Published: Jan. 31, 2015
Kay Rego, a member of the Athletic Engagement Task Force
committee, told the group in Wednesday’s meeting “competitiveness leads to
confidence.”
West Bend isn’t competitive in a lot of areas because it has
fallen behind other communities on how it prepares young athletes.
Rick Riehl, another committee member, said he had
conversations with community members from different communities in the two
weeks between meetings — Slinger and Hartford.
He relayed to the committee what was said to him, which
essentially was the community put an emphasis on its youth sports programs and
did so at an earlier age, as young as third grade.
Riehl said Hartford had a similar engagement with its
community three years ago, like the one West Bend is doing. That is trying to
figure out how to enhance the athletics experience in the community.
Riehl said Hartford is happy with its progress and it’s
evident with the level of success the programs are enjoying and that’s not
necessarily wins or losses. They’re competitive.
If a team is competitive, it’s more fun to be a part of it.
Tori Burns, a member of the West Bend West girls basketball
team, told the committee there is a feeling of quit among her teammates after
the Spartans lost to Beaver Dam, 65-8, on Tuesday. Other committee members said
too many student-athletes in West Bend have little to no faith he or she can
win.
When you don’t have faith in what you’re doing at the
varsity level, how can one expect those varsity players to show they’re excited
enough for it to trickle to the younger levels?
Kids aren’t dumb. They can see who’s having fun and who’s
not.
It’s great to have kids out for the team, but it can’t be
fun to lose by 57 points on the home floor in front of family and friends.
Kids see that and so do their parents. So how can one blame
them for not getting excited?
Riehl, and a number of the other committee members,
suggested the emphasis at the grade-school levels should not be winning or
losing. It should be about teaching the game. Teach the fundamentals and make
it open for everybody.
It has to be inclusive, Riehl said. Make it fun, too.
That can also go for varsity coaches. The most successful
coaches, such as late Germantown football coach Phil Datka, are involved at the
youth levels.
Datka attended youth football games. That got kids excited.
That made them aspire to be a part of his team. In time, he built a successful
program at Germantown.
Competitiveness will lead to confidence, which will lead to
victories.
Ron Larsen, another committee member, questioned why so many
freshmen play on varsity teams. In some cases, they deserve to be on the team.
In most other cases, they’re on varsity only because the team is struggling to
field a varsity roster.
If things don’t go well, it unravels quickly. If you lose
games by 20 or 30 points, show no competitiveness or barely win games, there is
no confidence.
With no confidence, the game is no longer fun. When the fun
is gone, so are the student-athletes and it’s a snowball effect from there down
to the grade-school levels.
To get this turned around, it’s going to require a
commitment by everybody, but also patience.
By no means is it an overnight mix or even a one- or
two-year fix. It’s going to take at least four or five years.
In time, West Bend will catch up, but only if it brings up
its youths better.
You’ve got to believe.
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