The Case of the HS Wrestler Who Refused to Wrestle a Girl
So Joel Northrup, a HS sophomore in 112 lb weight class with a stellar record of 35-4, refuses to wrestle a female opponent in the opening round of the Iowa state tournament. Northrup, who comes from a religious family which strongly believes that males and females shouldn’t be exposed to this kind of physical touching, … Read more
The Teachings of Lombardi: Do They Still Have Impact?
Because it was Super Bowl Sunday, I thought it was the appropriate time to have Tony Ponturo, the creator and co-producer of the Broadway show, LOMBARDI, to come on to talk about the coach’s legacy and whether today’s coaches and sports parents still feel the weight of Lombardi’s teachings. I grew up in the 60′s, … Read more
Hats off to KC Royals’ Pitcher, Gil Meche, For Doing the Right Thing
What would you do if you were in Gil Meche’s shoes? Now 32 years old, he’s pitched serviceably for the Kansas City Royals for the last four years. But over the last few seasons, he’s run into all sorts of arm problems. Nevertheless, for this coming 2011 season, he was slated to earn $12 million … Read more
Is Trash-Talking a Curse? Or Just Entertainment?
It used to be that coaches warned their players all the time not to engage in any trash-talk, lest the comments find their way to the opponent’s bulletin board, which then becomes stronger motivation for one’s opponent. But that all changed this week with the NY Jets’ profane and pushy comments about their game with … Read more
Does the Punishment Fit the Crime? Hockey player gets 3 games for using racial slur; Opposing coach gets suspended for a year
During an amateur hockey game in mid-November in Peterborough, Canada, a 16-year-old kid gets angry at an opposing player – who happens to be black – and uses the N-word. The racist kid is benched by his coach for the remainder of the period, but then comes back to play in the next period, as … Read more
Making a Tough Call: The Curious Case of the Florida State Soccer Coach
If you run a first-class, top-notch women’s soccer team at a Division I university, isn’t your goal at the beginning of the year to win the NCAA national championship? After all, that means your team is the best in the land. And therefore, all of your coaching decisions should be dictated by trying to reach that goal. But does that … Read more
If Only The Coach Had Done the Right Thing….
Of all the items I went through on my show yesterday, the one that got the most response was about the varsity football coach at Southington HS in CT. Now, by all accounts, coach D.J. Hernandez is a young and talented guy. But when he was confronted with a quick decision a couple of weekends ago, … Read more
Final Reflections on A Coach Stopping a Game due to Safety Concerns…
I spoke at some length this past week with both Alex Lalaoui (of Hudson Catholic HS) and Joe Ratto (of Hoboken HS) about the unusual developments between the two teams in a varsity soccer match a few weeks ago. As you might recall, Coach Lalaoui had serious reservations about the field conditions (very wet grass, … Read more
Does a HS Coach the Right to Stop a Game?
I saw a short write-up a week ago in the Jersey Journal a week ago in which a HS varsity boys soccer match between Hudson Catholic and Hoboken was stopped with the score tied 1-1 with 17 minutes to go because one of the coaches thought the officiating was poor, i.e. he felt that the tone of … Read more
The Derek Jeter controversy: What do you say to your young athlete?
I can’t recall any one moment from my more than two decades of working in the sports parenting field that has generated more controversy that the so-called Derek Jeter incident. That incident, as most of you know, occurred when he was seemingly hit by a pitch on his hand when in fact the ball struck the … Read more
"The Sports Edge"
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Doug Abrams
