Thinking of quitting my high school basketball team, should I do it?

I doubt it's personal, and I doubt it has anything to do with the coach's son. That's the kind of excuses losers make when they're not very good and don't want to admit it.

With that said, if you have no reasonable pathway to playing time and it's not getting you chicks, maybe it's track time.

I don’t think so. If you are crappy player you aren’t scoring 14 points in any game all season.

OP, just quit. Your coach sucks, your team sucks. Start your base mileage.

I wouldn't be surprised if its personal. Wait until Friday and reassess with your parents. I hate the idea of quitting and believe you honor your commitment and finish the season. I always encouraged kids to do so even if it meant they started track at a later date.

But if you and your folks believe that the coach isn't doing the same and that the team is toxic than by all means don't feel guilty about quitting.

Don’t quit on your teammates. I don’t care how bad it sucks that you’re not playing, but you shouldn’t quit in the middle of the season. Stick it out, support your teammates, and play your nuts off when you do get a chance.

JBaller33 wrote:

Don’t quit on your teammates. I don’t care how bad it sucks that you’re not playing, but you shouldn’t quit in the middle of the season. Stick it out, support your teammates, and play your nuts off when you do get a chance.

Thanks for this. I'll do my best. I'm just worried about Friday. Thanks.

I would stick it out for the game on Friday.

If he puts in the JV players in who have had less than a week of practice in over you, there is your answer. I would then go find the coach prior to practice the next Monday and tell him you are done and explain why.

This says two things. 1) that you can face this coach like a man and tell him why this is no longer worth the effort. It always shows accountability and courage to do what is right.

And 2) it may or may not prove a point within the schools athletic department that the coach has completely lost control of his team. I would not be surprised to see other players quit. Moving two inexperienced players from the JV team onto the varsity roster is not going to yield any more wins. If these JV players were so good in the beginning, they would’ve been on the varsity roster when the season started.

All this does is cause dissension within the team.

BB24, I hope you're able to hang in there and finish out the season. Good luck.

I always told my athletes that if you feel I as a coach and the team is not serving you as equal or greater than you are contributing, I would like to talk about it with you to try and make things right. Expectations need to be clearly communicated. If someone needed to leave the team, let's shake hands and stay friends. If this coach cannot communicate with you when you talk to him man to man....I would tell my son you owe him nothing and just leave. He owes you that. There are to many people coaching who should not be and this guy clearly is one of them and more often than not athletes end disliking the sport they love. But this guy clearly has an agenda.

If they move two JV players up to the Varsity, don't they have to move two Varsity players down to the JV? Or do you have a couple of open spots on the Varsity?

VarsityBB24 wrote:

JBaller33 wrote:

Don’t quit on your teammates. I don’t care how bad it sucks that you’re not playing, but you shouldn’t quit in the middle of the season. Stick it out, support your teammates, and play your nuts off when you do get a chance.

Thanks for this. I'll do my best. I'm just worried about Friday. Thanks.

Why do you care about staying around for teammates that you say are aholes on drugs? Doesn't sound like they care much about you or the team. The coach seems to have written off this season and is getting some JV guys experience for next year (when you won't be around). Not much reason for you to hold on here.

Moving between teams wrote:

If they move two JV players up to the Varsity, don't they have to move two Varsity players down to the JV? Or do you have a couple of open spots on the Varsity?

We started the year with 12 players. One quit because he wasn't getting to play, the other quit because he broke his arm and couldn't play anyways. He also got bullied by one guy on our team, so it was some incentive for him to leave.

We are now at 11 players because he moved his son up but we can take up to 15.

are you any good at running? do you enjoy it as much or more than basketball? if so, i would quit. all these people saying it's dishonorable to quit things, blah blah blah are just posturing. everybody quits at one time or another. i have quit many things in my life and i am doing just fine.

If you have a future in running and are unable to train properly outside of basketball practice you should quit.

If this season is the difference between a partial and full scholarship you should quit.

If you are historically a quitter or mentally weak you should not quit. This attitude will permeate your life, and running away will not help you overcome it.

My advice: keep sitting on the bench. Get out and run THE MOMENT you get home from practice or game, no matter how late. Don't sit down or eat or you won't make it out the door. Spend every moment of the run thinking about how unfair your life is and how much basketball sucks. How, come track you're going to make everyone pay for everything.

Run mileage and tempos and leave the speedwork alone, as you are getting enough at bball practice.

I used to coach basketball, XC and track. Here are my thoughts.

Your coach is terrible. It's frankly disrespectful and insulting to put any player in the game for 10 seconds. I would never do that to a senior.

You might be too inconsistent as a player. One game you're great and the next game you don't produce. However, if your coach is playing you a ton one game and then not at all the next game, that's not helping you or him.

Your coach is selfish. Seems to me like he only cares how his son does. Being that your team isn't any good, it seems like moving his son up hasn't yielded any wins like he hoped.

You coach is planning for the future. He's done with your team and grooming the next team around his son.

This is why your team is terrible. I coached freshmen basketball for 3 years and I refused to play players who clearly had behavior issues. I don't care how good they are. When parents would come to me angrily and ask why I didn't play their son I'd tell them that need to work on their attitude and frankly, grow up. You'd be suprised how focused these kids would become almost immediately and become contributors. Your coach clearly never got this memo and is completely to blame for your team running amok. He has no control of your team. I'd rather coach a 4-16 team that got along and worked hard than a 13-7 team composed of jerks.

You are in a tough spot. I'd lean towards staying and using your practices to stay in shape for track. How many games are left? Your team will likely be eliminated immediately in post-season play anyways so just be patient for track and get ready for that.

JBaller33 wrote:

Don’t quit on your teammates. I don’t care how bad it sucks that you’re not playing, but you shouldn’t quit in the middle of the season. Stick it out, support your teammates, and play your nuts off when you do get a chance.

This is the right answer. You have, what, one month left? You will regret quitting.

Update us on Saturday. I’m curious to see what happens.

What does your father say? You can always ask your mom to call the coach and see why you haven't been getting playtime.

You can also play the race card depending on your race.

Alternatively you can switch to the girls team and dominate, maybe help the girls get into the playoffs and win a state championship? It could go viral and you will be a hero to 10% of the population, maybe get on Oprah?

I want to update this post.

I did, in fact, quit my basketball team last night and I did so at halftime of the game. I had a discussion with my parents about it prior to the game and they said they would stand by whatever I wanted to do. Two teammates texted me this week and they were also pretty fed up, but weren't so sure what they wanted to do.

In the middle of the first quarter, they played two sophomores over me and a few of my senior teammates. We were playing a good team and were getting blown out pretty good, 15-4 in the first quarter, and then 33-13 at the half. The final score ended being 72-40.

When they put a sophomore in at my position, I made my decision. This sophomore had little effect on the game and did not score any points. He also only practiced with the team for three days and barely knew any of the plays.

When the halftime buzzer sounded off, I went to the showers, got dressed, and I went home with my parents. No coaches or teammates said anything to me. My parents brought me to a sandwich shop on my way home, and in comes another teammate of mine who also quit moments after I did.

This morning we got a call from the athletic director and he wanted to know what happened. He has scheduled a meeting on Monday after school with my father and I.

Thanks for all of responses. I know not everyone agrees with my decision, but I feel like something had to be done. I'm very excited about track and ready to move on.

Finish out the year you well into the season. Don’t let people/things make you quit. Your going to have get used to this type stuff in the real world. Finish out the season and put all this behind you.