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The email responses I received Wednesday were actually very interesting in regards to coaches and schedules. It was amazing to see some of the stories, and then to see some of the responses from coaches who say they'll play anyone. Some of the stuff surprised me, while other information I've heard numerous times before. Past and present parents also had some insight, too.
What I thought was most interesting is that no one wanted to post their responses. I respect their wishes, but I think it shows what I'm talking about a little.
Nevertheless, I'm walking into a fire storm with this next issue, but I think this is really interesting and something that has changed a lot over the past decade.
Let's start easy: Should teams play on religious holidays?
Then I want you to ask yourself: At the end of the day, do the kids, who the sports are there for, really care if they play on a religious holiday or is this just another case of adults being too involved?
And finally is this a correct or incorrect statement: Jewish holidays have become more important than Catholic holidays when it comes to whether sports are played or not played?
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Joe,
As a coach and someone who is in a religiously mixed marriage (my wife is Jewish, I am Christian), this issue does come up during both they boys' and girls' seasons. I think that there is only an APPEARANCE that Jewish holidays tend to be more important than Christian ones. This stems from the fact of when the holidays fall. Many important Christian holidays fall on a Sunday (e.g. Easter) or they are given the day off from practices and games (e.g. Christmas). Good Friday is one of the few exceptions. However, due to the differences in the Jewish calendar, major holidays tend to fall during the middle of the week. I would never require a Christian player to play on Easter or Christmas, just like I would never require a Jewish player to play on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. However, there can be some water in the wine. For holidays which are celebrated over a week, like Passover and Chanukah, I feel it is reasonable for a player to play in a game and celebrate the holiday on a different night. By the same token, we would expect our players to be at a game on Ash Wednesday (I know it’s not during spring season, just making a point) or Good Friday. We do allow players to leave practice early when celebrating a holiday with their family.
With regards to your question about whether the kids care if they play on a religious holiday, the issue is much bigger than that. A religious holiday may be important to their parents and can serve as a time for families to come together in celebration (which many people feel does not happen enough). We ask our players to put the following issues in this priority:
1. Family
2. School
3. Soccer
4. Everything else
Just like there are kids that don’t care whether or not they play on a religious holiday, there are kids who don’t care if they miss practices or games to go on spring break (our program expects players to sacrifice their spring break to play soccer). The correlation here is that the expectations for behavior are not determined by what the player wants, but by adults, their parents and coaches, respectively. Remember, these are not just some random adults (e.g. executives in the Bloomington Ivy Tower) that are having players miss practices and/or games due to religious reasons. These are the most important people in their lives that influence and make these decisions – their parents. A balance can most certainly be achieved – and most often times is.
Joe - Since girls' high school soccer is a Spring sport in Illinois (another topic) I assume you are talking about Easter (a Christian holiday not just a Catholic holiday) and Passover. Since Easter is always a Sunday and few high school games are scheduled on Sundays anyway, it may seem like scheduling around Passover is a bigger problem, but otherwise I would not call Jewish holidays "more important" (read more of a problem for scheduling)than Christian holidays. I realize there is also Greek Easter but that is also always on Sunday (I believe). In my opinion religious holidays are "more important" than soccer games and don't think the relative importance is up to the individual players'families. Of course, not all families are religious and for some, it sometimes seems that high school sports are a religion. Too bad people do not want to publish their opinions, especially coaches. Whatever happened to your promise to publish the names of coaches who do not post scores?
Names will be listed in Ckicks each week. I will say there have been more coaches calling in this week. But one thing I notice and have always had a problem with is coaches who don't call when they are on the road or if they lose. Even if you lose, you can still highlight a player. Someone played good. A number of coaches miss this opportunity all the time, and it's amazing.
I can see a coach call if a player had a great game or thought the other coach was someone who does not call in scores. However, it's always been the practice that the winning coach calls in the score. No point to call twice.
That was the practice in the south suburbs before I arrived and then it changed. Ask any coach in the south suburbs. Every coach needs to call in - it's takes two seconds. The winning coach doesn't always call in, and the winning coach doesn't give stats or record for the opposing team. That's not his job. If a coach is to busy to call, I'm sure a player/team manager or parent would be happy to do it. People like to see who scored for the losing team. It's not all about winning, it's about giving players some pub.