll admit, there was a part of me that laughed inside when they discovered the weaknesses of the other party. So, I say all that to say this...maybe I'm not as open-minded as I feel I am. As much I as push for changing our way of thinking, of seeing an issue from both sides and respecting the other opinion, maybe it was my unconscious motivation to have these students research the candidate I'm for, and possibly learn to admire him as I do.
Change has its enemies.