 by Morgan Effenberger January 13, 2005
As I will wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Gray - T.C. doesn't say too much unless it really needs to be said. I am not familiar with other sports/situations getting in the way of each other, but I DO know about HoopMania and am here to defend the organization. Believe it or not, there are kids out there that don't play every sport. HoopMania (HM) does host classes/gym time situations for kids that choose to participate. We don't prevent anyone from coming or not coming. Those situations are simply an option for players to get gym time who would like to play. We also don't want to discrimate from kids who are involved in other activities. There are no penalties/criticism for kids that aren't able to come all of the time. Should we have a checklist to make sure they are not signed up for anything else? HM has huge participation from athletes that do nothing but play basketball. Should opportunities not be provided for kids that want to play in the off season? I agree, if an athlete has committed themselves to a sport/season, that MUST be their first priority, as their Coach and Teammates are counting on them. That being said, I believe it is up to the athlete, with the guidance of their Parents as to making sure their schedule is not overloaded. There is absolutely NO PENALTY for kids that choose to not participate, or can only "drop in" occasionally for HM activities.If my athlete would rather be at a HM class instead of going to their other activity, I would ask myself how much they really want to be involved in the other sport. While definitely, definitely, definitely players should keep their commitments to the sport they are involved in, and Coaches of other sports should support that all they way, athletes should have the freedom to develop their skills in the off season in the company of other athletes if they should so choose. My daughter wanted to sign up for volleyball, soccer, cross country, and basketball all at the same time. We had to sit down and talk about what was best for her and our family. She decided to play soccer, and dropped in fall intramurals when her time allowed. Soccer was her 1st priority after academics as that is the choice that she made. I'm not sure about other Coaches, but her Schoenbar Coach was VERY understanding about players finishing their soccer seasons before coming to basketball. It wasn't held against them in any way. We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in a Community with so many choices for athletes. There must be a concern with Coachs/sports colliding with each other, but leave HoopMania out of it - that's apples and oranges, as HM is 100% voluntary, and not discriminatory of anyone whatsoever. Morgan Effenberger
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