Ladies,
Every couple of years in coaching I wind up having to give a talk like I did tonight. I never enjoy it. I am a positive person by nature, or at least I try to be. When I am with you, I want everything to be moving forward, for us to look at what we can do to make progress towards the aggressive goals we have set for this team. It takes cooperation and commitment to reach these goals. Alas, sometimes those qualities begin to erode.
On paper we are an outstanding team. We have the natural speed to compete with any team. In reality we are far from that right now. Injury upon injury, circumstance upon circumstance, it's gotten to the point where we have lost over one-third of our team in part or completely. We had depth; now we don't. The sad part? It didn't have to be.
Some things are beyond our control. Things do happen. Unfortunately for us, we've also had our part in making things happen. Common sense precautions, those things we coaches have harped on all summer long, have been ignored. What followed was utterly predictable. No - it was predicted, and yet some were surprised when it happened.
How many times have one of you come up to me and said your calf hurt, I tell you what to do when you get home at night, and a couple days later you come up to tell me it hurts again? The kicker? I ask you if you followed my instructions, and you say, "no".
I. Can't. Help. You.
Small things stay small if you manage them. Ignore them and small things become big things. Every. Time. I'm not Nostradeckard. I don't have to see the future. I can see the past, and how it plays out every time. If you don't manage minor injuries, they WILL become major injuries.
Look, everyone who is in a sport hurts. That's part of it. If you aren't hurting, I'm not pushing you. That's something we have to wrap our heads around. Not all pain is bad or abnormal. Bone pain is bad. Soft tissue pain is mostly normal. Once again, that's not hard.
Bottom line - manage your pains. Ask me what to do if you don't know. Follow the instructions. Keep me posted. Simple.
Now the whole extra-curricular activity stuff...
You should not be involved in any other sports activity (unless we have already arranged it) for the duration of the season. I shouldn't even have to say that, but I will now. We already have too many people hurt.
Homecoming week activities - this is going to sound awful, but it's better to be honest with you so you understand why I say this. The timing of Homecoming puts it near enough to the end of the season that if you wind up on crutches from playing in that game, you might as well turn in your uniform. Why? Because I have to turn in my Conference and State Tournament rosters so early, I have to guess who is going to be healthy. I am only allowed so many girls to be on the roster. See it now? You wind up on crutches at that time, I can't rely on you being healthy by tournament, you don't make the roster, the season is over by the time you can run again. That's what you are risking.
We have five seniors, many of whom are scholarship candidates at Division II schools. I can't sell an injured runner. Fair or not fair, that's the reality of it. You can make your own choice, but you have to live with it. And so does the rest of the team.
I will tell you this... I am not giving up a single minute of practice to Homecoming. Don't even ask. As of now, on this topic, my good nature has been abused enough.
Every couple of years in coaching I wind up having to give a talk like I did tonight. I never enjoy it. I am a positive person by nature, or at least I try to be. When I am with you, I want everything to be moving forward, for us to look at what we can do to make progress towards the aggressive goals we have set for this team. It takes cooperation and commitment to reach these goals. Alas, sometimes those qualities begin to erode.
On paper we are an outstanding team. We have the natural speed to compete with any team. In reality we are far from that right now. Injury upon injury, circumstance upon circumstance, it's gotten to the point where we have lost over one-third of our team in part or completely. We had depth; now we don't. The sad part? It didn't have to be.
Some things are beyond our control. Things do happen. Unfortunately for us, we've also had our part in making things happen. Common sense precautions, those things we coaches have harped on all summer long, have been ignored. What followed was utterly predictable. No - it was predicted, and yet some were surprised when it happened.
How many times have one of you come up to me and said your calf hurt, I tell you what to do when you get home at night, and a couple days later you come up to tell me it hurts again? The kicker? I ask you if you followed my instructions, and you say, "no".
I. Can't. Help. You.
Small things stay small if you manage them. Ignore them and small things become big things. Every. Time. I'm not Nostradeckard. I don't have to see the future. I can see the past, and how it plays out every time. If you don't manage minor injuries, they WILL become major injuries.
Look, everyone who is in a sport hurts. That's part of it. If you aren't hurting, I'm not pushing you. That's something we have to wrap our heads around. Not all pain is bad or abnormal. Bone pain is bad. Soft tissue pain is mostly normal. Once again, that's not hard.
Bottom line - manage your pains. Ask me what to do if you don't know. Follow the instructions. Keep me posted. Simple.
Now the whole extra-curricular activity stuff...
You should not be involved in any other sports activity (unless we have already arranged it) for the duration of the season. I shouldn't even have to say that, but I will now. We already have too many people hurt.
Homecoming week activities - this is going to sound awful, but it's better to be honest with you so you understand why I say this. The timing of Homecoming puts it near enough to the end of the season that if you wind up on crutches from playing in that game, you might as well turn in your uniform. Why? Because I have to turn in my Conference and State Tournament rosters so early, I have to guess who is going to be healthy. I am only allowed so many girls to be on the roster. See it now? You wind up on crutches at that time, I can't rely on you being healthy by tournament, you don't make the roster, the season is over by the time you can run again. That's what you are risking.
We have five seniors, many of whom are scholarship candidates at Division II schools. I can't sell an injured runner. Fair or not fair, that's the reality of it. You can make your own choice, but you have to live with it. And so does the rest of the team.
I will tell you this... I am not giving up a single minute of practice to Homecoming. Don't even ask. As of now, on this topic, my good nature has been abused enough.
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