Can I vent...you know for just a minute?

I have been a coach's wife for about 24 years - give or take. Not to a coach who volunteered, did it in his spare time - but was a professional coach. Where success governs your future. During this time I have seen all kinds of things, kids, parents etc. I have had my own kids play on teams at many levels, watched them as they took their turn, watched them as they rode the pine. I encouraged them to keep at it - that being part of a team was most important. I have witnessed the most amazingly ridiculous thing in the past few years. I have seen a coach who was afraid to win! Seriously! In the recent past, this team has gone 15-2 and just kept on improving and the team chemistry was great. They brought this great preseason record into league and then all of a sudden the rules changed. Let's try something new - always ok - but to the detriment of that team. Why now? Now this group of boys does not know what to think - talk about cutting their hearts out. Their chance at the league title has fizzled away - not that the season isn't still great and the playoffs are in their future. But, as a team they had set a goal of conference champs and were well suited to achieve this goal. The recent disruption in flow and confidence make my stomach churn, churn, churn and it is heart wrenching to watch these young men question their own efforts.

I understand the lessons learned in athletics are many. You always work for the common good of the group and the team is bigger than the individual. I am just stumped on what lesson can be learned from this. When we have success, change the process? When it starts to get stressful, quit? Call it what it is - it isn't nice to blast the players in the paper and allude to the falsity that they aren't ready to play and that is why they lost. They were ready to play, ready to compete and ready to take the outcome - whatever it was. All I ask, is give them a chance. The same chances that allowed them to be 15-2. If it is too much pressure for you to take, maybe it is time for someone to step in to that role.

Done. For now.