OFF THE RECORD
This year’s basketball season is about to draw to a close.
Admittedly, our area schools have not done spectacularly well this year and that is perfectly alright.
School athletics are more about instilling the habit of exercise in the young generation as well as the understanding of healthy competition than anything else.
There will be wins and losses, always one column will carry more numbers than the other; we will be happier if the column of wins depict higher numbers than the one for the losses, but it is nothing to be ashamed of if the situation is other way around: A loss is as much part of competitive sport engagement as a win.
But this year, I have noticed that some of the coaches in our area schools do not exactly see it that way.
One coach told me very frankly that he would not be reporting results if his team got a heavy loss.
Asked for an explanation, he said “There are enough bad news already in the newspapers with wars and disasters, we should not add to them.”
That, I must admit, I found quite baffling: How could a loss in a school game be categorized as “bad news” in the order of a war or a natural calamity?
I then questioned, of course by myself, how healthy an approach this was in preparing our young ones to the trials and tribulations of that treacherous road called life?
At the entrance of the red rink at the Stettler Recreation Centre, there is a very wise piece of advice stuck up on the board: “Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child,” it says.
By pretending to protect our young ones by hiding their losses from the community, are we really preparing them for the path?
Whether we like it or not, we need to know that not all of our children will be stellar individuals in their personal or professional lives. Even for the stellar ones, there will be ups and downs, losses and defeats as well as gains.
Just like the doctors see no big harm in a young child getting a serious cold, as it will help strengthen the child’s immunity system as an indispensable part of the process of growth, as adults, shouldn’t we be teaching our youngsters that defeat is just a normal, and yes, essential component of the struggle we wage to have a decent life?
How will our children learn to cope with the always unforeseen challenges of life if they do not learn to deal with their inability to win in basketball in high school?
On the other hand, I don’t agree with parents and/or coaches who believe school athletics should not be taken very seriously as it is only a pastime for fun.
Sport practised in a young age is the main source of motivation for the child to begin to acquire, and to control, his/her competitive instincts.
Regardless of some perceptions on the part of adults that could prevent the youth from gaining the maximum benefits out of their sport activities, we should still be grateful that our children do have access to so many possibilities to get involved in them.