Post here or text to 505-414-4313

Quitters

By John Moore | NMPreps Features

When an athlete quits a sport, the reason most often given for quitting is something along the lines of, “It just isn’t fun any more.” Often the reason the sport is not fun any more is because the athlete has been surpassed in skill and is experiencing failure. Failure certainly is not fun. Along with the newfound failure, athletes may have pressure from parents to excel, adding to the stress of the athlete. Quitting alleviates stress from peers, coaches, and family along with easing the stress of time, school, and social demands.

Many coaches have had an athlete come in to quit the day after a game. Perhaps he or she did not get to play, maybe the family was in the stands, friends questioned the athlete as to why he or she didn’t play, and the athlete feels the sense of failure. Privately, the athletes may give excuses. “The coach doesn’t like me.” “Coach has his/her favorites.” “Coach doesn’t know what he/she is doing.” But in the coaches’ office, the athlete will give the, “it isn’t fun any more,” excuse, perhaps knowing it is the easiest path to quitting. Any professional spending time with teenagers knows that one of their greatest fears is embarrassment. Playing sports forces them to put themselves out there in an exhibition of skill. This bravery, although not recognized immediately, will be the very mettle that gets them through hard times as adults. The embarrassed athlete provides coaches with a great challenge.

The vital skill coaches possess is the proactive approach to quitters. Addressing this issue early and often with the team alleviates much of the issues “quitters” bring. This skill is not only evident in the team meetings, but in individual conferences with athletes. Coaches need to address individuals, with notes, and let the athlete know where he or she stands. These are very powerful moments in building relationships with players. An Auerbach coaching axiom is fitting here, “It is not what you tell your players that counts, it’s what they hear.” If a player feels he or she is valued and is given a path to success he or she is far more likely to continue the sport. Individual conferences should happen multiple times between the head coach and each individual player. Doing the conferences during practice does several things: 1. It allows your assistants to take ownership of practice, 2. It shows how important the conferences are, 3. It strengthens the bond between head coach and player, 4. It allows a coach to probe for possible issues with each athlete, 5. It gives the player a path to success.

The culture coaches build within their programs determines how many athletes want to be a part of it. Experienced coaches who have built the necessary, positive relationships rarely have to deal with the “quitter.” However, even the most ardent coach will have an issue. Most coaches will experience each of the following circumstances.

The Really Good Kid: In rare instances a kid who does everything asked of him and who is a great teammate will quit. These are tough for coaches but probably tougher for the athlete. A player who has fully bought in to the program will rarely choose to quit. When it does occur, he or she may resort to, “I just don’t love the sport like I used to,” or “It just isn’t fun any more.” These statements may be true, but more likely something has happened in this kid’s life to cause this. Is it embarrassment from lack of playing time? family problems at home? peer influence? or something else? Coaches cannot bargain with playing time, but they can delve into the issue. If the relationship is strong a coach can find the real issue. When a coach reaffirms how important the player is, the player will often come forward with real the true reasons, usually with real emotion.

Antonio Brown: Sometimes a kid will make a scene with the quit. This is the kid who goes up into the stands during a game or tosses his jersey at the coach in the middle of practice. When this happens it becomes clear the necessary relationship was not built and the player never understood the importance of being a part of the program. Making a scene severs the coach/player relationship but more importantly severs the player/player relationship. Discarding the uniform symbolizes discarding the entire team. Once this is done there is usually no repairing the relationship short term. Still, once tempers have calmed coaches should seek out the exit interview, as painful as it may be. This player needs to hear that his/her coaches hate when this happens and that both sides have failed in putting a stronger relationship in place. Should this player change his or her mind and want to return, this may be time for tough love. A coach can explain that teammates were counting on the player and asking them to do it again would not be fair to them.

The Disinterested Player: This player may seek to avoid the conflict and make excuses for not coming to practice. Even after coaches try to reiterate how important the player is, he or she may give lip service but continue to show disinterest. Here, the “It just isn’t fun any more,” may be exactly the case. The love of the game is actually a pretty rare thing. A coach can initiate this conversation in a private conference. Coaches may need to coax the honest answer to, “Do you want to be a part of this season?” from the athlete and it may be painful to hear.

Athletes need to hear how adults often reminisce about their teams; none claim they wish they had quit but many regret not sticking it out.

When we lose a kid, this is a failure, sometimes an inevitable one. Our kids have great pressure with family, peer influence, social interests, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, academics, depression, and more. The most important work comes in proactive measures. Coaches are challenged to build programs where kids want to be, despite all that goes on in their lives. Their programs are safe and loving places for kids where athletes know they will be challenged because the challenge, the grind, the discipline, the victories, the losses, the work, and the relationships are important to the adults they will become.

Post here

*****WEEK 8 SCOREBOARD (APRIL 10TH-15TH)*****

Add scores here or text to 505-414-4313

Is this true?

Preseason Poll: District 2-6A Champ

Who is the favorite to win District 1-6A?

What do you have? Key games?

Any and all golf and cornhole players or anyone just wanting to go out and have a fun Saturday please sign up and join us!

Login to view embedded media

Best order at a steakhouse -- type of meat and sides.

Moore: The C Team
By: John Moore | NMPreps

Many times I walked out of the back gym to be greeted by the Head Varsity Coach and the JV Coach. “How did you do?” they would ask. “We won.” was always my reply regardless of what the score was. This was a running joke among coaches. The point was that nobody cared about the C team game. There were fewer than a dozen fans, I knew our record but nobody else did, there would be no game film, and there would be no write-up in tomorrow’s newspaper. So if we got hammered by 30 in some dungeon of a back gym with the echo of bouncing basketballs still ringing in my head I would say, “We won.” Nobody could ever prove otherwise.


Jokes aside, C-team boys basketball is marvelous. The kids that we had embraced C team and went out and played extremely hard. They wore the school uniform, there were officials and scorekeepers, and it was our team against their team – the essence of sport. Looking back, we could have done much more to develop the C team as an integral part of the program. The problem today is that you usually cannot find a C team game; schools have eliminated them.


I spoke with a school official in Hobbs. Hobbs, one of the largest schools in the state, has a basketball tradition like no other. But Hobbs has one Varsity and one JV basketball team, the same as Lovington, a school one-third the size of Hobbs. The reason is scheduling. Years ago there was a sophomore team in Hobbs, but when other large schools dropped their Sophomore teams or C teams, Hobbs could not fill a schedule. There are several other reasons not to carry a C team; one of them is budget. Travel, uniforms, meals, coaches, and officials are costly for districts no doubt. Secondly, a third team means more headache. More players means more parents and more parent problems. Many coaches are stretched thin and the third team adds more to the daily grind. Scheduling, practice time, coaching assignments, equipment, uniforms, training and managerial staff, and eligibility all ultimately fall to the head coach. Thirdly, athletic numbers may fluctuate. Depending on the pool size, a school may not be able to field a team from year to year. Lastly, C team players usually don’t become varsity players. They continue to grow, but usually, by the time they become seniors, they have been surpassed in skill by younger players.


Let’s take a look at each reason not to play a C team schedule. If there are no teams to play, this seems the most challenging reason to not field a C team. However, with some effort and some imagination, the C team can play. In basketball, a school may play a 23 game JV schedule with some games with smaller schools. Some of your less experienced athletes could play against smaller school JV teams. Still, there is only so much playing time to go around and some schools will look at other reasons when determining whether to field a third squad. Coaching is a definite hurdle to C teams. Many coaches aspire to become varsity head coaches and being a C team coach, let’s face it, is not a great line on the resume. Staffs can rotate duties to not overwork the coaches and those who coach for the love of sport will find it refreshing to see how fundamental development leads to success on the court. If a school could field 20 JV kids, say 3 who split time with varsity, 12 kids one step below the varsity, and 7 C team type kids, this is a manageable number. Most importantly, that is 7 kids you did not have to cut.

This leads to the issue of athletic numbers. Covid is the newest plague against athletics. Many high schools simply do not have the numbers to field 3 teams. Some have gone to calling the Freshman team the C team. I would argue that the building of numbers is a never-ending struggle that we must fight and win to keep sports healthy. One program that wins this battle is Artesia football. The Sophomore team competes as a unit and is a vital component of continual success. The strategy begins by fielding multiple teams at the junior high level, and not just in football.


Large 8th grade numbers leads to large Freshman numbers. Unfortunately, here is where many schools get a huge drop off of athletes. About 70% of athletes who quit sports will do it around age 13. The number 1 reason? It isn’t fun any more. I would argue that the fun part decreases with the likelihood of getting cut as a Freshman. Many see they will not make the team and are not willing to put in the effort for what they see as inevitable failure. With this drop-off, the athlete pool is depleted and some schools will be scrambling to field a JV team the following year. The C team is a perfect answer. Rather than cut Freshmen, give 9th graders an opportunity to wear the high school uniforms and play in a few C team high school games, safely of course. Some days the top Freshmen get to play C team, some days the less experienced player gets to play C team. Coaches are good at counting games for individual athletes ensuring no rules are broken.


Finally we come to the budget. If you are fortunate to have a board and administration who want kids to succeed and puts them first, budget is not a concern at all. We are talking about adding a minimal number of kids to a program and giving them a chance to participate. Sports teach kids about teamwork, resiliency, overcoming adversity, teamwork, and so many other life skills. The more kids we keep in sports, the more successful adults we create and budget should not deter our mission.


The C team could have unlimited potential for a program by simply offering athletes a place to stay in athletics. How many programs offer a specific place where incoming Sophomores can continue to play and become a part of tradition? The benefits run a gamut of possibilities. From older kids looking for a chance to play for the school before they graduate to younger kids who have not hit the growth spurt yet, the C team could become an invaluable tool. But it takes commitment from the entire coaching community.

Sources:

Why kids quit sport - BelievePerform - The UK's leading Sports Psychology Website

Why 70 percent of kids quit sports by age 13 - The Washington Post

Special Thanks to Sports Administrators at: Hobbs High School

Lovington High School

Artesia High School

Best offense coach all time for New Mexico HS football

New article by John Moore | NMPreps Football

CLICK HERE

Post Here

Top players from the week.

****Week 7 Scores (April 3rd - 8th)****

Monday, April 3rd
Centennial 21, Mayfield 11 - F
Las Cruces 17, Gadsden 3 - F
Logan 17, Questa 1 - F
Menaul/Oak Grove 13, Pojoaque Valley 5 - F
NMMI 17, Loving 7 - F
Organ Mountain 2, Alamogordo 1 - F
Santa Fe Indian 23, Pecos 13 - F
Santa Rosa 4, Tularosa 2 - F

Tuesday, April 4th
Albuquerque Academy 30, Del Norte 7 - F
Artesia 18, Roswell 5 - F
Atrisco Heritage 11, Eldorado 7 - F
Aztec 7, Bloomfield 6 - F
Cimarron 13, Penasco 3 - F
Cimarron 20, Penasco 7 - F
Clovis 13, Sandia 11 - F
Grants 19, Highland 1 - F
McCurdy 26, Estancia 12 - F
Mesilla Valley 14, Lordsburg 4 - F
Rehoboth Christian 16, Navajo Prep 2 - F
Rehoboth Christian 18, Navajo Prep 9 - F
Roswell 14, Artesia 13 - F
Sandia Prep 10, Ruidoso 5 - F
Santa Fe 11, Capital 1 - F
St. Michael's 9, Raton 8 - F
Valencia 10, St. Pius X 9 - F
Valley 11, Hope Christian 1 - F
West Las Vegas 7, Espanola Valley 2 - F

Wednesday, April 5th
Cobre 6, Hatch Valley 1 - F
Cobre 12, Hatch Valley 2 - F
Farmington 18, Durango CO 3 - F
Hot Springs 10, Socorro 2 - F
Hot Springs 5, Socorro 3 - F
Kirtland Central 17, Shiprock 11 - F
Miyamura 12, Gallup 1 - F
Pojoaque Valley 10, Taos 6 - F
St. Pius X 26, Bosque 1 - F
Volcano Vista 2, Cleveland 1 - F

Thursday, April 6th
Alamogordo 7, Organ Mountain 4 - F
Artesia 6, Carlsbad 3 - F
Aztec 3, Miyamura 1 - F
Bloomfield 11, Shiprock 0 - F
Capitan 8, Estancia 2 - F
Centennial 12, Mayfield 0 - F
Centennial 17, Mayfield 3 - F
Cibola 10, Atrisco Heritage 8 - F
East Mountain 9, Sandia Prep 5 - F
Hope Christian 4, St. Michael's 0 - F
Kirtland Central 18, Gallup 2 - F
Laguna-Acoma 10, Navajo Prep 3 - F
Las Cruces 10, Gadsden 0 - F
Las Cruces 7, Gadsden 2 - F
Lovington 3, Eunice 1 - F
Organ Mountain 15, Alamogordo 9 - F
Portales 15, West Las Vegas 6 - F
Portales 7, Robertson 6 - F
Rehoboth Christian 10, Pecos 3 - F
Rio Grande 14, Del Norte 1 - F
Rio Rancho 6, Cleveland 0 - F
Sandia Prep 18, East Mountain 2 - F
Santa Rosa 26, Clayton 0 - F
Thoreau 12, Tohatchi 3 - F
Thoreau 8, Tohatchi 7 - F
Zuni 16, Wingate 6 - F
Zuni 6, Wingate 2 - F

Friday, April 7th
Albuquerque Academy 4, Bernalillo 1 - F
Elida 16, Floyd 4 - F
Elida 17, Floyd 8 - F
Goddard 9, Roswell 8 - F
Grants 10, Belen 4 - F
La Cueva 8, Piedra Vista 1 - F
La Cueva 6, Piedra Vista 2 - F
Logan 22, Clayton 1 - f
Loving 21, Grady 1 - F
Santa Rosa13, Penasco 3 - F
Santa Rosa 14, Penasco 1 - F
Valencia 14, Highland 3 - F
Valley 19, Del Norte 4 - F

Easter Draft: Best food item? Best Candy? Where does Easter rank on the holiday list?

Best players or teams of all-time?

What do you have?

Best coaches, players or teams of all-time?