TALKING ABOUT THE ART AND SCIENCE OF RUNNING WITH COACH JOEL PASTERNACK
Yesterday was, of course, the running of the NYC Marathon, which is always a big day for the 50,000 runners who ran 26.2 miles throughout the five boroughs.
And as has become a welcome tradition on the Sports Edge, on Marathon Sunday, I like to talk about the joy and benefits of running – not just for kids who find their way to running -- but of course, for sports parents and coaches and, quite frankly, for all of us, no matter our age, who have embraced running as a life-long passion.
For the last 11 years, I’ve asked highly-respected running coach Joel Pasternack to come on the show to talk about the art and science of running. He is a veritable fount of inside information about running.
Just a little background on Joel: at age 72, he’s now in his 57th year of running. It all started as a sophomore in 1965 on the Clifton NJ High School cross country team.
By keeping a notepad right from the beginning of his career, and keeping track of his runs, Joel -- as of this week -- has accumulated 130,900 miles over the years – and he has done so through 6 right knee surgeries, including a full knee replacement six years ago.
Let me put that mileage number into perspective: Bear in mind that it’s about 25,000 miles around the earth. So, in effect, Joel has run the equivalent of running around the globe more than 5 times in his lifetime. That’s pretty impressive.
Joel has finished 16 marathons with his best of 2:25.03 in 1974 at the Boston Marathon placing 28th. In 1973, he placed second to two-time NYC Marathon winner Tom Fleming running 2:25.08.
On today’s show, I asked Joel a variety of questions, ranging from running in warm temperatures to how to find the best running shoes, to how long they last, to even how important it is to tie your laces properly.
Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
TEACHING YOUR ATHLETES ABOUT THE BLESSING OF ADVERSITY
On this AM’s show, I tried to tackle one of the biggest concerns when it comes to encouraging and teaching your kids when it comes to sports — and quite frankly, in helping them to prepare for life’s hurdles and obstacles as well.
I’m talking about the Blessing of Adversity.
That’s right. I refer to it as a blessing. That’s because while adversity often presents itself as a setback, or as a serious downturn, the truth is – in the long run, if your son or daughter –AND YOU – are prepared to know how to deal with inevitable disappointment in sports, then adversity can be used to make your athlete into even better and stronger person than ever before.
That’s the silver lining, of course, and while this might sound a bit Pollyannish, it really isn’t.
Learning from adversity is something that ALL youngsters have to educated about. They need to know the VALUE of learning from defeat or disappointment, and how THEY need to decide whether the next step is important to them, and what that means.
I fully understand that this process of dealing with adversity is difficult not just for the youngster – but for their parents as well. It takes time, patience, and you have to walk a fine line here.
But this is important stuff. It goes beyond “the thill of victory and the agony of defeat.” It’s about preparing your kid for the ups-and-downs of life. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
A CANDID LOOK AT THE LONG-RANGE IMPACT OF NIL IN AMATEUR SPORTS
We all know that the landscape of strict traditional rules regarding amateur athletes receiving compensation for their outside ventures has been turned upside down in just the last couple of years. That’s not news.
But the real question is as our college (and high school) athletes become more accustomed to potentially large paydays when it comes to their amateur sports careers, the long-term impact of NIL is still being sorted out. That’s why I asked Noah Savage of ESPN to come on the Sports Edge this morning to talk about what he’s seeing in terms of new NIL trends that perhaps sports parents and college coaches may not be aware of.
That includes the staggering amounts of money some college athletes are now gettng paid from outside sponsors, as well as how the bidding wars among colleges have begun in order to attract top recruits. Plus there’s the transfer portal which is also very much part of the NIL recruiting sweepstakes. And there are worries about college athletes who may be tempted to begin to gamble on their games.
Noah does a great job in outlining all of these issues, and provides real insight into what will happen next. It’s a real “must listen.” Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
A QUICK CLINIC ON SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY AND YOUNG ATHLETES
I felt the time had come to do a long-overdue clinic about sports psychology and how to introduce it to youngsters this morning on my show. I worry that too few parents and even coaches are aware of how important this subject is to developing athletes.
The truth is, as kids begin to grow into their sports, they will inevitably confront frustration, disappointment, and even self-doubt as they discover that, no matter what sports they play, they all involve both winning and losing. The key is in trying to explain to kids that while winning is great, they can and should learn a lot more from when they lose. That is, losing exposes parts of an athlete’s talents that need to be worked on and developed more.
No, it’s not easy to teach this to a youngster. And honestly, you will probably have to wait until the athlete is at least 10 or 12 or older before your message begins to sink in. But it’s a vitally important message about sports, and it’s the first step in introducing your athlete to sports psychology.
The calls today were tremendous. Great insights on a very complex topic For example, what’s the right age to introduce your kid to the mental side of sports? How do you even explain the mental side of sports to them? And how do you let them know what to expect from this kind of unusual training?
If you have ever heard about sports psychology, but weren’t sure of what it encompasses, take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
WHY DOES HAZING STILL EXIST?
The sad truth is, the act of hazing has become a very sad American tradition. And the question has to be asked: why in the world can’t we as sports parents, educators, administrators, and coaches can’t seem to put an end to this God-awful problem?
To be honest, I can’t even recall how many times on this show over the years we have talked about the devastating impact of hazing and how our kids can’t seem to break the cycle – even though we remind them over and over again that hazing is a serious and at times, fatal, rite of passage that is not only totally unnecessary but routinely cruel and psychologically devastating to the victim.
In short….hazing ruins lives…it deliberately injures people….it sometimes kills innocent young people who made the mistake of trusting one’s peers. There is no meaningful or rational explanation for hazing to still exist, and yet it continues to happen everywhere in this country.
In short, the time has finally come to say, enough is enough.
There’s a new documentary called HAZING that really cuts right to the issue. It’s written and produced by Byron Hurt, an award-winning documentary film maker, who is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University. HAZING is currently airing on PBS, and trust me, it’s powerful. Just go to PBS.org online and find the documentary there.
I heard about the docimentary from my long-time colleague and attorney Steve Kallas, and knowing how moved he was about the film, I asked him to come on my show to talk about this perplexing topic. Many of the case studies focus on hazing in fraternities and sororities, but as Steve points out, hazing is of course commonplace on HS teams and college teams as well.
The bottom line is that this documentary on hazing will make you pay attention…it will make you cry….and it will make you downright angry. I walked away from this movie thinking, ”Wow – if only every kid in America could see this film, they would definitely think twice about hazing a teammate, or a friend.” In fact, it really should be mandatory viewing in every school district in America. Listen to The Sports Edge here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
FOCUSING ON BOTH THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ASPECTS OF today’s young athletes
The truth is, I haven’t talked in awhile about the physical dangers of contact sports. And especially in light of a couple of terrible tragedies in HS football games in NJ recently, where one player was killed and another suffered paralysis from the waist down, I felt this was a vital conversation to have this morning on my radio show.
And of course, in addition to the physical risks of playing sports, I also wanted to find out how the medical world is addressing the increasing mental stress that our young athletes are going through.
I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Eric Small, who has appeared on the Sports Edge several times in the past. And I can think of no one better qualified to go over and discuss the kinds of concerns that are commonplace with kids and teenagers in sports.
Dr. Small is a nationally recognized Expert in Pediatric Sports Medicine. He is Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Orthopedics at Mount Sinai Hospital. He also serves as medical consultant and Player physician for US Open Tennis Championships. He’s also a sports parent himself, so he knows first hand about the stresses that young athletes and their parents experience.
Our conversation ranged this morning from what parents really need to know when their kid suffers a concussion, about overuse injuries in kids, how you can help your kid avoid ACL injuries, how to be on the lookout for Lyme Disease, and of course, a frank discussion about helping your youngster cope with pressure. You’ll find Dr. Small’s comments and expertise to be spot on. Listen to the show here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
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the growing decline of refs and umps at hs games: is there a solution?
No matter where you go in the United States today, there’s an increasingly growing concern about the lack of certified HS refs/officials/umpires to work our kids’ games.
It’s at that point where, in some states, varsity games - in all sports - are suddenly being postponed because there are so few refs. For example, in Tennessee, HS high school football games which are traditionally slated for Friday night, are now being pushed to Thursday night simply because of the lack of refs to work the games. In NJ, HS varsity baseball games, which routinely have two umpires working a game, now have only one because there aren’t enough.
Problem is, nobody seems to have a real solution to all this. Most refs are in their 60s or 70s, and as they retire, there are very few younger refs to replace them. Some are turned away by the lack of pay and the immense time commitment. Some don’t like the verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse from sports parents. Whatever the reason, this has become a real concern.
As such I decided to reach out Barry Mano, president of the National Association of Sports Officiais, to get his take on all this. I think you’ll find his views to be most insightful. All that, plus an interview with Erik Poldroo, the co-founder of a new mental heath app for college athletes. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
YOUR ATHLETE’S MENTAL HEALTH: PART TWO
Let me be blunt….we live in very troubling times. And our kids are perhaps even more vulnerable as to what’s going on in our world than we are. And they often don’t know who to turn to for help.
According to a recent article in AARP magazine – and I quote – “Never in modern American history have rates of teen depression, loneliness, and even suicide ever been so high.”
As I went through on last week’s radio show — when I went down the recent list of top college athletes who seemingly were on top of the world — only to have been hiding deep despair and ended up killing themselves, the question remains:
How could this be?
No one has a definitive answer. But let me share some recent research with you, and it stems from kids and their cellphones.
I don’t have to tell you that kids are attached to their cellphone and to social media. Our kids know how to work their phones and social media a lot better than we do. Just accept that. But also understand that such knowledge can bring danger.
Studies show that if you compare teenage mood disorders from 2009 - -that’s just before cellphone became ubiquitous with kids – with what it was like in 2019 – just ten years later, the numbers are sobering. Teenage anxiety and depression shot up between 50-150 percent.
What drove this and continues to drive this? Again, most experts say it is connected to social media on the kid’s phones. In short, social media allows kids to reach out to others. Put it this way: Bullies used to be physically limited to the playground or schoolyard. But now bullies have the ability to reach out and harass teenagers pretty much 24/7.
That, my friend, is a real problem.
I urge you to listen to this powerful conversation from sports parents and coaches who called in to discuss what we need to be aware of, in order to let our athletes know we are truly there for them. Listen here:The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
YOUR ATHLETE’S MENTAL HEALTH: part one
A Serious Conversation on What Every Sports Parent Needs to Know.
There is perhaps no more pressing concern these days in the world of athletics than for parents and coaches to know if one of their youngsters is struggling with some serious psychological issues.
To that end, this edition of Rick Wolff's Sports Edge as well as next week’s show is focused entirely on this crucial topic, and along the way, there are strategic steps that parents and coaches need to make sure that every athlete knows about.
This is vitally important content. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
HOW ENTITLEMENT IS CHANGING OUR CORE VALUES IN SPORTS
Let me give you another example of how things have changed in HS sports over the years, and how a sense of entitlement has crept into parental expectations for their athletes. This is admittedly a small example, but I think it highlights how things have changed.
Back in the day, being awarded a HS varsity letter to a member of the team was a very, very big deal. It signified to the youngster that -- in the coaches estimation -- you worked hard, and contributed significantly enough to the team’s overall effort to be honored with a varsity letter.
You have to remember, not every kid on the team got a letter – only those who really deserved one. And it was the coaches who decided who got letters. And they were not influenced by outside sources, such as parents or the booster club.
But these days, the varsity letter no longer seems to be a big deal. Your kid make the varsity team? Well, at the end of the season party, your kid gets a letter. But then again, every kid on the team does. The starters get letters – but so do ALL the kids who barely played at all. Even those who were late to practice, or who occasionally missed practice, or even those who didn’t work too hard in practice.
The end result? Receiving a HS varsity letter doesn’t seem to mean a lot anymore. But of course, every coach needs to make sure that every kid on the roster gets one.
And why do coaches do this? Probably because they don’t want to deal with angry entitled sports parents who feel that it’s not fair if their kid didn’t get a varsity letter – even if the kid didn’t do much to deserve it.
We had another vigorous debate on today’s show about this topic of sports entitlement. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
WE’RE IN THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT IN YOUTH SPORTS…AND THAT’S NOT GOOD
I’m becoming increasingly worried — and I’m wondering if you have noticed this happening in your world of youth sports as well.
It’s as though the boundary lines have gradually shifted – and shifted substantially in our own lifetimes – and I’m increasingly nervous how this sense of entitlement in going to influence our kids and grandkids, and the way in which they go about playing and competing in sports.
Look around. You see it everywhere. Sports parents feel they are entitled to yell at refs and umps. Sports parents feel they can insist their kids should get special benefits on their travel team because the parents are paying the coach’s salary. And the kids begin to develop an attitude that their coach is only there to help propel the athlete to the next step up on the athletic ladder.
In short, this is a growing problem in sports.
At its root, the issue is that the way in which we treat our young athletes and basically – perhaps unintentionally – teach them on how to expect entitlements in their sports career.
In a way, this goes back to the mentality that every kid gets a trophy….and that in our deep desire to want to make sure our kids succeed in sports, we’re going to do whatever we can to insure that they do.
That is, there’s an undercurrent of entitlement that one is given an advantage, without really earning that break. We had some excellent calls on this morning’s show. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
WE’RE STILL WAITING, LITTLE LEAGUE…
I’m eager to talk again about that controversial ending to the Wash St Oregon LL Baseball playoff game in which the winning team would be going to Williamsport to play in the national championship tournament. And indeed Wash St did make it to Williamsport….but Oregon was not asked.
And forgive me, but I just can’t get that sour taste out of my mouth as to how and why the team from North Bend, Oregon is back home, still wondering what they did wrong and how they were eliminated because a couple of adult umpires screwed up a foul ball call.
Friends, I know some of you have reached out to me and pointed out that this was just a “teaching moment” for these Oregon kids…and I hear you on that….but to me, a teaching moment occurs when the player makes a key mistake or a crucial error to lose a game.
In contrast, a teaching moment based upon an adult’s mistake – and a mistake that could have been corrected – is just not acceptable.
But in this case, these kids were victimized by shoddy umpiring by adults. The kids did absolutely nothing wrong.
In other sports where there are whistles to end a play, kids are taught to keep playing hard until a whistle blows. In baseball, if an umpire signals that a ball is foul, you stop playing.
My basic question? Why didn’t LL get with the two umps who worked the game and figure all of this out? The third base ump signaled foul – and the home plate ruled fair. And then, once they had the facts here – why didn’t LL then try to work out some sort of reasonable compromise – and then let the world know about it!
That is, LL apparently felt that once the video replay showed that the ball was fair, well, that was enough to allow the winning run to score. But no!! The video replay also showed the third base ump signaling the ball was foul – and that’s what bothers me about this outrageous game outcome. Why didn’t the LL umpires recognize that the Oregon kids depended on that foul ball call - and that’s why the runner was allowed to scamper home. It just wasn’t good sportsmanship.
LL makes such a big deal about sportsmanship – and this was a perfect opportunity, and they blew it! Take a listen to my special guest Steve Kallas on this show, along with some terrific callers. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
C’MON LITTLE LEAGUE in williamsport…DO THE RIGHT THING!
So I’m watching the Oregon-Wash State LL playoff game this past Thursday evening, where the winner advances to Williamsport. For any 12-year-old ballplayer, playing in the LL World Series is a thrill of a lifetime.
But something happened at the end of that Oregon-Wash State game that leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.
Now, I’ve seen some screwy endings to all sorts of ballgames over the years, but this one was indeed something else – and I still am waiting for someone from LL in Williamsport to explain what happened.
The game was in extra innings, and in the bottom half of the inning, the potential winning run for Wash State was on first. The batter then hit a high chopper down the third base line – the only question would be whether it would be called fair or foul ….and sure enough, the third base ump who was tracking the ball immediately raised both his arms up, which is the universal signal for a foul ball.
Even Jessica Mendoza, who was working the game on ESPN, said it was very clear that the ump had ruled the ball foul. As such, every Oregon player out in the field immediately relaxed, and stopped pursuing the ball --- after all, the third base ump had ruled it foul.
But the third base coach – who was standing maybe 10-15 feet from that same ump who had raised his arms – that coach must have heard something different….because he then started to frantically wave the runner from first all the way around third and to home to score.
Again, the ump signaled the ball was foul….and the team in the field visually relied on that call that it was a foul ball, and as such, they really didn’t pursue the ball. They rightfully ASSUMED the ump had called it foul.
As you might imagine, there was total confusion on the field and in the broadcast booth. Nobody knew what was going on. The umpires then got together to talk and to review the video. And after several agonizing minutes, the home plate ump ruled that the batted ball was fair, and that the winning run had thus scored on the play, and the game was over.
Of course, the winning team from Wash State was delirious – and the losing team from Oregon – was absolutely crestfallen – everybody saw that the ump clearly signaled that was a foul ball.
Oregon has a major beef in this. I didn’t hear any explanation coming from LL. And look, I know this is only LL – but with that unexpected loss, the Oregon kids lost a chance to advance to Williamsport.
And just yesterday afternoon, I read that the Oregon coach is now appealing to Williamsport to do the right thing, and to invite and include Oregon to the playoffs which start this coming week. The coach – his name is Brett Hartlaub – says: Little League has an opportunity, I think, here to come out and do some good stuff. Let’s see if they’re smart enough to do that.”
I agree – LL Baseball – do the right thing here.
You could, as the coach suggests, bring both teams to Williamsport to compete. Or you could even arrange to pick up the game at that point and have a do-over. Make it into a kind of play-in game. That would be reasonable for both teams - and in my opinion, the right thing to do in terms of sportsmanship.
And please provide an explanation as to what happened. If the video confirmed that the ball was fair, then doesn’t the same video show that the third base ump ruled that it was a foul ball?
If yes, then why not try to do the right thing? Simply say that the umps made a mistake, and then just put the runner to second, and the batter gets first. DO NOT penalize Oregon for relying on the ump’s call that it was foul.
And speaking of sportsmanship, here also was a golden opportunity for the Wash State coach — that’s right, the winning cpach — to have stepped up and said, “Look we won this game on a really wild set of circumstances. I think we should say to LL that both teams should advance to Williamsport. That would be the right thing to do here.”
It’s now time for the people with LL to step up and make a decision. Again, just do the right thing here. We had some pretty heated calls about this. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
ARE MAMMOTH (FOR PROFIT) YOUTH SPORTS COMPLEXES THE WAY OF THE FUTURE?
One of the most startling developments in the world of youth sports is the booming businesses of giant sports complexes all over the country.
These are humongous real estate developments that are for-profit, and basically are being put together to attract travel and club teams to play in games, tournaments, and showcases…all for a hefty fee, of course, which the parents pay.
The facilities are first-class, with state of the art fields, courts, rinks, whatever. Unlike in the past, if your kid was on a travel team and was playing in a tournament, you might have had to drive him or her to different venues to play in the games, the major advantage of these one-stop complexes was that every field was in the same spot.
From the perspective of smaller towns who are always looking for new revenue streams, these sports complexes seem to be the solution for all of their financial needs.
It all sounds good in theory – everybody wins –- kids have a chance to travel to a giant sports complex in which to compete, the parents stay right there and don’t have to drive their kid all over the area to games, and of course, there’s an excitement about playing other teams from all over the country.
Problem is, these behemoth operations are very hard to make profitable. In a wonderful article written by Roman Stubbs that ran in the Wash Post last week, most of these huge money-makers provide everything…except it’s not clear whether they make a lot of money. We had plenty of provocative calls on the show this AM about this topic. Listen below:
https://omny.fm/shows/rick-wolff-the-sports-edge/the-sports-ed-d93b19c9-577d-4124-8c9f-cb585ab92dce
WILL HEADING SOCCER BALLS BEOME OBSOLETE?
There are more official pronouncements that soccer players, parents, and coaches need to take notice…that the repetitive heading of a soccer ball is now being linked to CTE build-up, just like concussions in football.
According to Rory Smith in the NY Times, over in England, their Football Association has just instituted a trial program in which players under the age of 12 will not be allowed to head a soccer ball in practice. The Football Assn will decide in a couple of years whether this will become a permanent rule.
Since 2020, the Football Assn in England’s guidelines have recommended that all players, including professionals, should be exposed to no more than 10 high-force headers a week in training.
What will eventually happen? That heading will fade away from the sport? I asked the highly-respected head boys soccer coach, Matt Allen, of Byram Hills HS in Armonk, NY to come on my show to discuss this key and timely issue. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
When refs fight back against coaches/parents. plus, the ongoing debate about kids playing up in competition
Remember that awful incident from a few weeks ago when the 72-year-old ump in Branchburg, NJ was punched in the face by an angry coach during a kids’ baseball game? As you might recall, the ump suffered a broken jaw…he had to have his jaw wired shut.
But he’s now fighting back; he’s filed a lawsuit against that aggressive coach, seeking monetary damages for his pain and suffering and medical costs.
This is from Sports Illustrated’s reporting of the incident:
James Neely, a 72-year-old umpire, filed the law suit against Jerry Otero, the coach of a Staten Island-based travel team, seeking damages for injuries sustained in the incident. Neely sustained a concussion and his jaw was fractured in two places, resulting in his jaw being wired shut.
The lawsuit also names Otero’s travel team, team president Frank Cambria, the U.S. Amateur Baseball League and 10 John Does or parents from the Staten Island team who “verbally encouraged and/or fostered the assault” as defendants as well. After Neely was struck, the lawsuit alleges the parents continued their verbal harassment, including taunting Neely and that he "got what he deserved." That’s why they are included in the lawsuit.
Then, later in the show, I talk about a new study on the care and handling of young talented athletes and whether it makes sense for them to “move up” and play against older athletes. There are both plusses as well as minuses that need to be considered by the coach, parent, and child before this decision is made. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
WHY DID THE GRAMBLING WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL COACH CUT THE ENTIRE TEAM?
Did you hear about that unprecedented but legal action that the new Grambling State women’s volleyball coach pushed through when she was hired a few months ago?
In short, she basically told the entire returning team that their scholarships were not going to be renewed and that their places on the roster were gone. There’s an interesting spin on what went down behind the scenes, and now, it turns out that this new coach has been fired from her coaching job at Grambling.
I find this all of this fascinating - and scary - because when this coach had first started to make these cuts with the current players, the Grambling AD was quoted as confirming that this coach had every right to do this, and in short, he seemed to applaud her efforts. Just imagine that if you were one of the women who was told that her scholarship money was gone.
But now, there’s been a total turnaround. We had some great phone calls on this issue this AM on what this could mean for other athletes on college scholarships. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
how big league chew was invented…and the jump from hs star to college freshman
I was away on vacation this past Sunday, so I prepared a couple of pre-recorded interviews with two of my favorite people: Rob Nelson, who invented fan favorite Big League Chew bubblegum (and if you don’t know this story, trust me - it’s well worth hearing Nellie tell how it happened). And then there’s Hall of Fame Coach Jack Smithlin discussing the psychological jump that kids face from being a star in HS to trying to make the team as a freshman at the collegiate level. This is real good stuff. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE US SUPREME COURT ALLOWING A HS COACH TO RUN A PRAYER SESSION AFTER A GAME
The US Supreme Court decided that a long-time asst football coach who, at the end of each game, would go out to mid-field and hold an impromptu prayer session, was wrongfully removed from his HS coaching position at a public HS.
To me, regardless of the legal reasoning, the real-world impact of this case is the worry that a HS athlete- -- especially one who is eager to please his or her coach in order to garner more playing time – is going to feel pressured to go out after the game is over, and to join in with his coach at the prayer session.
I honestly don’t have an issue if a coach wants to go to a private or isolated area or room after a game and say some prayers. But the difference in this case is that this coach refused to do that, and instead took a knee in the middle of the field at the end of the game. He wasn’t making a political statement; he just wanted to pray.
Now, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with a kid attending a prayer session. But on the other hand, in a public school setting, where students come from all different backgrounds and different cultures and presumably religions, is it right to expect a teenager to join in with their coach?
The teenager may not care at all about the coach’s religion. But consider the dynamics: who wants to be a kid on a HS team who doesn’t join in in an activity that is clearly important to the coach? After all, no athlete ever wants to disappoint their coach or their teammates.
High school athletes are all about trying to win approval from their coaches. Not only are teenagers taught to follow the rules, but they are especially eager to show the coaching staff that they are a “team player.”
So if you’re a HS coach, you always have to think ahead about what you say and what you do. That’s obvious – it’s because your student-athletes are looking to you for approval.
This is, of course, common sense. And it was very much in effect long before this lawsuit was filed in Wash State by this asst. HS football coach who felt his freedom of religious expression was being infringed.
And now, the Supreme Court has ruled that the coach was wrongfully terminated, so he can return to his religious prayer session on the field after a game.
But regardless, as a coach, I think you still have to be very careful about issues of religion and how your athletes respond to you. Kids are always going to wonder whether they are expected to be involved in a post-game prayer get-together — even if you tell them the session is totally voluntary and optional, the kids are going to feel a bit of social pressure that they really need to be there and pray with you. The calls were excellent this AM on the show. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
taking a deeper look at nil and its impact on college recruiting
We’re still very much in the middle of the NIL controversy. College athletes who are eager to cash in on their name, image, and likeness. This is clearly going to change the world of college and HS sports, and it is doing so already.
Problem is, there’s very little regulation or oversight from the NCAA. And it’s become a Wild Wild West kind of situation. Most troubling is that at the big-time Div I programs, coaches already are complaining that top recruits are being lured by promises of six figure or seven figure NIL deals from colleges.
That, to me, is a problem.
What do you think? To me, you talk to any college athlete or HS athlete and they feel this move is clearly justified. That is, it’s all about free enterprise, capitalism, and cashing in -- but for older sports fans, like me, well, we aren’t so sure. This is making college sports into all about free agency.
In fact, I was just thinking this past week where it was announced that Arch Manning, the nephew of Eli and Peyton, and the grandson of Archie, has announced he’s going to play QB at the Univ of Texas.
I thought that was curious because the Univ of Texas has Quinn Ewers lined up to play QB there. You remember Ewers - -he was the superstar HS player from Texas who decided at the last moment to go to Ohio State because the state of Texas didn’t allow NIL at that time, and the state of Ohio did. Yet last season,, as a freshman at Ohio State, even though Ewers had a seven figure NIL deal in hand, he rarely played.
So Ewers transferred to Texas in order to get more playing time because the state of Texas now allows NIL for its athletes. In any event, you can only imagine Ewers’ surprise when top quarterback recruit Arch Manning decided to go there.
That should make for an interesting competition, both on the field and off the field, in terms of NIL money.
In fact, there was a three day summit recently for college athletes regarding NIL. What was curious was that most of the college athletes said that it was up to them to hustle and to find their own NIL deals – that very few colleges were doing anything to help them. In other words, while some of the big name stars are already collecting big money in college, most of their peers were left on their own to find sponsors.
While some schools have clearly made NIL a priority, many others still are looking to get more direction and trying to staff up to help their athletes. Remember, this is a brand new area, and there are very few experts on NIL.
This seems like an area ripe for change, however. Competition in the NIL space will force schools to adapt -- whether they want to or not.
Some big time programs, by the way, have started what are known as collectives. This is where groups of alumni boosters and fans contribute to a fund aimed at providing NIL opportunities to their school’s athletes.
While these may seem like a more equitable way to distribute NIL to athletes, again, this is all brand new and part of the Wild Wild West.
Collectives have come under scrutiny due to a lack of regulation and near-constant rumors of inducements to recruits and transfers. Listen to the podcast here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff
