Well I got totally reamed out yesterday - chewed up and spit out and stomped upon. I'm still picking pieces of myself up off the ground. I am not Q's baseball coach's favorite person anymore. Actually, he kind of despises me.
First, we are talking REC LEAGUE here. Little League. Fun league. (This is all kind of funny since I just posted about how great I felt about my kids' sports leagues recently).
Q's team, the Cardinals, currently have a 11-1 record. The other team anywhere close to them is the Braves (8-1, with 3 games left to play before next Wednesday). It's probable that next Wednesday, the two teams with the top record will play for the regular season "title." (again, this is Little League).
Next Wednesday is also Q's end of year band concert. He's 1st chair clarinet and keyboardist in the jazz band. I had the pleasure of telling Coach that Q would not be at the game on Wednesday. (by the way, he's not missed a single game or practice this entire season).
I figured coach would be disappointed. I did not figure that he would turn red, start talking about how the season is now ruined and how he's ready to retire. Apparently, Q is the key player for the entire team (c'mon. He's good this year but doesn't stand out from the other top players!). I was asked several times why I thought Q should attend his band concert rather than support his baseball team. I was asked if my husband agreed with me. I had to walk away and hide for a while and call my mommy and my neighbor for some moral support.
He's had 12 games so far this season, and the one next Wednesday will be the 13th. After that, his team will qualify for the playoffs. We won't be missing any playoff games, by the way. He has had one Christmas band concert, one spring band contest, and this one spring concert. That's three performances for a full year. Band is a class he's taking at school. He is graded on it.
Holy Moly.
I went up to the Coach's wife later in the evening and told her I really did feel bad about it. Her response was "you should."
I fully took the heat. In NO WAY would it be acceptable for Q to feel any kind of responsibility here. I TOLD him he was going to the concert, and did not give him a choice (he was obviously relieved not to have that decision on his shoulders.) I told Coach that Q would rather be playing ball but that I was making him do the concert (I don't want Coach to say ANYTHING to Q to make him feel guilty). I will be the heat shield protecting my son here. But yowza. Part of me is happy that Q is so talented and important in so many things. But I'm wondering if this is just a little taste of things to come in the future. Q has already told me he's trying out for the school's baseball team next year. He loves baseball. Don't know if he'll be able to keep up both band and sports. He'll have to make some hard choices, and at some point I won't be able to do it for him.
Well, for problems to have, it's not a bad one.
7 comments:
Um, that coach needs a reality check. Really. But to pick a nit, isn't Little League NOT rec? We have Little Leagure here for serious more competitive play, and we have rec leagues for more relaxed play. That being said, boys do miss their Little League games from time to time and somehow the coaches get over it:-). Good for you Mama bear for taking the heat for your cub! And pttbhhh to that coach for losing it.--LT
Good gracious. How totally and completely inappropriate! Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I have to say, our local baseball league checks the school schedule and there are no baseball games scheduled on the day of the spring concert (which is tomorrow).
Good for you standing your ground.
ummmmmm.. down here, they don't have games or practice during the week of spring break and for TAKS testing. I'm with you on this one, J and Lynne, you're so right. I think that they should be smart enough to check schedules for school as well. What would they have done if it was rained out? Maybe someone should do like they did in Bull Durham. LOL.. natural disasters happen all the time. :)
trouble.
Holy cow, I thought everyone knew that band is more important than sports. LOL. Seriously, that is wacky. Twelve games plus playoffs versus 3 band concerts, which is a school subject. Get a grip, coach.
Mare, you made my day! What more could we expect from you! Love, Ma
Lynne - I didn't know little league wasn't rec.
In the league's defense - they can't schedule to avoid school conflicts. Impossible. It's a 11-12 year old league which means they pull kids from 9 elementary schools and 3 middle schools. There's going to be a conflict on any given day.
Ends up we're going to try for Q to make both. His concert is a 7:00, about 5 miles from the ball field. Game starts at 7:30 but he can come in late as long as they haven't gone through the batting order. He'll play his concert then change into his uniform in the van as I race to the field. He won't get to play with the jazz band but there are 2 keyboardists there and the other one is more than happy to be able to play all 3 songs.
I know we can't make everyone happy but we can try...
I agree with your decision. Band is in effect a "team," too. The good news is that if he goes out for a school team I think they would do a better job of avoiding these types of conflicts.
E. had this problem with AAU volleyball state tournament conflicting with solo contest. Her solution was not to take anything to contest, which hurt my little band nerd heart, but it was her decision to make and I tried to keep a stiff upper lip and not stew about it too much.
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