18LikesI am actually surprised that it took this long for this thread to go south. I guess I underestimate people sometimes.
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I understand what you're saying though. I work with a lot of junior high students and it's incredible, yet extremely sad too, how mature for their age that society has made a lot of kids become and unfortunately many of them don't have the mental maturity to deal with it. The attitudes and the way they act make them appear much older than they really are. This is the lovely age group where I've had a student call me a bitch and a different student imply in front of an entire class that I was a lesbian. The conversations I hear or the way that some of the girls dress is pretty inappropriate for their age.Originally Posted by FBJ
Schools around here don't really offer sports teams until the high school level. Private schools might at the junior high level. They might play a particular sport during PE class or the high school might offer a clinic during the summer but if you want organized sport before your kid is in high school you have to find a league outside of the school system. Like the YMCA, AYSO for soccer, Little League for baseball etc or the Canadian equivalent would be like house league hockey at your local rink, then club teams if your kid is good enough and you want to spend the money.
Well...Catherine is almost through her second season at the YMCA. We have grown quite dissatisfied with the experience, quite frankly.
Number one, they "borrow" facilities from a local high school. They only get an hour of practice a week and a game on Saturday mornings. The gym is an absolute dump and on weeknights is surrounded by some really seedy-looking oversexed teenagers. NOT the best atmosphere.
The organizer of the league, though a kind lady with LOTS of general coaching experience (read: high school PE teacher), is NOT good at organizing teams. One team has nothing but ringers (who look a LOT older than 12, and have WAY more strength and ability than the other teams), while the other two have a ragtag blend of newbies and second/third season players. Lack of skilled coaching and only one hour-long practice per week means there's ZERO team cohesion or cooperativeness.
Coaching is absolutely pathetic. My daughter's coach is unreliable. Her daughter plays on the team, and runs roughshod over her mom and the other players in both attitude and aggressiveness. Funny thing...she's not even the best player on the team (though she certainly acts it). Twice, the coach hasn't shown at all for practice or games. I ended up running the practice to the best of my ability, but I just don't have the volleyball background to run a team practice effectively (otherwise I'd put up rather than simply sit back and bitch about it).
Otherwise, Cat loves the game. She's getting better, and we work in the back yard all the time. She needs work on her aggressiveness (i.e. knowing when to call others off the ball and attempt to make a play), and her overhand serves need more repetition. She has high aspirations, too, because she loves watching the sport on TV when the college games come on. But when we go look at the club practices, the hard work those kids put in sort of intimidates her. Of course, I tell her things that are worth doing and fun are often not easy, and I point out examples of hard work and determination paying off every chance I get (like when we watch the Summer With Stanley stuff on the Kings). Hopefully, she'll get the idea pretty quick, because she says she wants to try out for the club's development team in late September.
So, in an attempt to find a better learning experience for her, we're looking into moving into the youth program at Mason Park that's run by the LA Parks and Rec. Does anyone have any idea if that one is any good?
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