A couple of things about Shasta's article (once again, she's really a find!)
I copied 2 paragraphs, and wanted to share a couple of things with you (I
don't know how or if you want to use them) - however there was one
glaring (in my view) bad piece of advice that you might want to at least
provide another point of view on.
Make sure she watches the team play. Pay attention to who the coach plays
--upperclassmen or best players. I would suggest watching the "style" of
play- do you think you'll fit in? do you want to? where do you see yourself
playing? does the coach play 11 players "to exhaustion" or are other
players worked into the match so they can develop? do you want to play
for a coach who would start a bunch of freshman after you started for a
couple of years (or would you be upset if you felt a "better" player wasn't
playing and you're willing to take a chance)?
Ask the coach how the team is going to do over the next four years. Who is
he losing? What position does he want her to play? Who else in that
position will she have to beat out for playing time -- senior or freshman?
I would encourage you to find out how the coach approaches playing time -
does the coach feel you need to "beat someone out" to play (or is there an
emphasis on including people in a rotation)?
Try to get the coach to commit to amount of playing time she'll get. This
is NOT good advice. A "commitment" on playing time should be a BIG
danger sign: NO competent coach will do this without seeing you in action
with her (his) team. Any coach who "promises" you a starting position or a
lot of playing time is "promising" the same thing to 50 other people (at
least) - I would suggest getting as much distance as possible between
yourself and ANY coach who would "commit" on playing time prior to
seeing you play on theirteam. We were told she would play a lot and
probably start. Neitherhappened. He's a foreigner and played all the foreign
students -- even if they sucked -- which totally surprised us Any time
money is involved you need to understand that the general trend is the
people getting the most "athletic" money are going to play. That's who the
COACH committed to financially - not just promises - and she will look
bad (to administrators) if she is paying a lot of money to kids who sit on
the bench (so a player getting more academic money, or not brought in
specifically for soccer from overseas, whatever, may be at a
disadvantage).
Dave Morris
UW-Stout Soccer - Go Blue!
Gender
Equity in Indiana
By Tom Scott
I am the head girls'
varsity soccer coach here at Plymouth High School in northern Indiana,
just 25 miles from Notre Dame, which has a pretty darn good women's
soccer program of its own.
I can't speak
for all of Indiana but I am pretty impressed with the administration
here at Plymouth. We recently had a small public recognition ceremony,
at halftime of a boys' basketball game. All teams and individuals that
had won sectional titles or conference titles so far this year were
honored. There were two individual wrestlers (male, of course), the
girls' basketball team, girls' swim team, and girls' soccer team. We
have the same budget and the same or equal facilities as the boys. I
have only been here two years, and I have a feeling that things weren't
always so rosy, but my own experience has been good.
If there is a
problem it is the discrepancy between the "major" sports (boys basketball,
football, baseball) and the "minor" sports, which are everything else.
But the fact is that the major sports make the money. We still have
to sell our product to the community, so we can draw more than the parents
and boy friends. But that's not the schools fault.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
