Tim Taylor wrote:
Who are you (and a few other posters) refering to when you state: sense of entitlement generation, the father or the son? The kid may feel he deserves something, but most kids from whatever generation probably feel that way, that's adolesence. The dad is the entitled one in this whole screenplay, if he just sets the kid straight and not go off his rocker and sue, then this mess goes away. But apparently that's his MO, at least the article made it sound that way.
You raise a good point in that the parents are messed up also.
It really is both generations at fault for the way things are now. But you can change that with your team. It's not easy and it takes some patience. I can't stand the Freshman that come in. They have a chip on their shoulders. After a couple of years they get used to what is expected of them and many of them turn into good dedicated athletes.
As a coach I can tell you things are WAY different from when I was an athlete. For years I had nightmares (literally) of forgetting my clothes for practice. You would have been thrown off my team for missing practice.
The parents are hard to deal with sometimes. Not all of them, but some of them back up the kids. They tell me that life gets in the way.
There are a lot of kids taking on too many things and doing none of them well.
What it comes down to with our team is that if you put the time in and work hard you get rewarded. We take out of state trips. The kids that go to practice and work hard go on the trips. It's as simple as that.
I skipped out on Penn Relays this year even though I had a group qualified to go. They burnt themselves. The desired effect was them investing their efforts for the rest of the season. It worked and hopefully I can take a crew there next year. It's a constant battle.