Coach Cheated!!!

[Anonymous]

This is the OP. My complaint is not about playing time. My complaint is that the coach obviously thought his team couldn't win on their own so he brought in better players. That's not okay. It's not okay for a grown man to be more invested in wining than in coaching his team IMO.

It's true I'm not big into sports. If it's normal to do this, then as I said, it's news to me, but I don't believe that it is and it sounds from a lot of the comments that it's not. It's so obviously wrong. These are kids. They're learning how to behave in life and what is acceptable. A coach is teaching them some of that. I teach my kids not to cheat or lie or steal, etc. These are BASIC BASIC BASIC things we need to learn in order to have integrity.

Yeah, this organization sucks. I will not enroll my kids in any of their programs again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. My complaint is not about playing time. My complaint is that the coach obviously thought his team couldn't win on their own so he brought in better players. That's not okay. It's not okay for a grown man to be more invested in wining than in coaching his team IMO.

It's true I'm not big into sports. If it's normal to do this, then as I said, it's news to me, but I don't believe that it is and it sounds from a lot of the comments that it's not. It's so obviously wrong. These are kids. They're learning how to behave in life and what is acceptable. A coach is teaching them some of that. I teach my kids not to cheat or lie or steal, etc. These are BASIC BASIC BASIC things we need to learn in order to have integrity.

Yeah, this organization sucks. I will not enroll my kids in any of their programs again.

It's normal, you are overracting.

[Anonymous]

It is NOT NORMAL for 6th grade basketball. Try to keep up, pp.

[Anonymous]

Please raise it with the league; ignore the Cheatey McCheateypants on the forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. My complaint is not about playing time. My complaint is that the coach obviously thought his team couldn't win on their own so he brought in better players. That's not okay. It's not okay for a grown man to be more invested in wining than in coaching his team IMO.

It's true I'm not big into sports. If it's normal to do this, then as I said, it's news to me, but I don't believe that it is and it sounds from a lot of the comments that it's not. It's so obviously wrong. These are kids. They're learning how to behave in life and what is acceptable. A coach is teaching them some of that. I teach my kids not to cheat or lie or steal, etc. These are BASIC BASIC BASIC things we need to learn in order to have integrity.

Yeah, this organization sucks. I will not enroll my kids in any of their programs again.

It's normal, you are overracting.

NP here. Did this league have a guest policy? It doesn't sound like it. If not, it's unethical and obnoxious on the part of the coach.

[Anonymous]

This happens in soccer tournaments all the time. It sucks. Especially when kids who are actually rostered on the team don’t get as much playing time as the guests. So I understand your outrage. Just know it’s more common than you thought.

[Anonymous]

It is common in soccer and it does suck. B-ball is even worse like you said due to lower team size. Can you organize the parents to discuss with the coach as a group? If all the normally rostered players leaves this douche’s team will he be able to field a team any longer and explain the lost future revenue? Did you talk to his boss (if he has one)?

[Anonymous]

AAU parent here. The kinds of basketball teams where this is normal typically don't play in local leagues like Force One or Flames. They may play in less formal leagues like More Than Basketball summer or fall leagues, but mostly they play in tournaments. In local leagues, and even in sponsored grassroots leagues IIRC there are rules about the team roster being set pretty early on -- explicitly to prevent bringing in ringers.

The only times that I saw guest players brought in for local league play was when players had other commitments (e.g. high school team camps in summer) and the coach needed more players in order to field a team and have at least a couple of subs. If even 7 kids were available, no other players were brought in.

[Anonymous]

House/rec or travel. Absolutely cheating if house/rec league. Travel is greyer unless the rules stated an official roster need to be filed. If not, guest players show up. However, parents, IMO rightfully so, get upset that they've paid their money for their kid to play and then someone shows up to "guest" that hasn't paid and takes playing time from their kid. If it's too cover bc core team members have other commitments maybe ok, but when it's to ring championships it sucks.

[Anonymous]

I agree, OP. It's cheating; even if the "rules" sanction cheating, it is still cheating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAU parent here. The kinds of basketball teams where this is normal typically don't play in local leagues like Force One or Flames. They may play in less formal leagues like More Than Basketball summer or fall leagues, but mostly they play in tournaments. In local leagues, and even in sponsored grassroots leagues IIRC there are rules about the team roster being set pretty early on -- explicitly to prevent bringing in ringers.

The only times that I saw guest players brought in for local league play was when players had other commitments (e.g. high school team camps in summer) and the coach needed more players in order to field a team and have at least a couple of subs. If even 7 kids were available, no other players were brought in.

My son has played for 2 different AAU teams in one of the leagues you identified. I have seen ringers at tournament games and my son has been displaced by non team players during season play. Both scenarios suck. Good for you OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP. It's cheating; even if the "rules" sanction cheating, it is still cheating.

This post makes no sense. It's not cheating if the rules allow it, and after all this drama, we still have no clue if the rules of this particular league allow it.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s pretty significant that your son was not the slightest bit put off by strangers getting playing time while his regular teammates sat on the bench. Sounds to me like he knows something you don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s pretty significant that your son was not the slightest bit put off by strangers getting playing time while his regular teammates sat on the bench. Sounds to me like he knows something you don’t.

Yeah, just like when he wants to eat a giant party-size bag of Doritos and I won't let him. He knows something I don't know then, too.

Of course he is thrilled they won. That means everything. They're kids. I expect a coach, a grown man who has presumably been playing sports for years, to teach them that, "Even though you may not realize it now, winning really ISN'T everything. That's not the way we do things on this team. You'll have plenty of games to play over the years, and not cheating is as important if not more so than willing." That's what I'd expect from a grown man. Not, "Yeah, try to eat all the Doritos you can until someone's mom comes along and tries to tell you they know more than you do about it. You'll be fine!" See what I mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s pretty significant that your son was not the slightest bit put off by strangers getting playing time while his regular teammates sat on the bench. Sounds to me like he knows something you don’t.

Yeah, just like when he wants to eat a giant party-size bag of Doritos and I won't let him. He knows something I don't know then, too.

Of course he is thrilled they won. That means everything. They're kids. I expect a coach, a grown man who has presumably been playing sports for years, to teach them that, "Even though you may not realize it now, winning really ISN'T everything. That's not the way we do things on this team. You'll have plenty of games to play over the years, and not cheating is as important if not more so than willing." That's what I'd expect from a grown man. Not, "Yeah, try to eat all the Doritos you can until someone's mom comes along and tries to tell you they know more than you do about it. You'll be fine!" See what I mean?

Ah, I misunderstood the point of this thread. I originally thought you were upset that the coach cheated and your son hadn’t figured that out, but it sounds more like you think your son knows that the coach cheated, and what you’re really upset about is that your son apparently thinks cheating is fine as long as it gets you what you want. In that case, you should have a discussion with your son. Be honest about the fact that you don’t know the rules and whether the coach broke them, but ask your son how he would feel about it if the coach did cheat. Then you can discuss the ethics of each party involved in hypothetical cheating and how you and your child would each handle being in their positions and how your values would influence your decisions. This can be a teachable moment even if the coach didn’t cheat.