I've said many times that I don't see many bad kids but I've
seen way too many bad parents. Anybody
that's been around sports as much as I have has seen the worst of the worst.
Like the dad that didn't want to go to his daughter's games
because she wasn't going to get to play anyway.
My sermon was that he needs to be there more if she's not playing than
if she is.
Or the dad who was so overbearing that his child couldn't
enjoy the basketball game because of the constant criticism that was being
offered from the sideline. That child
ended up quitting the game they loved because of it.
I've listened to dads in the stands yell at their kid, coaches,
referees, and opposing players. One of
the worst would criticize everyone on his son's team but his own son. Loudly.
Bitterly.
I want to tell you about a couple of dads that I think got
it right.
Logan Winders was a standout
on the 2012 MHS football team that made it to the state championship
game and an important part of the 2011 team that won that same
championship. His brother Zane, who just
completed his college career at Maryville College (where Logan will matriculate
this fall), did much the same.
Their father, Joey Winders, has coached a variety of youth
sports teams around here but is most widely known as the Head Coach of the
Maryville Southerners, a Pee-Wee team in the Parks & Recreation football
league.
Joey's efforts on behalf of youth sports in this community
are almost beyond compare. Long before
his boys were playing, he was coaching.
Baseball, basketball, football. I
don't recall that he coached other sports along the way but I wouldn't be
surprised to hear that he did.
He has been such a part of the fabric of youth sports around
here that if he had tried to be heavy handed with the high school career of his
sons, few would be surprised. He
coached them pretty much all the way up to high school, and it had to be hard
to step aside and turn Zane and Logan over to other coaches.
But that's exactly what he did. Sure, he worked behind the scenes, doing
whatever parents could do to support the WHOLE team. Like feed them, before and after games. Come early and stay late to do those things
that need to be done.
He lifted his kids up when they were down and stood to the
side and let them live in the glory when they thrived. For my money, he was a really great dad--an
example of how that role should be played out.
Nick Myers was the quarterback of this same football
team. Few would argue that his
performance from game 1 through the championship game wasn't a big reason,
maybe the biggest, for this year's success.
His dad Don Don was also a youth sports coach but what I
will always remember about him is that he was at football practice pretty much
every single day of Nick's high school career, quietly observing from the
periphery of the practice field.
As far as I can tell, he never tried to coach or criticize,
and I honestly never heard a negative word come out of his mouth, even when his
son was battling for a starting position or having a bad day.
Joey & Don Don: Good
dads that understand that these days passed too quickly yet made the best of
them.
Well done guys. Happy
Father's Day.
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