bballmom10

I absolutely can't justify that kind of action. My comment is simply that I was at the game and didn't see it and have a hard time believing it happened. You see and hear a lot of things you wish you dind't when you have kids on the floor, and in this case I think it's something that didn't happen. I hate to hear that kids are trash talking each other, but know that it happens on both sides. It would be nice if there could be a way to avoid it. Players are best served to not acknowledge the crowd. You can't win.

That is an interesting take on things....I was at that game and will disagree with you on both counts. The coach is a coach. He fights for his team and I have to telll you, he seems to enjoy himself a lot. What's wrong with that? Slater isn't a bad sport, the crowd at CPA was extremely hostile against him and that happens when you are good and you make things happen. It's part of the game. He comes from an outstanding family and from your screen name my guess is you are coming from a big bowl of sour grapes. This was a terrific game played by 2 really good teams. I can't wait to see them play again and I am excited to see how Z develops over the next couple of years.

Again, there is a difference between tough love and degrading, demeaning talk. I can teach my kids about real life just fine without swearing at them or making them feel terrible about themselves. You are right there is a huge amount of profanity in the game. It doesn't make it right, it just makes the offenders sound uneducated. It's also possible to be supportive AND be realistic with your kids. My child is going to play at the next level, but she will do it without feeling the need the bully those that are below her or step on them on the way up. You can call it tough love, I can call it verbal abuse. I expect 100% and am disappointed if we don't get it. Do I need to say "hey you *&^%^ tonight?" Nope, all I have to do is say, "that was disappointing, what are you going to do to fix it?" And let me tell you, it is wayyyyyyyy more effective than any profanity. My children know the real world. They also know about respect and you don't just have the respect because there is a whistle around your neck. You have it because it was earned. Being hard on a child is very different from degrading them. Being the coach and the adult is all that responsible parents want when they entrust their children to the teachers and coaches in this world.

It is NEVER all right to degrade someone. As a parent I feel this way, but most of all I feel this way as a human being. My kids have had many coaches with many styles and the most effective were those that led by example and didn't use bullying to show their power over the players. It is possible to correct, even bring attention to mistakes or problems without degrading someone. If a coach said "You guys really stink right now", that isn't necessarily a problem. It's the tone and everyone knows the tone I'm talking about. There are a lot of coaches that rule by fear eventually there is backlash. I am sad that any of our children have had to be exposed to this. The world is a harsh place and frankly I would like the coaches and teachers to be a bright, positive part of my daughters lives. I can tell you that in the situations we have had where the coach acted unprofessionally, we toughed out the season and then went elsewhere. We spent a lot of time doing damage control as a result. And....before you talk more about not sugar coating things let me assure you that is not what I am suggesting. It doesn't help anyone to be unrealistic. It also doesn't do anything but harm to beat down a girl's self-esteem. In the end, this is a game we are talking about.

I see the word "recruit" and I think of a person who is brought to a school and then has his/her education paid for. David Lipscomb does not give financial assistance to anyone that plays sports. Public schools don't necessarily advertise because you move into their zone, you don't window shop and pick a school-at least not in metro. But, I have seen many ads for the magnet schools around. Every private school does some sort of advertising. It is not wrong for me to share a good experience about my kids' school with someone. That is not recruiting. I have shared my public school experiences as well, prompting families to move out of their zone and into ours. It's about trying to do the right thing for your child. And, thank goodness, we live in a country of free speech. I am free to invite you to visit our school and you are free to say no. Tssaa has enough problems, they don't need to ad this debate to the plate.

I am going to add to the Caleb Clayton vote. He has been so much fun to watch the first 2 games of the year. He can shoot with a person right in his face and has shown that he can drive in to the basket. It is great to see him stepping up since Josh Slater is out right now.

David Lipscomb varsity girls lost by 1 in overtime to Shelbyville last weekend. They won their other 2 games. The DL jv won their 3 games, 2 of them against varsity teams from smaller schools. The girls should be fun to watch this year.

We are coming to watch our classmates run tomorrow, but I can't remember where exactly the course is. Directions would be appreciated. I will be coming down Old Hickory Blvd. from the I-65 exit. Thanks!!

I saw this amazing team when watching the ironman a few years ago. i have watched it every year since in the hopes of seeing them again. i try to remember this when i find myself complaining about the silly things. thanks for reminding me.

Debi, I couldn't agree with you more! Everyone needs to remember that there are players reading these message boards and the negative, mean comments don't help anyone. Great rivalries are born out of the mutual respect of the teams and players. These rivalries are fun for everyone, not because we spend time saying horrible things about each other, but because we know there will be a great game to watch. I would love to see us encourage these types of rivalries as opposed to who can talk the most trash. We have watched games and couldn't appreciate the ability of the players on the field because the fans and the coaches were displaying such bad sportsmanship. That is a disservice to the girls that work so hard for so many months. Debi's team is lucky to have a member that is a team player and I hope more will learn from this post. This is a good way to end a great high school season, and enter in to the travel ball season.

Lipscomb beat CPA 9-0 late last night. They came back from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 in the 7th. The FRA game was 1-1 for 8 innings and then Lipscomb scored a run and held on to win 2-1. David Lipscomb faces Hume Fogg Saturday at 1 at Trevecca in the Championships! Way to go Mustangs!!!!!

i was at this tournament and watched the games you are talking about. yes, the umps may have missed calls. they always do, but it was far from the worst i have seen. as the pitching gets better it gets more and more difficult to call it. i must say that as an observer i was extremely troubled by the fans and the way they were confronting the umpires. i did feel it was completely inappropriate and absolutely does not change anything. the umps should never acknowledge the crowd and they were wrong to do so, but again as an observer of these games i thought the waverly coaches were terrible sports and heard them make some comments that have no place around high school girls. and while we can all agree that the quality of umpires is not the best, i hope we can all make the best effort to be good examples for our children. it is never ok to yell at or personally attack someone else. i have voiced my distaste for calls before, we all have, but i would never consider waiting at a door waiting for the umps to come out after a game. what does that do? i will tell you that it absolutely horrifies the girls. they don't think it's cool and neat to see their dad get thrown out of a park or have the police escort them out. maybe we can find a productive way to get changes with the umps. some way to make sure that high school ball gets the most experienced ones on the field. even with these unfortunate calls, i saw several very good softball games saturday and that was nice.

I don't think there is ever a reason to yell at a player, child, student, another person. I think there is a difference between raising your voice to be heard and yelling. Yelling to me means to belittle someone in front of others. Raising your voice never includes words that would embarass or hurt someone else. I have studied coaches, teachers, and parents over the years and have learned a lot. I have children that play ball and I know what works for them. These girls know when they have made a mistake, everyone in the stands knows it as well so why scream it to the world? The most effective coaching I have seen has been with a soft voice. The team or a player makes a mistake, they call time and come to the circle. You can't hear a word the coach says, but you can be sure the girls hear it. When the coach is done the you hear "yes, sir" and they come together to encourage each other for a second and then go back to their positions. Every time our coach has done this it has made a positive difference. I don't have a problem with benching someone for an inning to let them calm down or even making a team run when it's all said and done. If you don't run through first base, if you don't hit your cut off, if you consistently miss a sign... those are things that come from simple lack of focus and sometimes a little run fixes that. I have watched a certain coach for a few years and at first was very put off by the style. I felt that he just yelled too much at the kids, then I got to a place where I could actually hear what he said and realized that what he yelled was instruction and praise. Any correction was done between the coach and the player and not the entire audience. I have never seen a situation in a classroom, in a home, restaurant or ballfield where a temper tantrum was productive. But, I know that this topic will have as many opinions as there are people logged on to Coacht.

i would love to know who won! mt. juliet looked very good and bradley central had a really tight defense. one of the best centerfielders i have seen. ravenwood pulled a big upset by beating brentwood high. all in all the competition was great and the weather was even better. anyone who has any results, please let us know!

i am definitely not complaining, just curious. we have several underclassmen that get to play varsity. when i was in school you got a varsity letter or a jv letter and i didn't know if there was some kind of requirements for that. we love for her to play whenever they ask her to. in the varsity games, she is playing a position that she is new to and hasn't been able to show her "stuff" at her best position yet so we hope that in jv she will get to work some at the other positions. she is happy to get a chance to be in the games with the older girls any day. you're right she is in a good situation and she knows and appreciates it as do we.