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Justin Rodriguez, Times Herald-Record
The recruiting job starts innocently enough. A coach asks a star player to play for his travel team.
Only for the weekend.
The kid with the killer swing, smooth jumper or cannon for an arm agrees to play in the tournament at some cool venue or city.
That's when the coach puts on the full-court press — salesman style. This team is a lot better with you running the point. We can get you a lot more exposure than that other club. Check out these new Nike uniforms we just got.
Some players say no thanks and walk. Others can't resist the promises and offers — and the deal is done.
Switching teams has gone on as long as there have been travel programs, but competition for players seems to have reached a new level in recent years as more and more travel team programs are launched.
While all these teams say they only have the best intentions for young athletes and want to provide the best chance to succeed or highest quality playing experiences, player movement — for whatever reason — has led to a lot of hard feelings in the travel sports community.
"It happens all the time and there is a lot of hatred out there about this happening," says Les LaFrance, president of the BC Eagles, a boys' AAU basketball team in Orange County. "Everyone does it, and if they say they don't, they're lying. It happens up here more than the city because there aren't as many good players."
The Epoch Times Copyright © 2000–2008
Aug 13, 2008
Gary Feuerber
Epoch Times Washington D.C. Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Over 50 million children under the age of 18 participated in some organized sports programs each year. If a child playing in a sport is lucky, his or her coach has had some quality coaching education prior to assuming coaching responsibilities.
Information on the qualifications of the million or so coaches in the country is lacking, but thanks to the 2008 National Coaching Report, we know something about the tremendous diversity of coaching requirements and standards across the nation.
“American sport programs are dominated by volunteer, well-intended but largely unprepared amateur coaches,” says the report.
The 160-page National Coaching Report was released August 6—two days before the beginning of the Beijing Olympics—at a news conference at the National Press Club. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) published the annual report and sponsored the news conference.
OAKFIELD, N.Y. -- The former treasurer for a western New York Little League is accused of using his organization's bank card to buy Internet child pornography.
Authorities in Genesee County say 40-year-old Richard Dunlap of Oakfield also used the Oakfield-Alabama Little League Association's debit card to access adult dating services and to take his family on a vacation to Disney World two years ago.
According to court papers, Dunlap emptied the organization's $30,000 bank account. Federal authorities say he purchased the child pornography on his home computer.
Dunlap, a married father of three, served as the local Little League treasurer for nearly four years. He resigned after federal agents searched his home in late January.
By Christina Dunmyer
April 5th, 2008
JOHNSTOWN — Veteran coaches know that the most frequent youth athletic injuries occur in football, gymnastics and hockey. Many even know that 52.4 percent of all skin infections occur in wrestlers. But that didn’t stop them, and younger coaches, from attending the Regional Resource Trauma Center at Memorial Medical Center’s Health and the Youth Athlete clinic Saturday.
“The reason I have my whole football staff involved is education,” said Windber head coach Phil DeMarco, who enters his 24th season in the fall. “We have heard several of these topics in the past, but we are always trying to protect the kids. That is the No. 1 priority. I made a few notes that I would like to address with the great training staff we have at Windber.”
Tom Causer, Trauma Coordinator for the event said, between 160-170 youth and junior and senior high coaches and officials, from several counties, attended the five hour clinic.
Dr. Lee Miller, Trauma and Critical Care Surgeon, and speaker on brain and nervous system injuries said, “We’re very happy with the turnout. We didn’t expect quite this many people.”
Newsday.com
John Jeansonne
HOT TOPIC
9:35 PM EST, March 1, 2008
Now comes the real Houdini trick for fans: Escaping from the escape.
Because, however accurate sport's historical function as the avoidance of reality, the shackles of troublesome developments increasingly ensnare those seeking relief in the fantasy universe of fun-and-games.
In a jock worshipper's equivalent of waterboarding, the FBI probe of Roger Clemens closely follows the lawsuit filed against the New England Patriots for spying and the resignation of Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson for breaking the same recruiting rules he had violated in his previous job. Just to cite the most obvious cases.
Not surprisingly, a fair amount of evidence exists that the spectating public prefers not to ponder these difficulties. During Clemens' appearance last week at the Houston Astros' spring training camp, fans shouted at reporters stalking Clemens to "Leave him alone" and groused, "You're ruining it for the fans."
Will Leitch, editor of the enormously popular sports Web site Deadspin.com, began his new book, "God Save the Fan," with the chapter titled, "Please God, No, Not Another Essay About Steroids." He argued that fans don't care whether players ingest illegal chemicals; only that their team wins. "Being a sports fan," Leitch wrote, "mostly involves blissful ignorance of the outside world, and that is just fine [his italics]. That is, after all, why we watch sports in the first place."
When the story broke last September of Patriots coach Bill Belichick's nefarious video work, Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, wrote in Time Magazine that Belichick would "make an excellent fan" precisely because Belichick "doesn't care about being fair to the other team; he doesn't even real.ly care about his own players. He just wants to win."
Could it be, then, that by voicing a preference to just get on with the games (and win them), the spectating public has gotten itself into this mess by signaling players, owners and commissioners that rules and federal law need not stand in the way of all-out competition -- thereby enabling these doping cat burglars?
"I don't believe that's the dominant message from people who admire sports," said ethicist Thomas Murray, president of the Hastings Center, whose resume includes past efforts fighting performance-enhancing drugs. "And, even if it is a significant number, they haven't thought through the consequences that, ultimately, sports will be dominated by maximum performance by whatever means at whatever costs.
"Then it will become exhibition. Circus. That's not sports."
By The Associated Press
February 10th, 2008
BOSTON - The stories have become all too familiar — young athletes, and sometimes their parents and coaches, turning a school playing field into the set of a Jerry Springer episode.
Now a bill set to be heard by Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday seeks to reduce the number and intensity of school sports scuffles by drafting new curriculum to teach sportsmanship.
Lawmakers and supporters hope the new pilot program could help young athletes learn how to conduct themselves both on and off the field.
The bill would create lessons to help children develop "the mental skills associated with self-control in an effort to reduce violence, drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, bullying and other destructive choices."
The teaching materials would be offered free of charge to youth and school sports leagues and teams.
By Tanya Judd Pucella
January 15th, 2008
I am a recovering anti-coach. For some years, I taught at a very (athletically) competitive high school. We were forever locked in battles for state football and basketball championships, and we were contenders in rowing, baseball, softball— just name a sport. If we’d changed our name to Sports High, the majority of our community would have been delighted.
As we continued to improve our athletic records, the administration began to make some interesting teacher-hiring decisions that appeared to be based more on coaching resumes than classroom prowess.
By Beth Hale
January 27th, 2008
They have long been blamed for the decline in youth sport and the child obesity epidemic.
But, in a bid to instill some enthusiasm in a generation of inactive youngsters, schools are turning to the computer games console to fight the flab.
Teachers are using the best selling Nintendo Wii - an interactive wireless-based computer game - to get children involved in 'virtual' sport.
The scheme comes despite repeated studies showing that the amount of time children spend playing computer games is one of the major factors behind the obesity crisis.
These parents want to feel safe leaving their children with these people. But their trust has been violated by some.
Earlier this month, a youth softball coach in Livingston County was charged with having inappropriate communications with two female athletes under the age of 13. Last year, an East Rochester gymnastics coach began serving a 16-year prison sentence for enticing a 13-year-old student to commit sexual acts with him in 2005.While these incidents sometimes make parents worry about who is coaching their children, a Democrat and Chronicle review of youth sports found that cases such as these are exceptions. However, the training and certification of these youth sports coaches is varied. The state also has no role in overseeing who is selected as a coach.
After the controversial elections, described by international observers as flawed, opposition leader Raila Odinga called for president Mwai Kibaki to step down. Unfortunately, the political fallout has escalated into violence, with over 600 deaths reported so far according to reports by the BBC and Reuters
Amidst the turmoil, the Kenyan athletics community is rallying around to help alleviate the suffering of individuals caught up in the violence as well as publicising their plight and calling for a restoration of peace.
Athletics Kenya will also organise a peace run in February to promote peaceful co-existence among different communities in Kenya. The run will start in Nairobi and end in Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria.
Level 2 Sports has announced the details of the 2008 adidas National Lacrosse Classic. adidas Lacrosse is the title sponsor and event partner which will feature the Top 500 high school underclassmen players in the United States.
Open to 9th, 10th and 11th grade boys, the adidas National Lacrosse Classic provides an opportunity for players to test their skills against the 'best of the best' competing for a roster spot on their Regional Team. The adidas Event Advisory Board has established 8 regions in the Nation. Each region will have a select number of teams based upon 2006 high school participation rates. A total of 20 teams will play in the grand finals, July 18-20, 2008 at the Discovery Sports Complex in Maryland as a showcase for college coaches and scouts. In addition, the winning team of the adidas National Lacrosse Classic will represent the United States against Canada for the Brogden Cup in December 2008.
By Randy Griffith
January 11th, 2008
A team of lanky 13-year-olds trails Coach Mike Del Valle into a hallway outside a Canisius College gymnasium.
“You played hard. You never quit. You can be proud,” Del Valle assures the Niagara Rapids girls. Their defeat – to the powerhouse Blessed Sacrament Yellow Jackets of Hamilton, Ontario – came in the opening round of an Amateur Athletic Union super-regional basketball tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.
Del Valle asks his players to stretch, as he draws upon experience and knowledge that tell him conditioning after a game prevents sprains and joint problems in growing muscles.
Del Valle, who has coached youth sports for 40 years, has more training than most of his peers. While AAU has no specific training requirements for coaches, he also is head coach of the North High School Lady Spartans in Williamsville, N.Y. As a scholastic coach in New York, he must complete some of the most rigorous certification requirements in the the country for coaches.
By Jim Higgins
January 1st, 2008
Times Argus
Although I don't typically burp out New Year's resolutions on annual cue, preferring rather to proclaim "intentions" at pivotal moments throughout the year, I am going to vary the script this New Year's Day.
I hereby resolve, in future columns, to stick to the following mantra for the coming year: "Honor the Game."
Here are three ways among many that I will measure the success of this campaign: one, gymnasiums and field houses throughout central Vermont will display "Honor the Game" banners; two, by the end of the year at least one local team will win a state championship AND the Sportsmanship trophy; and three, the number of player and fan ejections from sporting contests will be reduced to a mere handful
Youth sports volunteers are subject to safety measure
By Nick C. Sortal
December 24th, 2007
She's more than happy to be a team mom for her sons, so Angela Walker is willing to participate in the latest attempt by cities to keep the fields safe.
She wears an ID badge, showing that she has cleared a criminal background check. So does every coach and anyone else who comes into contact with the children.
"It gives you a sense of security to know they're in good hands," said Walker, whose sons play football, basketball and baseball. "You can't just allow anybody and everybody around your child." Riviera Beach joins West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and other cities that started ID badge programs this year. Hollywood began requiring ID badges for its more than 600 volunteer coaches more than two years ago.
By Jason Jacks
December 12th, 2007
A hill crests in the middle of the splotchy field behind Newton-Lee Elementary School in Ashburn, where Matt Curry's 10-year-old daughter plays soccer. Patches of grass create mounds that are seemingly tall enough to turn an ankle if stepped upon. And that's not the worst of it.
"Look at this rock," said Curry, pressing down on the 6-inch-diameter slab with the ball of his foot. "A child could fall and hit her head on this. This is what our kids play on."
To combat safety concerns like these, as well as the problem of not having enough fields to accommodate a growing number of youth sports teams in Ashburn and Dulles South, Curry, president of the year-old Dulles South Youth Sports, and other parents are putting part of their hopes in, of all places, a housing development.
By Marcia C. Smith
December 12th, 2007
America's kids have known what's going on. They have spent much of 2007 watching the sports world's doping dragnet catch cheaters, big and small.
December 12th, 2007
The Wilmington Parks & Recreation Department in January will start criminal background checks for coaches and other volunteers who work with youth.
The individuals will be screened using a service provided by Recreational Sports Management (RSM) when they sign up to be involved in Parks & Recreation youth programs.
The RSM service has databases that enable it to conduct a “very extensive” criminal background check, said Scott Parrish, director of the Wilmington Parks & Recreation Department. The cost will be $20 per person which will be paid by the department, not the coach or volunteer.
Drug testing will not be part of the screening process.
The multi-sport complex off Basket Road will be used for baseball, football, soccer and lacrosse.
In
addition, the Webster Athletic Association received a $25,000 state
grant to build two new Little League baseball fields at Empire Park,
serving more than 600 children ages 7 through 12.
"I drove around Webster one day with Supervisor Ron Nesbitt and it was difficult to find many venues for kids," State Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, Seneca County, said at a news conference Saturday at Webster Town Hall to announce the grant.
"The life lessons learned on the field — hard work, dedication,
and commitment — will serve today's youth as they become tomorrow's
community leaders," he said.
Mentor Athletic Director Dale Garris resigned on Thursday, citing the treatment he received from parents upset with Mentor's forfeit of a boys regional championship soccer game.
"Some of the things that went on before the formal meeting . . . some of the parents' actions toward me," Garris said Thursday night in explaining his decision. "The language that was used was not called for, was abusive toward me.
"I was not asked to resign by the school system. I just felt, after that, that I would not be able to communicate with the parents at the level I need to."
Editor, the Record (www.poconorecord.com):
Think of children's sporting events. All sorts of images come to mind: the happy faces, children running with wild abandon and seemingly boundless energy, the cheering crowd. Unfortunately, when youth sporting events make the news, it is usually because of inappropriate, outrageous or dangerous behavior by parents or coaches ... role models. My experience as a soccer coach has been different.
After we lost our very first game, morale was low. Parent Teresa Hicks responded. She made a team banner and mascot costume, a "Rocket Fuel" cover for a water cooler and brought "cheering equipment" for spectators.
The big finish? Teresa put on a child-friendly tailgate party that NFL fans would envy. Our team parents jumped on board and tailgates became a weekly event. After seeing our game and post-game photos, a fellow coach commented that he could not guess if we had won or lost.
Teresa rallied the parents at the season's end and hosted an unforgettable team party. She and her husband created a beautiful, funny and emotional video retrospective of our first season .
These parents understand what being a "Soccer mom" means and provide an atmosphere of camaraderie and fun.
| Adirondack CC | 4/1 & 4/8 |
| Broome CC | August 21, 2008 |
| Cayuga CC | Fall 2008 |
| Clinton CC | May 27, 2008 |
| Corning CC | |
| Columbia-Greene CC | July 19, 2008 |
| Dutchess CC | May 18, 2008 |
| Erie CC | TBA |
| F.I.T. | TBA |
| Finger Lakes CC | June 11th, 2008 |
| Fulton-Montgomery CC | August 5, 2008 |
| Herkimer CC | June 17th 2008 |
| Hudson Valley CC | May 6, 2008 |
| Jamestown CC | March 2008 |
| Jefferson CC | May 21, 2008 |
| Mohawk Valley CC | March 29, 2008 |
| Monroe CC | August 6, 2008 |
| Nassau CC | 3/1 & 3/11 |
| Niagara CC | 8/7, 9/13, 10/25 |
| Onondaga CC | April 26, 2008 |
| SUNY Orange CC | TBA |
| SUNY Rockland CC | May 6, 2008 |
| Schenectady CC | Summer 2008 |
| Suffolk CC | June 6, 2008 |
| Sullivan CC | TBA |
| Tompkins Cortland CC | May 5, 2008 |
| Ulster CC | October 7, 2008 |
| Westchester CC | 6/9, 7/16, and 8/14, 2008 |
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