No more Captains in High School?

[Unregistered]

Ewwwwwww

A "bail out" for everyone not elected captain. Does L-S want to keep score at games? What if another team scores more points than they do in a game? Did the game exist?

Ewwwww, Captain sounds so militaristic. We need a kinder, gentler, less confrontational system. If we name somebody captain, they might single out my little mia, hold her accountable for her lack of effort to the team. NOBODY is going to single out my MIa for not playing for the team. Besides, its all about her individual development. Screw the team.
(unless of course you name her captain and she can list it on her school applications, in that case, ignore this post)

[Unregistered]

This kind of thing it getting way out of hand. Case in point:

Last year at the end of the school year, my middle school daughter was playing a kick-ball game against another class. It's "bottom of the 9th" and my daughter is up to kick. From all the years of soccer, she has a pretty good leg.

She nails one at the short stop (a boy, by the way),who drops it and gets knocked over, resulting in my daughter's team scoring two runs and winning the game. Well, one would think they should have won the game.

The teacher/ballbreaker decides it wasn't "fair" that the boy dropped the ball and did not allow the resulting runs to count, and also called my daughter "out" because "he almost caught it"!

So it was game over with a loss for my daughter's team because some liberal, left-wing, thinks all kids should win a trophy teacher decides to change the rules to a game kids have been playing since the stone age!

It's only going to get worse. . .

Captain? No way, that's soooo unfair to those who aren't chosen! Why don't we just say everyone is equal and go have juice and cupcakes. . . .

[Unregistered]

Who is the L-S coach this year. On3 stepped down, didn't she?

[Unregistered]

This kind of thing it getting way out of hand. Case in point:

Last year at the end of the school year, my middle school daughter was playing a kick-ball game against another class. It's "bottom of the 9th" and my daughter is up to kick. From all the years of soccer, she has a pretty good leg.

She nails one at the short stop (a boy, by the way),who drops it and gets knocked over, resulting in my daughter's team scoring two runs and winning the game. Well, one would think they should have won the game.

The teacher/ballbreaker decides it wasn't "fair" that the boy dropped the ball and did not allow the resulting runs to count, and also called my daughter "out" because "he almost caught it"!

So it was game over with a loss for my daughter's team because some liberal, left-wing, thinks all kids should win a trophy teacher decides to change the rules to a game kids have been playing since the stone age!

It's only going to get worse. . .

Captain? No way, that's soooo unfair to those who aren't chosen! Why don't we just say everyone is equal and go have juice and cupcakes. . . .

We , as a society , have grown in many areas, but we continue to slide down a slippery slope to either control, administer , and regulate any and all aspects of human activities , especially in the case above , playtime.

I can only offer the following regarding an experience I recently had, among adults and young people. The ages ranged from the mid teens to somewherei n the fifties. We were all out for the day , at a Company sponsored picnic. All day, food and games, swimming, events, all of that, for the employees and family members.

It came time for a softball game. The staff of the facility came down the hill with a dufflebag full of bats, balls and gloves. The walked over to the 20 or so people who were interested in playing. They pointed to two of us, and said, " You're captains , pick the teams "
The teams were picked. No rules were discussed. We allowed the other team to hit first. The game went for 5 innings. All different types of people. In shape, out of shape, men, women , boys, girls , all playing together. One team won , I think the score was 12-4 or something.
No umpires, no arguments , no controversy. After the game, we all shook hands, and went back for some food and drink. Everyone enjoyed the game. There were some very funny moments, when girls beat out ground balls for hits, while they were barefoot. One big slugger popping up, and then pointing to the pitcher saying " you worked me pretty good, inside and out, suckered me to pop it up "

So much fun. Just like the kids did less than a generation ago.

[Unregistered]

We , as a society , have grown in many areas, but we continue to slide down a slippery slope to either control, administer , and regulate any and all aspects of human activities , especially in the case above , playtime.

I can only offer the following regarding an experience I recently had, among adults and young people. The ages ranged from the mid teens to somewherei n the fifties. We were all out for the day , at a Company sponsored picnic. All day, food and games, swimming, events, all of that, for the employees and family members.

It came time for a softball game. The staff of the facility came down the hill with a dufflebag full of bats, balls and gloves. The walked over to the 20 or so people who were interested in playing. They pointed to two of us, and said, " You're captains , pick the teams "
The teams were picked. No rules were discussed. We allowed the other team to hit first. The game went for 5 innings. All different types of people. In shape, out of shape, men, women , boys, girls , all playing together. One team won , I think the score was 12-4 or something.
No umpires, no arguments , no controversy. After the game, we all shook hands, and went back for some food and drink. Everyone enjoyed the game. There were some very funny moments, when girls beat out ground balls for hits, while they were barefoot. One big slugger popping up, and then pointing to the pitcher saying " you worked me pretty good, inside and out, suckered me to pop it up "

So much fun. Just like the kids did less than a generation ago.

It's sad that those days are nearing an end. It used to be OK to win. . . as long as everyone was a good sport about it. Now, winning is terrible, as someone might get hurt feelings.

If we always tie, where is the motivation to try to get better. Getting better means nothing if the rules are bent so a tie is the best one can hope for! Terrible!

[MASC]

Captains perform many functions for the coach and team. In return the captain gets such on his college resume and HS transcript. It is a major plus for the student. Captain of a team, President of the student body, President of a club, ...

By denying captains one is hurting a student who might not be an all scholastic athlete, many captains are not the best players but have other very desireable attributes.

At most HS's there is a minimum academic grade point required to be a captain. At most colleges one of the statistics published is the number of incoming freshmen who were team captains. Obviously such has meaning to college admissions.

Just wondering would the AD at L-S give up her position and let the coaches do the hiring and firing? L-S probably should since it would save the salary of a useless administrator.

[MASC]

How times have changed! I was awkward, slow and clumsy at that age. When teams were chosen, I rarely was put in a "skill" position. I do remember the times when I was "under pressure" and caused my team to lose. I learned to take the ribbing with good grace.

Eventually, I kept playing, grew and caught up to and surpassed many of the players of my youth. We kept our childhood games in perspective.

The exhortation from Rudyard Kipling's IF (whose reading is no longer required in public schools) comes to mind:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

[Unregistered]

Fmjr9a

Oh captain, my captain!

Couldn't resist.

On a more serious note, leading by committee typically becomes an exercise in failure. Truth is, not everyone's a leader and not everyone wants to be a leader.

And Rudyard Kipling? Please. Joseph Conrad 4tehwin!

[MASC]

A horse designed by committee is a camel.

The public school system was never intended to create the future leaders of society. Its sole purpose was to create an obedient and industrious populace willing to pay taxes.

That was the sentiment of Elliot and Santyanna as well as Horace Mann. They firmly believed that the leaders would come from the elite private schools. They are all from Massachusetts, so the elimination of captains and the glorification of medocrity just follows the trend.

[Unregistered]

Actually, good captains dont let cliques develop in the first place.

Completely correct. My daughter has learned much from her captains (both those who were great at it and those not so much). There is a real skill to being a captain, and those who do it successfully do not alienate anyone and help build a cohesive team. My daughter actually was very turned off by a college visit when she learned that the coach did not allow captains; her feeling was that it takes the fun out of the game and assumes that the players cannot act as a true team.

[Unregistered]

This kind of thing it getting way out of hand. Case in point:

Last year at the end of the school year, my middle school daughter was playing a kick-ball game against another class. It's "bottom of the 9th" and my daughter is up to kick. From all the years of soccer, she has a pretty good leg.

She nails one at the short stop (a boy, by the way),who drops it and gets knocked over, resulting in my daughter's team scoring two runs and winning the game. Well, one would think they should have won the game.

The teacher/ballbreaker decides it wasn't "fair" that the boy dropped the ball and did not allow the resulting runs to count, and also called my daughter "out" because "he almost caught it"!

So it was game over with a loss for my daughter's team because some liberal, left-wing, thinks all kids should win a trophy teacher decides to change the rules to a game kids have been playing since the stone age!

It's only going to get worse. . .

Captain? No way, that's soooo unfair to those who aren't chosen! Why don't we just say everyone is equal and go have juice and cupcakes. . . .

No juice and cupcakes. It's not fair to those who might be allergic. Water for everyone!

[Unregistered]

For a coin flip at the beginning of a football game, assuming the whole LS team is on the "leadership committee", how long will it take to decide whether to call heads or tails? They must consider the feelings of all players on the team, sorry ... committee.

[Unregistered]

Not a bad idea. Helps to dissolve cliques. We did it for our college team the last 2 years and it just happened to be the most successful 2 years ever in the program.

Interesting, what college and what team?

[Beachbum]

When you drive down the middle of the road you get hit by traffic on both sides. I am surprised this did not start at cambridge high school (?).

I guess they must also carry a squad of 11...how COULD they handle the tragedy of not starting the game..do they flip a coin for starters.

Do they have a stopwatch on each other to ASSURE equal playing time ?

This sets a new bar for Stupid..Bravo !

[Unregistered]

For a coin flip at the beginning of a football game, assuming the whole LS team is on the "leadership committee", how long will it take to decide whether to call heads or tails? They must consider the feelings of all players on the team, sorry ... committee.

As the host team LS would afford the visiting guest first choice on the matter of receiving the ball or defending a particular half. They would clearly expect reciprocity the following year.