Balancing Athletic Success and Equal Team Participation

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Playing Time The emotion is intense. Everyone in the gym is on the edge of his or her seat. Time is expiring as the final shot for the win sails through air. The buzzer sounds… Athletics are a critical element of high school lives--whether it be playing for or supporting one’s team. In order to accomplish success in a season, these supporting individuals are forced to rely on a select few of premier athletes. From day one of tryouts, these athletes are crafted and molded based on their hard work as well as their ability to play in accordance with the coach’s style. At a varsity level, where victory has his or her job on the line, coaches should not be required to play every member of the team equally.
From a young age, elite athletes put …show more content…

They are filled with lessons that can be learned from and influence lives for the better. On the subject of playing time, athletes can learn these three critical lessons: hard work, patience, and team effort. Players can learn hard work by pushing themselves to be good enough to get into the coach’s rotation. Players that are handed the opportunity to play without earning it are being set up for failure. Brian Gotta, president of Coach Deck stated that athletes that earn playing time will know and understand what it takes to fight for a job in a certain occupation as well as more readily qualify themselves for the position. Next, patience can be learned from game to game or season to season. Players that continually push themselves and strive for greatness will one day make the rotation. “Junior Syndrome” is when juniors on the varsity team do not see the floor as often as the seniors. However, by working hard and sticking to it, the finally see the floor the following season (Meredith). Lastly, athletes that are not there supporting the team as a whole, and are only there to become better as an individual, hurt the team (Meredith). In life, individuals that refuse to work with a team fail at the task they are attempting to accomplish. These athletes should not be rewarded with the benefit of playing

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