Reply to Anyone enjoy youth sports but shocked at the politics?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Also weighing in as a HS coach—there will always be parents who cannot see how their kids skills compare to others on the team and/or take issue with roster, position and play time decisions. There’s a ton of bs that goes on with daddy ball but by HS I’m putting our best kids out there in the positions I think they need to be in to get the W. Obviously I work in kids who are less skilled when I can and where I can, but I spend a lot of time thinking about match ups and who works well together etc. My sport is not an easy to hide a weak kid type of sport. The number of parents who question my line ups or talk to the AD trying to angle for more playing time for their kids is crazy. [/quote]

In my experience you are right, but so are some of the parents complaining about “politics”. At our school:

[b]- the varsity starters are 100% merit based[/b], no BS. The coaches play to win.

-massive politics comes into play in terms of who makes the varsity bench, and roster/playing time on JV. Generally the more marginal players, obviously. It is SO political at our school that it is almost comical.

So the coaches are right to say “there is no politics”- with varsity starting lineups that is always true. But parents do notice the super obvious politics at the margins, and aren’t going to be happy about it when it affects their own kid…for example a better player cut from varsity so that the “connected kid” gets a jersey. Neither of those kids will play anyway, so it really doesn’t matter for the program. But it will matter a lot to the (cut) kid and his parents and they will scream about politics. And they aren’t wrong. 
[/quote]

What metrics are being used to confirm that it is 100% merit based in say basketball or other team sports?[/quote]

They certainly don't measure opportunity.  It's annoying on the swim teams.  Very few positions at the tryouts many of the year-round club kids barely swim faster than the summer league swimmers who only swim in the summer.  Sure, after a number of years of being in the competitive programs they will beat any recreational swimmer, but gee whiz is that underwhelming and a sorry excuse for merit.[/quote]

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