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Reality Check

July 7, 2015

The organization I worked for immediately prior to this 29-year run with the MHSAA utilized “harnessed hero worship” as its principal strategy for evangelism. It was generally effective; but because of human frailties, some of the heroes would disappoint us and disrupt the important work.

This experience and others over the years have caused me to, at most, only feign excitement when someone suggests we get this or that “Big Name” to keynote a conference or endorse an initiative. I prefer substance over style, and staying power over shooting stars.

All of this likely made me susceptible to shouting “Right On” when I read the May 14, 2015 blog post of Matt Amaral, a teacher in California. The title: “Dear Steph Curry, Now That You Are MVP, Please Don’t Come Visit My High School.”

Regarding celebrity worship, Mr. Amaral writes that we need less of it.

“Coming to poor high schools like mine isn’t going to help any of these kids out; in fact, it might make things worse.”

Amaral explains that unlike Curry (who is an example and not a target), the students he teaches are not genetic giants and do not have the resources and support that separate the less than one percent from the rest of us. “What you won’t see,” Amaral writes in his “open letter” to Curry, “is the fact that most of these kids don’t have a back-up plan for their dream of being you.”

“They are already very good at dreaming about being rich and famous; what we need them to do is get a little more realistic about what is in their control. We need less of an emphasis on sports and celebrity in high school, because it is hurting these kids too much as it is.”

(You can find more of Mr. Amaral’s provocative thoughts at teach4real.com.)

Glue and Grace

October 9, 2012

Recent events, obvious to you, caused me to return to an article the MHSAA published in August of 1999.  Here it is again:

Three days after the tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a retired athletic administrator whom I respect greatly and listened to intently, called me to say this: 

“You have an opportunity to speak to student-athletes in this state and across the country.  Talk to them about Littleton.”

This administrator wanted me to convey to athletes that they were not a part of the many and complex causes of the Columbine carnage, but they play a small part of the solution to help assure such craziness doesn’t occur closer to home.

The administrator was referencing some of the media reports that suggested the youthful killers took offense to the “jocks.”  Valid or not, these suggestions provide another wake-up call for those who claim that school-sponsored sports are healthy for the participants, school and community.

As a result, part of my conversations with student-athletes this year and the heart of my message to team captains in 1999-00, will be this:

    • Break down the walls, real or perceived, between the athletes of your schools and other students.  Avoid cliques limited to team members or even athletes in general.
    • When you walk the school halls and shopping malls, greet fellow students warmly, regardless of their involvement in school sports or other activities.  Let them know that you know they exist.
    • Become more sensitive to the needs of others, especially those who are different than you.  Appreciate that while you may be more gifted in some things, other students are more gifted in other things.  Show a genuine interest in those things. 
    • Understand that you are not the center of the universe.  Accept that it is your role to serve others, and not the other way around.
    • Don’t condescend, but concentrate on the rich worth of other people.  Seek them out.  Involve them.  Enter into their worlds and invite them into yours until such time as it is difficult to recognize different worlds in your school and community.

I believe this goal for the interscholastic athletic program, embraced by every administrator, participant and parent, would help us:  That  every participant be involved in academic and non-academic matters, athletic and non-athletic activities, be a star in one thing and a substitute in another, be on stage and backstage, in solo and ensemble, experiencing both winning and losing.

A student involved in such an experience as this could not help but provide glue and grace to a student body.

No student-athlete anywhere is remotely responsible for the massacre in Littleton, Colorado.  But student-athletes everywhere have an opportunity to be a small part of an environment that assures such a tragedy is not repeated where they live, study and play.  Talk to them.