Coaches are not the brightest of humans...

[M.K]

Link to original post: [drupal=2499]Coaches are not the brightest of humans...[/drupal]



So, I'm sort of annoyed.

I'm a springboard diver. I have four coaches. One of them participated in the 1996 Olympic games, one of them was a diver for Indiana University (the top-notch of diving schools), and another studied with Chinese diving coaches to learn special techniques.
The 4th however....isn't someone to rave about. They dove at a below average college and just couldn't land a job anywhere else, so basically, he washed up at a pool somewhere and started to teach diving.

Okay, so what is annoying about this?

Well, today my coaches sent out an e-mail with a "monthly report" attached to it. Basically this monthly report states your "attendance rate" and a "quality mark", which depends on how hard you work at practice, how much you advance during the year, etc. etc. blah blah blah.
The letter concludes by stating that athletes who do not maintain a 90% attendance rate and a quality mark of >7, they will be conferenced (aka, berated).

So, I have a grand total of 17 practices a month. Last month (september) I missed an entire week of diving with the Swine Flu. That put my grand total of practices attended at 12. 12/17 is a 70% attendance rate. >.>;

Now, I'm not even worried about that little fact. The coaches knew I was sick, and there was nothing I could do about it.
However, in about a month, the high school season of diving starts, in which I'm required to go to a completely different pool and dive with completely new people.
This, ironically, creates the source of my annoyance.
I HAVE to attend these high school practices, it's mandatory. However, of my 17 practices, in order to maintain a 90% attendance, I have to attend ALL but ONE of them. That's just....insane. I HAVE to miss them, and there is nothing I can do about them. So, I emailed my coach....

"Oh, it's okay. You can just go to that practice, then come to this practice...."

>__________________>

Like seriously, that's annoying as hell. My yearlong team is over an hour away from my house, and the pool for high school is another 30 minutes. There is absolutely no way, in the span of two hours, I can POSSSSIBLY make it to both. I think that's the most ******** idea ever.
Especially when school starts up again, I have 3 college level courses and Pre-Calc with a teacher who teaches about the same as a hippo on ecstasy. T_T

This is sort of the part where I say "WTFFF DO I DO?!?!?". So ....WTFFF DO I DO?!?!?

On one hand, I want to tell my coach "Screw you, I really don't give a **** what your little paper says, especially when I have prior arrangements".

Then again, I don't want them to hate me. They have a habit of not helping athletes they hate get into colleges for diving ._.''.

Ugh, it's just...annoying how stupid and demanding people can be.

/rant.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

Man... Well, most highschool teachers are the same.
They failed and ended up teaching because it was the job that paid the most...

I feel your pain, somehow... I've been through numerous bad teachers that hated teaching and teenagers. They're so incompetent and stuff, it's annoying. Hope things get better, man.

/rant.

 

[Omnicron's Baklava Enterprises]

This relates very well to when Zeldspazz's girlfriend (who had just been through a liver surgery or something) was pushed by her volleyball coaches to keep playing, even if she was near-passing-out every minute.

Tch, tch, tch... Are they really that sad to be so obsessed with athletics?

Ugh, it's just...annoying how stupid and demanding people can be.

True, very true.

 

[Insetick]

Why MUST you miss practice?

If you have a legitimate reason, you have to go talk with your coaches. Otherwise, I don't see what choice you have but to get that 90% attendance. Maybe you can get an exemption with your sick days and have your first attendance be out of 12.

Whatever the problem, you have to negotiate this with your coaches face-to-face.

 

[M.K]

Why MUST you miss practice?

If you have a legitimate reason, you have to go talk with your coaches. Otherwise, I don't see what choice you have but to get that 90% attendance. Maybe you can get an exemption with your sick days and have your first attendance be out of 12.

Whatever the problem, you have to negotiate this with your coaches face-to-face.

The NCHSAA (North Carolina High School Athletic Association) states that I MUST be present and diving at a certain number of practices per year. These "high school practices" overlap in time with my yearlong team practice. Ergo, I can't actually be at both >.<.
I have no problem striving to be at EVERY practice I can. The only thing I'm worried about is having them berate me for something that I have no control over. =/

With 17 practices every month, I have to make 15.3 practices to be AT 90%. Obviously I can't be at 1/3 of a practice, so I must make 16 of my practices to stay in that percentile, a feat which is near impossible.

I tried to tell my coaches of this fact, and they gave me the "Oh, you can go to this practice for the first hour, then go to THAT practice for the second hour!! YAYYYAYAYAYAY". Except for the fact that...the pools are almost an hour apart, and that....just doesn't make much sense.

 

[Man of Popsicle]

Man... Well, most highschool teachers are the same.
They failed and ended up teaching because it was the job that paid the most.

I'm not thinking that's the case.
Go look up a teacher's salary.

 

[Insetick]

I tried to tell my coaches of this fact, and they gave me the "Oh, you can go to this practice for the first hour, then go to THAT practice for the second hour!! YAYYYAYAYAYAY". Except for the fact that...the pools are almost an hour apart, and that....just doesn't make much sense.

Discuss this more with your coaches. Maybe you can get the second hour of practice at the same/ another pool and still get credit?

Also, I really don't understand why you're so bothered with your coaches. It sounds like you didn't talk with them about how you can't make the consecutive practices, so you can't really blame them for at least trying to help. If there's anything for you to be mad at, it's the NCHSSA for being so stringent with the practice requirements.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

I'm not thinking that's the case.
Go look up a teacher's salary.

I didn't mean to say that it paid a lot.
But sometimes, they just don't have any other option that they'd take.

i.e: Garbage dumper.