Exactly one month ago I wrote an article titled "The Never Ending Argument on Running Up The Score" about Coach Phil Washington of Highland Junior High School and his team's blowout victories. The 8th grade team was repeatedly beating teams by 20 or 30+ and ended the year 26-2 with an 6th place finish in the state of Indiana. Highland administration was unhappy with Coach Washington because they said he was running up the score and trying to win at all costs. I argued that instead of complaining they should enjoy the season and be happy that they have a good coach for their team because a lot of people, myself included, didn't have that back in junior high. Rarely does a team experience success like that and, instead of cheering for the team, it seems like administration scolded them, specifically Washington.
Before I go on I want to admit that I have little knowledge of this specific situation but I do have strong feelings from what I have learned. As stated before, the Scots finished the year with only one loss and earned a third place trophy at the state tournament. However, next year they will take the floor without Coach Washington on the sidelines because he was fired. The school said they would like to move in another direction from the "win at all costs" direction Washington was going. I went to one of the team's games and I saw Washington coach those kids. What I saw was a young coach who had total control of his team and had obviously coached his kids well because every single one played hard, ran the offense and put forth the required effort on defense. I think these kids will definitely have success at the next level because they have been taught to play the right way. As silly as that sounds, there are few junior high coaches who can teach their players that. I know that my 8th grade team won games but we weren't as good in high school because we lacked fundamentals and we had low basketball IQs.
It bugs me to see this man fired from his job because his team won by too much. Since when did winning not matter in sports? I understand that winning the game doesn't matter when the kids are young and first learning the game but this is 8th grade basketball and they keep score for a reason. That state tournament isn't just there for fun, it's there for the best teams. But, then again, that's not how American youth sports works anymore and that's not how kids think these days. We have made kids think that winning doesn't matter that much that I think the skill and effort has declined greatly.
I hate losing.
I hate losing more than anything in the world and it doesn't matter what sport or game it is. If I could beat the other team or player then of course I would do it. It doesn't matter by how much but I would get it done. I know alot of my friends and teammates think that way too. Every athlete should hate losing more than they love winning. Nowadays, we get mad because teams score too much, some kids didn't get named to all-star teams, and only one kid was named MVP. We want everybody to be a winner and a champion and that's fine...when the kids are five years old. Once they are in junior high it's a competition and they keep score--no more of the feel-good-here's-your-trophy stuff. The Highland kids were taught the right way because they were taught to compete and to give full effort for the entire game. What coach wouldn't want that from his players? Because these kids were taught to play the right way in junior high they now have a chance to do some special things in high school.
The worst part about this whole situation is that, after one of the greatest seasons the school has ever experienced, the administration twisted it into a bad situation and fired their coach. I hope that wherever Coach Washington ends up he coaches the same way and teaches his players to be competitive and give full effort because that's really what sports is all about. Losing is part of sports and sometimes you get your tail kicked, but we play because we love the competition. If only more people thought that way...
I Support Coach Washington.
So the coach got released? Surely there has to be more to the story. Was he a teacher at the school?
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3 sides to every story.. Their side, the other side, and the TRUTH..
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I was at the game where he ran the score up to 111-18 and he showed no class, he thought he was doing the right thing but he was embarassing himself and his school. it is one thing to score when you run your plays but it is unnecessary to keep a full court press with your starters the whole game. he took them out when his team reached 100 points. he later claimed that there were racial slurs that were being said in the middle to late third quarter and thats why he ran the score up, but that excuse does not hold up when you are already running the score up by 60+ points. also during the other schools season there were never any other problems with hate crimes, racial slurs, playing "football" as the coach washington described it. this shows that he had a poor lapse in judgement and embarassed his school by being running up the score on an innocent significantly smaller school. if you would have been there with an unbiased view on things you would view him a lot differently...also it was pointed out in a newspaper atricle on the situation that coach washington has a criminal past he has served time in jail for operating while intoxicated and is charged for the same thing again and posession of marijuana...is this the type of person you want teaching and coaching your kids?
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