Columnist should walk in a coach’s cleats

Steve Smith’s Family Time column titled “Coach’s decision inspires a

bending of the rules,” in Saturday’s Daily Pilot, caused my blood to

boil. There was no “bending” here. The rule was very clearly broken.

A person who volunteers his time to coach a team needs to consider

several things prior to picking a child for his team. Will that child

come to the field ready and be willing to play, or will that child

bring along some baggage? What kind of baggage, you ask? How about a

father who writes for the local paper and has already expressed an

opposing opinion about the sports organization. Do you think a coach

would like knowing that if a child did not play as much as his father

thought was appropriate, he might find his name smeared in the

morning paper?

Smith wrote, “ ... this coach abused the power of the position

because of personal feelings.” “Abuse of power” seems to be the one

piece of advice from your former editor that you chose to totally

disregard. Digging up the incident -- from several years ago -- of a

former school board member and some e-mail in which you were called

“stupid” has all the signs of childlike behavior. Having coached

both baseball and soccer several years ago, I realized that having

only talented players did not guarantee a successful team. Some of

the most talented players I have coached came to the field with

“baggage,” or their parents arrived with “baggage.” You know, the

kind that makes you wish you had selected another player. Either way,

it made my job and the other coaches’ jobs twice as difficult. It

made some great coaches never want to coach again.

Maybe you need to walk in a coach’s shoes for a few years. You

might find yourself with a team that has players with “baggage.” Then

you will understand what is involved in picking a team. Then you will

realize that the only “slugs” -- which Smith talks about -- are the

ones crawling on the newspaper.

FRANK MASCIALE

Costa Mesa