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Post by Sasquatch on May 6, 2017 19:42:06 GMT -5
I signed John up for his school's NASP team this year, and maybe I didn't know what to expect--but I am thoroughly disappointed. Organization: We often never knew if there was going to be a practice or not until shortly before time. I was on the "text list" but only received one text--after John's season was over. I suppose I could live with this kind of stuff but it was frustrating. Training: There seemed to be almost no instruction for most of the kids. I heard him mention "stance" once or twice, but nothing addressed to the group about form or technique. During practice he would sometimes talk to the better shooters. Mentoring: John did not practice enough and his accuracy suffered accordingly. I of course explained cause and effect in this regard to him. Still, he did attend practice. After the third practice or so, I noticed something. After the kids would shoot the coach would have the kids stand by the targets, ostensibly to inspect their shooting. The thing is, He only talked to the better shooters and largely ignored the other kids, regardless of age or effort. One week after a particularly flaccid effort, I made John practice through the week, and his groups tightened by probably 40%. He was really pleased at this accomplishment, and he kept doing better at the next practice. There he stood by his target, waiting for his tighter group to be noticed, and the coach completely ignored him and talked to the other, older shooter on the same target. Didn't say one word to him. I felt terrible. Here we fill kids heads with all this bull  about it's the effort that counts, and that the coach will be glad that you are working hard, it's about the experience, etc. The coach just proved how hollow those platitudes are. Courtesy: John shot in one final tournament and we were told we would hear the scores at the next practice. John did a lot better so I was curious. Later that week, my wife noticed a FB post to the effect that "shooters not attending the Nationals do not need to come to practice." ( again, no text ) That's his way of saying goodbye. I texted HIM for clarification, and asked about the scores. He didn't bother with writing down anything but the top scores. He also said "season was done for those not going to nationals." ( not so much an issue with that concept as with the execution) My hats off to most coaches; they give of their time and show patience that I never could. I couldn't do it so I really tried to not dislike this guy. I didn't want to be like those "little league parents." I kind of expected this of other sports but I thought NASP was supposed to be inclusive, encouraging, not all about performance. Now I discover it's just like jock sports? Hopefully this is an exception? What do you think? Am I being overly critical? I just sat and kept my mouth respectfully shut, figuring I wasn't doing it so I should stay quiet. Perhaps that was an error? What do you think? |
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Post by Woody Williams on May 6, 2017 19:51:14 GMT -5
Sounds like "win at all costs" coach.. I'm pretty sure most aren't like that.
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Post by nfalls116 on May 6, 2017 19:56:21 GMT -5
Sounds like the lesson is if you try hard CONSISTENTLY you will be noticed.
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Post by Sasquatch on May 6, 2017 20:07:53 GMT -5
Sounds like the lesson is if you try hard CONSISTENTLY you will be noticed. That's one way to look at it. ( As I said, I told John to practice) Remember though, Coach ignored ALL the lesser shooters. Some of them had never touched a bow before and could only shoot at practice. Little kids. It's not that they weren't trying. That's a hell of a way to treat beginners. If the little three foot girl that I watched struggle to get better every practice isn't trying hard enough, something's wrong. And what of the lack of instruction and rude behavior? If that's the lesson, I don't want my kid learning it. |
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Post by nfalls116 on May 6, 2017 20:13:30 GMT -5
Well maybe they need an assistant coach?
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Post by Sasquatch on May 6, 2017 20:33:42 GMT -5
Well maybe they need an assistant coach? They have one; not sure what he does. I see where you are going; this is why I stayed silent. One part of me said, "Yikes, what a jerk!" The other part said, "Shut up, you're not doing it." |
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Post by Sasquatch on May 6, 2017 20:37:01 GMT -5
Sounds like "win at all costs" coach.. I'm pretty sure most aren't like that. My wife said the same thing. She said that the impression she got was that the whole thing was a fundraiser to get his chosen few back to nationals. I initially balked; I couldn't wrap my head around a coach ( at least, a NASP coach) being that low-brow. It just seemed unlikely. But I think she was right. One of my friends coaches another school and she couldn't be more different. I guess that is what I expected. |
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Post by GS1 on May 6, 2017 20:42:38 GMT -5
Seems like it is like this a lot of times when coaching kids. I see it in baseball all the time. The better hitter and fields get more swings and more fielding opportunities. The other kids that need the extra chances suffer.
I get involved when I can which isn't very often after working 60-72 hours a week, but you can instantly see kids try harder when you give them some attention and build their confidence.
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Post by nfalls116 on May 6, 2017 20:46:44 GMT -5
Well maybe they need an assistant coach? They have one; not sure what he does. I see where you are going; this is why I stayed silent. One part of me said, "Yikes, what a jerk!" The other part said, "Shut up, you're not doing it." Yeah I mean inaction solves very little maybe you should bring up your concern or even say "hey i noticed that you aren't paying much Attention to my boy is there anything I can do at home to help improve his chances"? It just seems a lot of times if issues aren't brought to Attention the person may not know it's an issue. |
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Post by firstwd on May 6, 2017 21:15:36 GMT -5
From what I see your disappointment is misplaced, but I completely understand the confusion. You are disappointed with the coach and the experience he provided to the kids. You feel you're disappointed with the NASP program because that is where the interaction with that coach came.
I can promise you the NASP program is not designed to be or tolerant of that way.
I would encourage you to relay this experience to people above the coach, and my suggestion would be the Indiana State NASP Coordinator.
Tim Beck
Coordinator
Indiana NASP
Law Enforcement Division
P.O. Box 917
Jasper, IN 47547
317.694.7531
tbeck@dnr.in.gov
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Post by (Not Ronald) Reagan on May 7, 2017 9:54:40 GMT -5
That's extremely frustrating, but at the same time it's a major trade off with any youth team when there's only one coach, especially if he himself doesn't know much. My SCTP runs similarly, but out coaches let us older guys go off with one of the lesser assistant coaches. But courtesy and communication is really bad, if you don't want to do the work or effort why do it.
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Post by stevein on May 7, 2017 10:52:44 GMT -5
Welcome to the world of youth sports.
Anytime you have volunteer coaches you can have this problem. The worst are the ones where their kids lack any ability and are playing the sport because Coach did as a kid. Then there are the coaches that have a talent to teach and would rather develop their teams talent at the cost of "winning". It is a real crapshoot what you get.
The real question is did John have fun? Does he want to do it again? If he does want to go back does he want to step up the practice and commitment?
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Post by duff on May 7, 2017 11:18:58 GMT -5
Well maybe they need an assistant coach? They have one; not sure what he does. I see where you are going; this is why I stayed silent. One part of me said, "Yikes, what a jerk!" The other part said, "Shut up, you're not doing it." I have same issue with my girl's rec league softball coach. It is very hard to sit back and watch a grown man make terrible choices on how to coach young girls but I can't ignore that I couldn't devote the time or energy he does. I tell my daughter to play hard, be the best team mate she can ben have fun and work to be better for next year. Life is not always fair. |
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Post by parrothead on May 8, 2017 5:32:10 GMT -5
Kids sports has gotten out of control. Girl here at school pays 2900.00 per year for her daughter to do this cheerleading stuff. Girl is in Kindergarten that doesn't include all the expenses to travel for food and lodging. All these other ladies have kids doing travel baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball. Every weekend they have to travel somewhere. It has yet to pay off at least for our high school. They haven't won even a sectional in those sports in many years. Don't get me wrong its better than those kids setting in front of the TV. My parents could not of afford that when I was a kid. I feel sorry for the kids that parents cant pull this off.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on May 8, 2017 6:55:21 GMT -5
Yes, all these specialty team sports that are not affiliated with the schools are getting ridiculous. Some of these kids play their sport year round and it costs big money to participate. Traveling teams to over night sports play that takes up the whole weekend.
The kids who are in it to "have fun" are losing every game and it becomes no fun. Who wants to play when you never win a game?
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2017 8:35:29 GMT -5
I used to coach select soccer teams (9-14 years old) and every year the head of the club would yell at me because I refused to run up the score. In our main tournament I had a 5-0 lead at half time and I played 2nd/3rd line for the 2nd half. We still won by 5-3 and the tournament. I heard it from head to toe this is our tournament and you should have buried them to the ground. Over the twenty years they never figured it out.
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Post by Woody Williams on May 8, 2017 11:35:01 GMT -5
From what I see your disappointment is misplaced, but I completely understand the confusion. You are disappointed with the coach and the experience he provided to the kids. You feel you're disappointed with the NASP program because that is where the interaction with that coach came. I can promise you the NASP program is not designed to be or tolerant of that way. I would encourage you to relay this experience to people above the coach, and my suggestion would be the Indiana State NASP Coordinator. Tim Beck Coordinator Indiana NASP Law Enforcement Division P.O. Box 917 Jasper, IN 47547 317.694.7531 tbeck@dnr.in.gov I talked to our local NASP coach and he echoed what Rob posted... |
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ACUSA
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Post by ACUSA on May 8, 2017 12:15:31 GMT -5
I agree, you need to relay that to Tim Beck. NASP is the starting point of so many kids first experience with a bow. It has to be a positive atmosphere for the new archers to prosper around other youth that have a year or 2 under their belt. With that said, there are many archery coaches across the state that give private lessons. I, for one, offer tune up and problem solving for NASP archers needing that extra help that a volunteer coach with 20+ kids doesn't have the time for. I battled with our local nasp coach over what I do and my easiest explanation is: all kids want to play, others want to be the best. Depending on the stage, a ball players looks outside of the team coaching staff for agility, batting and pitching help. I strongly recommend this , especially if the coach can not offer the help to move up to the next level of the game.
I hope this makes sense...
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Post by Sasquatch on May 10, 2017 15:40:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies. I could live with a little disorganization, and certainly with winnowing the team down for big shoots, but I would think the ultimate goal would be the successful introduction of youth to archery with competition being a secondary consideration. I don't go for the "everyone gets a trophy" stuff, but I would think that you'd say to the kids, "Thanks for being part of the team." I had to contact the coach and verify that we were done. I wonder how many kids showed up to practice and were embarrassed to discover they weren't on the team any more.
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