I want to respond to the very well written editorial by Phoebe Harger on practice schedules being too taxing on student-athletes. The arguments presented in the article are very well organized and clear. I truly enjoyed reading good writing. I think it is always good to examine current practices, whether it’s by coaches, parents, teachers, administration, or society as a whole.
I am in full agreement that kids are overtaxed and short on leisure time and long on expectations and demands of their time. I think my opinion will differ on who or what is to blame for the mounting pressure on kids. Having attended, taught and parented at Aragon, I truly believe that our community still places too much emphasis on attending elite colleges compared to when I attended Aragon and started teaching in 1992. As much as our counselors and teachers stress a proper balance, I still experience far too many parents and kids who consider their junior year as the year that will determine their lot in life. It’s incredibly sad and dangerous.
As for our practices, I would like to point out a few things. The state limit on the number of hours for practice in a day is three. In the Peninsula Athletic League (our league), we have a two and a half hour practice limit. In my experience, the majority of our practices do not go past two hours. In addition, it is more common than you may realize for coaches to give kids a day off. As I write this, a coach just came into my office to tell me he was sending his kids home because they have had a tough week. There is also a dynamic that makes it very risky to give kids too many days off. As an athletic director of over 26 years, I can safely say that if a team begins to falter or lose close games, the finger is pointed at the coach. Parents will immediately point out that the team is not practicing enough. It was this way 100 years ago and it will remain this way 100 years from now.
I would also like to point out that in my entire career as an athletic director, I never received more praise than when I was part of a group of other athletic directors who worked tirelessly to get sports started again during the 2020-2021 school year. As parents saw their kids miserable and at great risk from being at home since March 2020, they realized that sports was one of the few ways that their kids could connect with their friends and get some relief from their isolation and depression. The words “sports saved my kid” were said often and to many.
In conclusion, I think we can all agree that kids should have more time and less stress in their lives. I do believe some more examination should be done on who or what is the culprit for the added stress. Sports is a very easy target, but jumping to this conclusion is unfair, and more importantly, it gets us no closer to solving the problem.
Steve Sell
