Another Case of Religious Accomodation: In this case, a happy ending…
The boys’ basketball team at Beren Academy, a Jewish Orthodox school near Houston, had a terrific season, and the players were eagerly looking to the post-season playoffs. But then, the Texas Assn of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), ruled that the playoff games were slated to start on Friday evening and that they couldn’t be changed. … Read more
My Top Ten Sports Parenting Predictions for 2012…
So much has happened in recent years in the ever-changing world of sports parenting, that I thought I’d finish out 2011 with my Top Ten Predictions for the coming year. Here we go: 10. LL Baseball will follow the NCAA and the Nat’l HS Baseball Federation and allow only BBCOR (and of course wood) bats. … Read more
Can You Legislate Good Sportsmanship? The Bizarre and Sad Case of the Massachusetts HS Super Bowl
With every intention of trying to eliminate show-boating and taunting in HS sports, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Assn. enacted a zero-tolerance law this past fall that made it very clear that any kind of unsportsmanlike behavior would not be tolerated in any way. And the MIAA especially instructed its football refs and coaches to be … Read more
Has Title IX Gone Too Far In Terms of Guaranteeing Equal Play for both Sexes?
Every sports parent agrees that Title IX, which was passed in 1972, has had only positive results in terms of making sure females have a right to compete in sports, just as their male counterparts have. Numerous studies have shown that girls who play competitive sports come away with higher self-esteem, better physical fitness, better study … Read more
Colleges Recruiting is One Thing…But HS Coaches Recruiting Other HS Players?
The story out of upstate New York was both bizarre and stunning. It would seem to be yet another case of coaches who want to win at any cost. As my guest John O’Brien of the Syracuse Post-Standard related the details this AM on my show, as a result of some ongoing investigation by the … Read more
Is this HS pass receiving record meaningful? Or meaningless?
In this day and age where everybody is eager to get the rest of the world to stand out and pay attention to one’s accomplishments, what do we do with this case from Indiana where a HS wide receiver set a national schoolboy record with a whopping 437 yards in one game. I mean, at … Read more
Being Disqualified for Using Profanity? Was this Pole Vaulter Wrongfully Punished?
I’m eager to see what kind of feedback I get from listeners this Sunday AM on WFAN Radio on this case. That’s because about it was just about a year ago that a young HS female pole vaulter from California was disqualified from a dual track meet when the opposing coach noted that she was … Read more
Should Youth Leaguers Receive Trophies for Participation?
By Doug Abrams A few years ago, a midwestern editorial writer criticized “the silly philosophy in youth sports that believes everyone deserves a trophy, no matter what their performance.” The writer belittled the trophies-for-all mentality for building “artificial self-esteem.” (Doug Harris, “Why Punish a Kid For the Crime of Being Too Good?,” Dayton (Ohio) News, … Read more
Teaching Leadership In Youth Sports
By Doug Abrams Aristotle said that people “learn by doing,” and not simply by listening to instruction about what to do. Parents and coaches want sports to teach children leadership skills, yet we adults sometimes forget that youth leaguers (like the rest of us) learn how to be leaders best when they actually lead. On … Read more
When the Coach Throws a Game
By Doug Abrams A hockey scandal hit the headlines in Winnipeg, Manitoba early last month. Not a National Hockey League scandal, but a scandal in an early round of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League’s A-Division playoffs. Ahead 3-2 against College Jeanne Sauve late in the third period, the Westwood Warriors coaches deliberately schemed to … Read more
"The Sports Edge"
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Doug Abrams
