HOW ENTITLEMENT IS CHANGING OUR CORE VALUES IN SPORTS

Let me give you another example of how things have changed in HS sports over the years, and how a sense of entitlement has crept into parental expectations for their athletes. This is admittedly a small example, but I think it highlights how things have changed.

Back in the day, being awarded a HS varsity letter to a member of the team was a very, very big deal. It signified to the youngster that  --  in the coaches estimation --  you worked hard, and contributed significantly enough to the team’s overall effort to be honored with a varsity letter.

You have to remember, not every kid on the team got a letter – only those who really deserved one. And it was the coaches who decided who got letters. And they were not influenced by outside sources, such as parents or the booster club.

But these days, the varsity letter no longer seems to be a big deal. Your kid make the varsity team? Well, at the end of the season party, your kid gets a letter. But then again, every kid on the team does. The starters get letters – but so do ALL the kids who barely played at all. Even those who were late to practice, or who occasionally missed practice, or even those who didn’t work too hard in practice.

The end result? Receiving a HS varsity letter doesn’t seem to mean a lot anymore. But of course, every coach needs to make sure that every kid on the roster gets one.

And why do coaches do this? Probably because they don’t want to deal with angry entitled sports parents who feel  that it’s not fair if their kid didn’t get a varsity letter – even if the kid didn’t do much to deserve it.

We had another vigorous debate on today’s show about this topic of sports entitlement. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff