Hopelessness

For once in my life I am absolutely at a loss of how I am supposed to react or get through the next month. To some this will seem totally trivial. But it's not to me. Tyler has been playing baseball since he was 6 years old. He is a gifted athlete. He is not perfect and never will be. But he is a good,solid athlete. Nearly every coach he has had thought the world of him and bragged on how easy he is to coach. He is respectful and listens and when he is told of a mistake, he corrects it and seldom ever makes the same mistake again. He always gives 100 percent. He is competitive and hates losing. And when he does make a mistake, no one is harder on him than he is.

He has been playing at Jones for four years. The last three has been under Coach Lowe. I always thought he had a good relationship with the coach and I admired the way Coach Lowe would pull the boys aside to talk to them about a mistake. He never yelled at them or embarrassed them by dressing them down in front of the crowd or other players. But all that has changed.

He has a son who is now on the team as a freshman. He is a good athlete as are several of his teammates. I don't have a problem with his son playing every inning of every game. Nor do I have a problem with freshmen playing who are better than the upper classmen. However, there are several sophomores, juniors, and two seniors on the team that have put in their time, waiting to move to varsity when it was their turn. Jones has graduated seven seniors the last two years from the team, so there were very few positions that the under classmen were allowed to play. This is the first year they have expected to play varsity positions. Tyler was a very promising pitcher in the eighth grade, but has not been allowed to improve by playing at this position more than on a minimal basis.

Now that the coach's sons team has arrived, he has become a different man. He yells and screams and demeans the kids constantly. Not the freshmen, just the older boys. He is trying to justify sitting them on the bench and letting the younger ones take over the varsity team. The older players are making mistakes they wouldn't normally make because they feel as if they are playing with a target on their back. Tyler will probably not play after this year. He will give up his last chance to play baseball because he is miserable. He is tired of being embarrassed by all the yelling and screaming. And it is not just him. Most of the older players are being treated the same way. And what hurts is that there is not a thing that can be done about it. Most coaches have such inflated egos that they don't accept any kind of criticism. I just never thought that this man was like this. Guess I am not a good judge of character. But what hurts me the most is that Tyler is hurting. This man is changing who my grandson is forever.

I am sure the coach is doing what he thinks is best. His record is now 7-10, Most of the losses coming after he started riding the players.