Jim Tyner said:
"As a coach myself, the pay we receive for our time and effort is a slap in the face and don't even get me started about the fanatic parents."
So, Jess, just what kind of coach are you?
Well, I've been coaching total for 20 years. I have a bachelors degree in strength and conditioning/fitness and I have a masters degree in pedagogy with a coaching and health minor. In that time I've coached at the collegiate level, working with division I athletes and even a multi-gold medal Olympian in the long jump. A handful of the athletes I've coached have made it to the NFL and have been very successful. When I left college/semi pro coaching I then went to high school. I coached track, football, baseball, basketball, and volleyball. After high school, I coached at the middle school...again...basketball, track, volleyball. I've also coached archery, coached our fishing club team, and our weightlifting club team.
Jim, there is rudeness in every sport; even when we tell the athletes the correct way. I don't know how many time I've told my lifters to rack their weights when done. I don't know how many times I've told the football players to pound their cleats off before entering the building. I don't know how many times I've told our baseball players don't spit seeds on each other. I don't know how many times I've told our shot and disc kids to quiet down when they are watching someone else compete. How about all the times I've told every athlete to pick up after themselves at a meet, tournament, game, practice, etc.
For one thing, our trap team consists of guys and girls shooting Stevens 555's, 870's, Stoeger O/U's, 1100's, their own field guns, etc. Occasionally you will get a BT-99 but that is about as fancy as our parents spend. The kids don't care if shells are being chucked and quite frankly, neither do the coaches. The emphasis is on good sportsmanship, rooting on your teammates, and picking up when you are done. To me, if a coach demanded that everyone help clean up shells, even though one person who had the O/U collected their own, I would commend that coach for also doing the right thing...making sure you left the field as you found it. But some of you guys think you are above that...so much so that the coaches are called names? Somebody on this thread mentioned entitled kids. The kids have to learn it from somebody...they just don't pop out of the womb entitled.
EVERY sport I've ever been involved with whether as a participant or a coach has had their die-hards, blow-hards, and try-hards. I still after all this time prefer the company of the try-hards the best. The die hards haven't realized that there is always someone better and the blow hards haven't figured out that most of the time if you have to brag about something, you probably aren't that good at it in the first place.
You guys complaining about plastic shells hitting you on occasion reminds me of listening to the die-hards and the blow-hards and quite frankly it just turns me off. This to me is where entitlement rears it's ugly head.
I am also a hunter and to tell you the truth, some of our "outdoorsmen" are the most entitled. Leaving hulls all over public land, shooting up signs and parking areas, cleaning your animals and leaving the remains at the entrance to public land, not obeying bag limits...the list is endless.