Lessons from the playing field

My host at last night's high school sports event informed me that girl's sports, at least in Michigan, are struggling.

Twenty years ago, most high school sports fielded a Woman's Varsity team, a Junior Varsity team and in some cases a Freshman team for many sports. There were robust programs supplying soccer (futball), basketball and volleyball players as well as runners for track and cross country teams.

Currently, at least in the small(ish) rural districts, coaches have to actively recruit underclassmen to have enough players to field a Varsity team. Watching the teams play last night, it was clear that several of the players (at least on one team) had never really played soccer before.

When I asked my host what had changed, she shrugged her shoulders. "The culture changed. Too many distractions." is what she replied.

Specific to soccer, she pointed to the collapse of the intermediate skill-level leagues that supplied the lion's share of prep players in the past. There are still the "recreation" leagues for kids and there are high-end, competitive "travel leagues", but the step in the middle, the one that did not require parents to pay hotel bills in Fort Wayne or involve four hours of travel time are gone.

I know of one family whose entire plan to get their daughter into college was for her to get a full-ride scholarship. I think they would have been better served to hire a math tutor.

For the record, Belladonna knew several women athletes who received partial-scholarships where she went to college. The "drop-out" rate was mind-boggling. My guess is that 2/3 of the student-athletes did not graduate. Of the ones who did graduate, many of them found themselves holding degrees that did not command respect in the work-place.

It was a scam.

Back in the day...

Schools like West Point used athletics to teach life-lessons. Those life-lessons were forged in high-stress, time-urgent crucibles which meant they automatically became the default when the graduates were faced with other high-stress, time-urgent environments.

Other schools like Harvard and Yale, which used to be considered pretty good schools, copied West Point for the same reasons. Their goal was to generate leaders who performed with grace and skill under pressure.

Some lessons

The playing field repudiates the supremacy of the individual. Teams win. Glory hogs do not.

The playing field proves that physics is immune to flowery language and a deftly delivered speech.

The playing field brutally punishes the player who stoops to the cheap-shot.

The playing field teaches that what you do when you don't have the ball is at least as important as what you do when you do have the ball.

The playing field teaches you to trust your fellow team-mates. Know where they are, communicate...and trust them.

The playing field teaches that skills matter. They matter a great deal. 

The goalkeeper has the best view of the field. Just because she isn't running until she pukes doesn't mean that she can't tell you how to do your job better. 

The playing field teaches that how you practice Monday-through-Thursday is a good predictor of how you will play on Gameday.

The playing field teaches that life choices made off the field impact how your team will play on the field. The playing field teaches that life has consequences.

Part of the Yale Snowball intramural team

The playing field teaches that referees have limits. They don't see everything. They don't call everything they see. Relying on the refs to "call" every infraction is not a robust strategy.

The playing field rewards teams that can learn and adapt after they get schooled by a better team. The playing field brutally punishes teams to refuse to learn.

The playing field rewards teams with plans/plays. 

Please, feel free to add to the list in the comments. 

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