Winning 100-0!
Good chance, you have heard the story of the girl’s basketball team in Dallas, TX. The Covenant School (private Christian school) defeated Dallas Academy 100-0. Click on the link to read the complete story: http://cbs11tv.com/sports/micah.grimes.the.2.917557.html
The Covenant School publicly apologized by posting a statement on their web site. Their head coach, Micah Grimes, responded to the school online statement by saying, “I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girl’s basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed.” “We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-range margin victory when my girls played with honesty and integrity. “He was subsequently relieved of his duties. What do you think of Coach Grimes’ view on his lopsided victory? How might you describe Coach Grimes's coaching philosophy?
If you were in this situation and your team was obviously more talented than your opponent, how would you handle the situation? How would having a coaching philosophy help you in this scenario? Hint: Think back to the questions we discussed in class, in how to develop your own coaching philosophy.
Its a hard line to judge. As a coach you try to teach your athletes to be strong and determind and to play with integrity. You teach them to never give up and play to the their best at every minute of every game. To turn that around and change that is a difficult thing for a coach to think of, because they think of the big picture as far as their team and team goals.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what I would do myself, its a hard question. I want to say that I would do the publically acceptable thing, that I would take it easy on them. I know that I wouldnt pound their brains in. But the bigger question is, would I tell my to let up and ignore everything I have taught them to apease some sort of social standard. It i a difficult decision that I wont be able to make unless I am put in the situation. I only pray that my who I am as a person and what I put faith in in my life leads me to a point where I make the right choice for my athletes.
This is a tough one for me to answer. Just as was mentioned in the full article, there is no fine print stating that a large-margin game should be stopped at half, or the clock should be run out. The only thing that could have happened was holding to "the golden rule." The team on the losing end, Dallas Academy, has been losing games for a long while and Covenant School was not always on the losing end.
ReplyDeleteIf I were coaching that day, I would have called a time out and had a chat with the opposing coach and the referees. Perhaps Dallas would not have wanted to forfeit. But at the very least, the coaches should have chatted about the progress of the game.
But then again, it is competition. Dallas Academy and Covenant School both came ready to compete - win or lose. A loss is a lesson learned and a "character-building experience," right? Perhaps Coach Grimes could have shown a little more respect for his superiors that sent out the public apology. In his response to the apology, he seemed arrogant and inconsiderate. Sure, his team should not feel guilty but it is a good thing to be understanding of the other side.
I would like to see a response from the Dallas Academy girls' basketball coach.
Well looking at the score it was obviously a blow out i think if i was that coach i would have stop playing as hard when the score reached around 40 or 50 to 0. I think that it's apart of sportsmanship and team character beating a team that bad makes you look bad everyone knows that you are going to win the game.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see what the Dallas Academy girls said about the game. 100-0 is over the top. Apparently Coach Grimes was on the losing end of some blowouts in years prior. Now he might be rubbing it back in to the teams that blew him out.
ReplyDeleteSome might say what goes around comes around, but that is simply making the circle continue. Especially in high school sports where teams can go from the top to the bottom in one or two years simply because they are down in numbers.
Sitting on the ball when the game is in hand is the classy and respectful thing to do. Even if it is your rival, being able to take a knee and let the other team know there is nothing they can do to stop you from running out the clock should feel just as good as running up the score, if not better.
I think there are times where running up the score can be provoked by the losing team. You have to be able to win with class and lose with class. Play hard, play to the end, but show some respect.
Obviously, we are looking to score more points then the other team and my answer to my coaching philosophy would be that I would put in the players that i normally start in the first half and let them play with the alternates still in the cycle then if we were beating them by 30 then i would start my alternates and let them handle the game. I do not respect what the coach did but i do think the coach should have handled the situation with a little more class then what the coaching staff did. you should be trying to teach the players good morals not fill their heads with images that will make them think they are better then everyone they play that is how great civilaztions have fallen.
ReplyDeletei would have handled the situation basically in the same way. i believe that the coach took his starters out early in the first quarter, so it was not like he did not make an effort to slow down his girls. however i would've changed one thing. i would have told the girls to run through the plays and no three pointers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a difficult situation to access. If I were the coach in this situation, I would see it as a learning experience to show my team. I would ultimately get all of my players fair playing time. I would also discuss with them the facts of sportsmanship. I would ask them how they would feel if the tides were turned and they were the ones that were getting beat.
ReplyDeleteThis is always going to be a tough situation for coaches. During practices, we teach our players the skills and knowledge that they need to be successful and play their best. When they are asked to step away from this, it can send mixed signals and may confuse them.
I know this type of score sound ridiculous. It is hard to begin to understand the mentality of the coach on the winning side. It just seems like it was personal. If I were in an organized competition and things were beginning to get out of hand, I would definitely change my strategy. I would have my players pass until the clock was almost running out, then take a shot. I would not try to embarass the other team as much as possible once the score reached 30pts to zero. This is just an act of rude behavior on the coaches side.
ReplyDeleteIf I were a coach and I knew that my team was the far superior one I wouldn't coach any differently that I normally would. I don't want my players going into a game thinking it is a gimme. In a situation like this I would have taken my starters out very early, but in basketball you only have a certain amount of time to hold onto the basketball so you have to shoot eventually and you have to try and score. You aren't going to throw the ball out of bounds just to make it look like you are not running up the score. I would certainly tell my players to slow down the pace and let the shot clock run down, but I wouldn't want them to go out there and just quit if the game started to get out of hand. I don't want them to not go 100% because that is when a player gets hurt.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the two teams should have never been able to play each other. and it was said that the winning team had put there reserve players in and for any one that has played on a team and didnt get a lot of playin time when they get in they play there hardiest no matter what. the team probably should have let the othere team at least make one basket but othere then that i think they went to far by firing the coach for the score.
ReplyDeleteI believe it's every coaches desire for their players to practice how they play and vice versa. With this said I feel no remorse for the losing team. I feel that an apology was unnecessary. I feel it is unethical to tell your own players to take it easy on the other team because the truth is that if my players practice their butts off, I expect them to practice how they play on the field or court. Also, at the same time I would not put any aggressive pressure on my players to run up the score because that is unethical. One team came prepared and the other obviously did not. It was an embarrassment and humiliation to the losing school. However, I am looking to see how they respond which will make them a better team.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Coach Grimes should've never been fired for letting his team play the only way they knew how to play, which was to win. He can't control how the other team is playing and at the same time, he can't tell his own players to ease off their opponents. I believe that playing a game is a reward for all the hard work that goes into preparing for the game and I feel that it would be difficult to try to tell your team to take it easy after putting in hard work during the week. I would've done the same exact thing in this situation and would've got fired too. The Covenant School could've handled this situation better without firing him.
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ReplyDeleteIn my coaching philosophy if my team was this superior and would win by this big of a margin I would only play my starters for a short period of time. In that short period of time I'd want my players to play as hard as they could to stay sharp for future opponents. After building a comfortable lead I would play my bench for the remainder of the game and would most likely stall for the entirety of the 4th quarter to make the score respectable. I realize that you want your players to play as up to their potential but you also want to help spread the love of the game. I'm sure that the girls from the Dallas academy no longer want to play after being embarrassed so badly. The winning coach has to remember that teaching kids to win and lose with dignity is important. Running up the score on a team is not winning with dignity.
ReplyDeleteI would not have run up the score as high as they did. If it is not very ethical to destory a team by that much and in turn destory the players self esteem. If I were coaching I would have let my starters start, but once we got a comfortable lead I would take them out. If the score ever got too close for comfort, I would put them back in, but take them out once we were winning by a decent amount. I just think blowing a team out of the water isn't right
ReplyDeleteCompetition is a privilege, not a way of life.
ReplyDeleteIt has it's place in sport, rather than sport falling into the realm of competition. Competition is neither the main objective nor is it the main drive in sport. I believe that when it becomes the heart, soul and purpose for playing, you overlook the little things that make the sport great.
Of course my thoughts are still developing on this idea. I think competition is a difficult concept to truly grasp, if it wasn't, there would be a lot more winners out there (which doesn't make sense as the nature of competition only allows one winner, therefore competition is an area that requires individual discovery rather than a general consensus). I don't believe the idea of competition can fully be expressed through "win", but I also don't think that it is any more than that. It depends on your definition of winning.
I guess the thing that gets me is, what happens when you've finally won and there is no one else to beat? What happens when you're no longer able to compete in sport due to injury or age? Does sport lose its meaning because of the limitations placed on it by competition? Perhaps we need to be more precise when defining competition. Is it competition as it relates to coaching, competition as it relates to competing (as an athlete), or is it competition as it relates to observing? I feel it has its place in all those areas of sport and life. It can be difficult as students and student athlete's to see the whole spectrum of competition as all we really want to do is be a direct part of it. We wanna play. We want the ball. We want to be watched. We wanna be coached. So, if we really want to explore all facets of competition, we might have to consider separating ourselves from it for a moment and observe it. Ask questions such as, who will win: the ultra competitive guy, or the guy who just loves to play? The guy that tries to grasp all areas of his sport, or the one whose passion is raw and whose drive is to conquer.
Also, we talk an awful lot about winning, but the thing about losing is that it is humbling. In order to be humbled, there must be something in us that is in need of correction. It's seems to me that the most important and consistent victories are won by those who are humble enough to inspire humility.
I am a competitive person, but have found that my competitiveness and desire to win have to come with accountability and responsibility or else I am made to be a fool, rather than simply "one-upped". The only times I feel I have a right to be competitive are times when I have put in the effort. When I fought and struggled and succeeded in my practices (competed against no one but myself) are the times when I feel I can let my natural competitiveness come out in a competition. If I don't, I don't find it unjust to feel disappointment in a loss or complete satisfaction in a win. One might even say that the concept of competition is found completely outside of competition. If you truly want to win, you must truly love the sport first. The win will come, but it will come in 2nd.
It is obvious that coach Grimes coaching philosophy is mainly focused on winning and has forgotten what the concept of play means. If I were in this postion as a coach I would use this as an opportunity to perfect basic skills by placing restrictions on the court such as having a number of passes before scoring a basket and such. I would also try new plays. Most importantly I would use this opportunity to give players who don't get the oppportunity to play large amounts of minutes on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI actually witnessed this first hand and believed that the coach was not in fault. The other teams coach should of not allowed the game to continue. There are forfeit rules and he should have. If I was the coach in this situation and my team was playing that well i would not stop them. Its encouraging for athletes to have success and they made history in Texas no matter how you look at it.
ReplyDeletei feel strongly about playing the game to win, but in some cases like coaching high school sports winning in such a large margin could break the spirits of young athletes. the idea of winning in high school sports should not be at the cost of hurting the spirits of young athletes. but on the flip side large margin victories happen all the time, and to say that its wrong to completely blow out another team would be false, but the coach did take his starters out early and tried to manage the game as hard as he possibly could... i feel this was a strong example of one of those games where a team couldnt miss and did everything right that night.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Keo because what the coach should have done was continue to rotate his players, but tell them to slow down there play. You don't always have to blow a team out to know your better than your opponent.
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