Open Letter to Student Athlete

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Apologize for the length of this, but I think it gives a lot of interesting insight to what coaches look for and see with a lot of the top ranked athletes coming out of high school, and the dangers of recruiting for stars and ignoring character.

Dear Prospective Student-Athlete,

I received your introductory two-line email and read through it. I must say your first sentence was painfully familiar as you introduced yourself by first name only. I assumed if you were trying to make an impression that you would have paid more attention to punctuation but my assumption appears incorrect. While your opening email failed to identify your last name, what year in school you are, where you are from, or what position you play, you managed to include your most pressing question as to whether our team is "giving out scholarships".

A week later, I received a second email with full color resume attachment including your action photos, and a variety of links to related newspaper articles. Each of these items were compiled in an orderly fashion and sent out directly from both your parents' emails.

While it took a bit to thumb through the long list of your impressive extracurricular activities please thank your parents for putting this packet together and understand that it would have been far more beneficial for our staff to speak to you personally by way of an old school phone call. As my staff sent correspondence to your personal email, we have received only a return from your parents apologizing and explaining that you are simply "too busy to answer".

As a word of advice, while many college coaches support parental enthusiasm, initiative taken by the athlete is crucial if you are serious about connecting with a quality program. Our staff explained to your parents that we would prefer to connect with you directly, but they continue to respond on your behalf. This will be a red flag for any coach, so please be aware of this feedback being a possibility from any of your other options.

When you visited the campus with your parents, the first thing I noticed is that they did most of the talking for you. However, when you did speak, you were openly correcting and verbally scolding them when you deemed their information sharing inaccurate. As a coach, an athlete who displays disrespect, especially to their parents, is a red flag in the recruiting game of analysis and observation.

As we toured the campus I took copious mental notes including a short ponder on how you were too busy for a returned phone call or email to our staff yet, your email-ready smartphone was all but attached to your hand the entire unofficial visit.

Upon your departure, our staff reviewed your stats, strength numbers and transcripts. All are impressive, but of course we had to see you compete. Unfortunately, the highlight film you left us with that was edited to perfection to omit mistakes, was unhelpful.

Despite my reservations, I made the trip to watch your game live so I could determine if your resume matched your talent. After observing only a few minutes of the team warm-up, I noted that you were clearly the most gifted on your squad. However, your talent was unfortunately overshadowed by the lack of energy and effort you displayed.

At halftime, the team huddled up and as always when observing recruits, I honed in carefully on your demeanor and body language. I watched you walk in the opposite direction of your teammates and take a seat on the bench away from the group. You did not return to the team circle until prompted by your assistant coach. As the head coach spoke, I observed you break off into a private conversation with another teammate, rather than offering the coach your attention.

In the second half, when you scored I noticed you waited for the other players to huddle around you and celebrate. In contrast, when a teammate scored, you retreated to your position without acknowledging or congratulating them.

You added much depth in the scoring category with some impressive runs but when you made mistakes you became vocal and eager to point out where your teammates needed to improve. You had moments of greatness but they were followed by sporadic lulls of half-hearted effort.

As you are the team captain, I found it disappointing that you did not contribute to the post game team discussion. I watched as your mother brought over snacks and saw that you made no effort to assist her in bringing those large containers of cupcakes from the bleachers out to your 40 other teammates. Last, as the rest of the team broke the field down and put equipment away, you found a quiet spot on the empty bench to text on your phone.

Perhaps as a high school-age athlete, these are behaviors you are simply unaware of. In a world where you are being taught the X's and O's of mastering a sport, so much practice and dialogue in character building is diminishing. I realize that you have been told repeatedly by many of your previous coaches that you are amazing in your sport. However, players like you, with similar demeanor are a dime a dozen.

Since you have been a star in your sport for quite a while with coaches and parents who have clearly allowed these details to slip through the cracks also, you are not entirely to blame. However, please bear in mind, none of this makes you a bad person only potentially, a bad teammate. The attributes I am judging you on happen to be far more important than any of your trophies, all-star selections or travel team accolades.

There is no doubt you are talented. However, from my experience, here are the 10 things I know about athletes like you.

1. Your incredible talent is the same talent that in your sophomore year of college will suddenly suffer an ego blow when a new freshman arrives with equal or greater talent. Battling your feeling of ownership over your position and feeling threatened is inevitable.

2. Rather than working hard to better your game, you are more likely to be the athlete that is constantly comparing your success to others rather than focusing on growth for yourself. This will become a tedious and exhausting process for your coaches and team to constantly have to reassure you of your self worth and value.

3. As those around you put in the work, rather than be grateful to be surrounded by a committed group of individuals who share common goals, you are more likely to resent them and seek out allies to split the team support in half and create locker room chatter.

4. In the event you see time on the bench you may not be emotionally prepared, willing to engage or support the teammate who is starting over you. Also, it is likely you will find it challenging to support the success your team obtains when they win without you on the field.

5. When you become unhappy with your own performance you are more likely to blame your coach, teammates or anyone other than yourself.

6. Since your previous coaches and adult guidance have fallen short in emphasizing the importance of accountability, you will likely be that much more of a challenge for our staff and program to work with.

7. Aside from your time in college, the end goal of being a student-athlete is to get a degree while playing a sport you love. If your goal as an athlete-student is to get a starting position while earning a degree you tolerate, your goals will be out of alignment with the program from the start.

8. Athletes who truly work for their program become stronger people who work well with others and are able to admit their weaknesses in order to improve. If I am forced to spend your first two years of college trying to catch you up on late lessons of being accountable and respectful, it is probable you will spend your second two years resenting me which ultimately leads to an ambush of bad senior exit interview feedback.

9. Athletes are treasured in the workforce and therefore, you are likely to land a job after you graduate. However, if you fail to get along with those in our program you are prone to carrying this over into your professional life. If you are unhappy with your boss or coworker you will be more likely to find yourself unequipped to work through your problem without soliciting complaining or quitting.

10. By choosing not to recruit you, I am saving my team culture. On the bright side, perhaps if you are rejected this will be your first opportunity to face adversity and grow from it.

I recognize that it is possible you could change with guidance by coming to our program. However, the investment on my end presents high risk to the health of team morale, my livelihood and sanity. In my younger coaching years I believed far too often that many like you were capable of transformation. Over time, without consistent support from the powers that be, I have lost my fair share of those battles and have watched colleagues lose their jobs when athletes like you are unsatisfied. I am a great coach who takes so much of my success and failure home with me at night and am actively making the choice to choose ethics and attitude over talent.

Today I crossed you off my list as a potential recruit despite your obvious talent. Over the thousands of hours I have spent away from my family recruiting, answering emails, calls, official visits, watching game film and logging contacts and evaluations, I have learned from my mistakes. As a result, although the athlete playing right next to you has half the stats and three quarters of your speed, they are supportive, determined and selfless. This kind of athlete, will be our next signee.

Please take these words and advice into consideration and I wish you all the best.

Coach

[aucanucktiger 1,791]

Interesting footnote: this was actually written to a high school female soccer player but it could apply to either gender and for virtually any team sport. I say thank you prima donnas for freeing up those scholarships, otherwise how would average talent athletes that busted their butts like me get offers.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Can I get a link to this "letter?"

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Can I get a link to this "letter?"

I pulled it from a post on LinkedIn, so you'd have to have an account and log-in to read it.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

I have seen this letter from a couple of pages on FB. Next time I see it, I will post a link.

[AURex 1,994]

Here is a link to the original. It was written by the Women's Rugby Coach at Quinnipiac University.

https://youth1.com/football/1347613-an-open-letter-to-student-athletes-from-a-di-coach

[Strychnine 1,802]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

[aujeff11 6,243]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

So what, you're saying coaches don't look for or care about these things?

[aujeff11 6,243]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

So what, you're saying coaches don't look for or care about these things?

No, I didn't say that. There were however many trivial things in the letter that I hope that the coaches don't care much about. Such as the two sentence email. Who cares? In football, the recruits and coaches are coached on how to deal with recruiting so half of her letter isn't even applicable. I trust that the coaches can see that these recruits are still in high school and that everybody deserves a second chance for one thing or the other depending on the circumstances. Lastly, I hope our coaches are not near as judgemental and stereotypical as the rugby coach appears to be. She doesn't know who will play into their junior year and who will fizz out just by observing demeanor from the stands. Kids learn and they mature. Thankfully we have had several that matured with us such as Trae, Jovon, Marshall, etc. I'm glad we have coaches that are confident in their abilities to get through to players, not just micro manage and nitpick every little aspect of who they want.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

So what, you're saying coaches don't look for or care about these things?

No, I didn't say that. There were however many trivial things in the letter that I hope that the coaches don't care much about. Such as the two sentence email. Who cares? In football, the recruits and coaches are coached on how to deal with recruiting so half of her letter isn't even applicable. I trust that the coaches can see that these recruits are still in high school and that everybody deserves a second chance for one thing or the other depending on the circumstances. Lastly, I hope our coaches are not near as judgemental and stereotypical as the rugby coach appears to be. She doesn't know who will play into their junior year and who will fizz out just by observing demeanor from the stands. Kids learn and they mature. Thankfully we have had several that matured with us such as Trae, Jovon, Marshall, etc. I'm glad we have coaches that are confident in their abilities to get through to players, not just micro manage and nitpick every little aspect of who they want.

I see this piece as a "cautionary tale" of sorts, likely written by a coach who has seen all of these things, repeatedly, not in one person, but across multiple players, and is hoping to help them do better for themselves and their team, since their parents and high school coaches aren't doing their jobs. The two line email, for instance, is something that I'm sure she and a lot of other coaches see often. "Hi, this is Sally. I was wondering if you were giving out scholarships for rugby." That has to be frustrating for a coach, because it shows a player who is clueless about professional communication, focused on the money, and anticipates the coach doing all of the work to connect the dots. If a standard student had done the same thing, they would be immediately dropped into the rejected pile.

The reality of it is, these kids won't mature if they don't have role models to teach them. It's pretty obvious, when a coach observes what this coach outlines, that they are seeing a player who is lacking in role models.

While I agree that what she wrote is judgmental (though I would argue that it's not a bad thing), I fail to see where it's stereotyping.

[aujeff11 6,243]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

So what, you're saying coaches don't look for or care about these things?

No, I didn't say that. There were however many trivial things in the letter that I hope that the coaches don't care much about. Such as the two sentence email. Who cares? In football, the recruits and coaches are coached on how to deal with recruiting so half of her letter isn't even applicable. I trust that the coaches can see that these recruits are still in high school and that everybody deserves a second chance for one thing or the other depending on the circumstances. Lastly, I hope our coaches are not near as judgemental and stereotypical as the rugby coach appears to be. She doesn't know who will play into their junior year and who will fizz out just by observing demeanor from the stands. Kids learn and they mature. Thankfully we have had several that matured with us such as Trae, Jovon, Marshall, etc. I'm glad we have coaches that are confident in their abilities to get through to players, not just micro manage and nitpick every little aspect of who they want.

I see this piece as a "cautionary tale" of sorts, likely written by a coach who has seen all of these things, repeatedly, not in one person, but across multiple players, and is hoping to help them do better for themselves and their team, since their parents and high school coaches aren't doing their jobs. The two line email, for instance, is something that I'm sure she and a lot of other coaches see often. "Hi, this is Sally. I was wondering if you were giving out scholarships for rugby." That has to be frustrating for a coach, because it shows a player who is clueless about professional communication, focused on the money, and anticipates the coach doing all of the work to connect the dots. If a standard student had done the same thing, they would be immediately dropped into the rejected pile.

The reality of it is, these kids won't mature if they don't have role models to teach them. It's pretty obvious, when a coach observes what this coach outlines, that they are seeing a player who is lacking in role models.

While I agree that what she wrote is judgmental (though I would argue that it's not a bad thing), I fail to see where it's stereotyping.

She is projecting a group of people with the same characteristics as the same. That's stereotyping. That's why she didnt offer the scholly because she learned from her "mistakes."

[lionheartkc 6,150]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

So what, you're saying coaches don't look for or care about these things?

No, I didn't say that. There were however many trivial things in the letter that I hope that the coaches don't care much about. Such as the two sentence email. Who cares? In football, the recruits and coaches are coached on how to deal with recruiting so half of her letter isn't even applicable. I trust that the coaches can see that these recruits are still in high school and that everybody deserves a second chance for one thing or the other depending on the circumstances. Lastly, I hope our coaches are not near as judgemental and stereotypical as the rugby coach appears to be. She doesn't know who will play into their junior year and who will fizz out just by observing demeanor from the stands. Kids learn and they mature. Thankfully we have had several that matured with us such as Trae, Jovon, Marshall, etc. I'm glad we have coaches that are confident in their abilities to get through to players, not just micro manage and nitpick every little aspect of who they want.

I see this piece as a "cautionary tale" of sorts, likely written by a coach who has seen all of these things, repeatedly, not in one person, but across multiple players, and is hoping to help them do better for themselves and their team, since their parents and high school coaches aren't doing their jobs. The two line email, for instance, is something that I'm sure she and a lot of other coaches see often. "Hi, this is Sally. I was wondering if you were giving out scholarships for rugby." That has to be frustrating for a coach, because it shows a player who is clueless about professional communication, focused on the money, and anticipates the coach doing all of the work to connect the dots. If a standard student had done the same thing, they would be immediately dropped into the rejected pile.

The reality of it is, these kids won't mature if they don't have role models to teach them. It's pretty obvious, when a coach observes what this coach outlines, that they are seeing a player who is lacking in role models.

While I agree that what she wrote is judgmental (though I would argue that it's not a bad thing), I fail to see where it's stereotyping.

She is projecting a group of people with the same characteristics as the same. That's stereotyping. That's why she didnt offer the scholly because she learned from her "mistakes."

No... stereotyping is judging people by age, skin color, sex, etc. Judging people by their actions, the choices that they make, especially based on evidence (in this case, the coaches previous experience) and a the fact that there are multiple instances, is just being smart.

[aujeff11 6,243]

In this thread we have a claim that it was written by a soccer coach, and a claim it was written by a rubgy coach. While I do not necessarily disagree with much of its content, it has chain letter fodder written all over it.

Yep! I thought it was ridiculous.

So what, you're saying coaches don't look for or care about these things?

No, I didn't say that. There were however many trivial things in the letter that I hope that the coaches don't care much about. Such as the two sentence email. Who cares? In football, the recruits and coaches are coached on how to deal with recruiting so half of her letter isn't even applicable. I trust that the coaches can see that these recruits are still in high school and that everybody deserves a second chance for one thing or the other depending on the circumstances. Lastly, I hope our coaches are not near as judgemental and stereotypical as the rugby coach appears to be. She doesn't know who will play into their junior year and who will fizz out just by observing demeanor from the stands. Kids learn and they mature. Thankfully we have had several that matured with us such as Trae, Jovon, Marshall, etc. I'm glad we have coaches that are confident in their abilities to get through to players, not just micro manage and nitpick every little aspect of who they want.

I see this piece as a "cautionary tale" of sorts, likely written by a coach who has seen all of these things, repeatedly, not in one person, but across multiple players, and is hoping to help them do better for themselves and their team, since their parents and high school coaches aren't doing their jobs. The two line email, for instance, is something that I'm sure she and a lot of other coaches see often. "Hi, this is Sally. I was wondering if you were giving out scholarships for rugby." That has to be frustrating for a coach, because it shows a player who is clueless about professional communication, focused on the money, and anticipates the coach doing all of the work to connect the dots. If a standard student had done the same thing, they would be immediately dropped into the rejected pile.

The reality of it is, these kids won't mature if they don't have role models to teach them. It's pretty obvious, when a coach observes what this coach outlines, that they are seeing a player who is lacking in role models.

While I agree that what she wrote is judgmental (though I would argue that it's not a bad thing), I fail to see where it's stereotyping.

She is projecting a group of people with the same characteristics as the same. That's stereotyping. That's why she didnt offer the scholly because she learned from her "mistakes."

No... stereotyping is judging people by age, skin color, sex, etc. Judging people by their actions, the choices that they make, especially based on evidence (in this case, the coaches previous experience) and a the fact that there are multiple instances, is just being smart.

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotype

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-w...nary/stereotype

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/characteristic

Characteristics are something that make up a person, not their actions or choices. For instance, in this case, the characteristic is being a top athlete. The action is focusing on themselves instead of the team.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-w...nary/stereotype

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/characteristic

Characteristics are something that make up a person, not their actions or choices. For instance, in this case, the characteristic is being a top athlete. The action is focusing on themselves instead of the team.

You are lost if you're trying to use the definition of characteristics as your argument.

[aujeff11 6,243]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fearless-coaching-remedy-athlete-entitlement-becky-carlson

From the same coach: her tone has atleast changed and is more accepted.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-w...nary/stereotype

http://www.merriam-w.../characteristic

Characteristics are something that make up a person, not their actions or choices. For instance, in this case, the characteristic is being a top athlete. The action is focusing on themselves instead of the team.

You are lost if you're trying to use the definition of characteristics as your argument.

I'm attempting to point out that you are trying to spin the definition of stereotype to include people who act a certain way, which is does not. Stereotyping is all about personal traits, thus the use of the word characteristics in the definition that you provided.

Anyway... more important things to do today than argue about something someone else wrote. If you think it's crap, that's your right. I personally hope some high school athletes who aren't getting the kind of mentoring they need will see it on social media, read it and realize that there are some very important aspects to being a great teammate than just being the best individual player on the field.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

https://www.linkedin...t-becky-carlson

From the same coach: her tone has atleast changed and is more accepted.

Thanks... I really like the way she thinks.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

First of all stereotyping is not always a bad thing. Like everything it is how is is used. If you are selling Senior citizen type products and have a limited advertising budget you would probably try to advertise to people over a certain age. If however you use it to prevent a group from getting or doing something that they should be allowed to get or do it is bad.

In this letter there is some truth to a student athlete's actions having an impact on whether they would be recruited but like all generalities this letter is false. Not every student who shows this type of behavior is a lost cause. E-mail etiquette from a young person who has never been involved in this type of process is a forgivable sin. Especially in a minor sport like Rugby where you are not even sure if the school offers Rugby scholarships. The actions on the field this coach saw when they watched one game is this typical behavior for this student or was this something that happened at that one game. Sometimes even good people have bad days.

That is why a coach also asks other people like students current coach and teachers about the student.

If I was a coach recruiting a student I would actually mention these issues to the student and see if student could explain it. Also coaches talk with each other it is a very closed community you might ask other coaches have they have seen similar behavior.

Now if research shows this behavior is typical for this student athlete then I could see this influencing the coach and have the coach not offering this student athlete.

I am a volunteer assistant coach for our high school Rugby it is a club team not a school team so no paid coaches. My son has been recruited to play at a couple of schools. The schools that provide some type of monetary help for Rugby players do it in a variety of ways some are actual scholarships as it is a true school sport some are alumni groups raising money to support club team and providing a small stipend.

The recruiting process in Rugby is different then football the budgets are small a lot is put on the player or parents to provide material to coaches who may or may not get to see you play.

Also because Rugby is a continuous action sport that requires a lot of communication, support, and teamwork very seldom if ever will you see a player scoring a lot of tries by his or herself. Most tries come about with multiple people touching the ball on your team a self centered athlete no matter how good their skill-set won't excel without working with their teammates.

I have college coaches talking to me about players both from my team and from other teams all the time. The better players are invited to play on age specific state, regional and sometimes national teams everybody on these teams are talented and players are cut quickly who don't pass and support teammates in rucks and mauls.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-w...nary/stereotype

http://www.merriam-w.../characteristic

Characteristics are something that make up a person, not their actions or choices. For instance, in this case, the characteristic is being a top athlete. The action is focusing on themselves instead of the team.

You are lost if you're trying to use the definition of characteristics as your argument.

I'm attempting to point out that you are trying to spin the definition of stereotype to include people who act a certain way, which is does not. Stereotyping is all about personal traits, thus the use of the word characteristics in the definition that you provided.

Anyway... more important things to do today than argue about something someone else wrote. If you think it's crap, that's your right. I personally hope some high school athletes who aren't getting the kind of mentoring they need will see it on social media, read it and realize that there are some very important aspects to being a great teammate than just being the best individual player on the field.

How in the heck am I spinning the definition of stereotyping when I almost gave the definition in verbatim to Webster's? Just because you wanted to talk in particulars such as race, sex, "ETC," that doesn't mean my definition was spun through an alternative or from a nonexistent meaning. I mean Good Lord.

I don't understand your argument that if a "person acts a certain way" that can't be stereotyped. So start over if you want to clarify yourself. If I smoked pot or sold ten ounces of weed, I was told by another person on here that I'd fit three stereotype: "low-life, lazyass and non violent." Smoking pot or drug dealing isn't "personal traits" so that squashes what you're saying.

[FoundationEagle 637]

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-w...nary/stereotype

http://www.merriam-w.../characteristic

Characteristics are something that make up a person, not their actions or choices. For instance, in this case, the characteristic is being a top athlete. The action is focusing on themselves instead of the team.

You are lost if you're trying to use the definition of characteristics as your argument.

I'm attempting to point out that you are trying to spin the definition of stereotype to include people who act a certain way, which is does not. Stereotyping is all about personal traits, thus the use of the word characteristics in the definition that you provided.

Anyway... more important things to do today than argue about something someone else wrote. If you think it's crap, that's your right. I personally hope some high school athletes who aren't getting the kind of mentoring they need will see it on social media, read it and realize that there are some very important aspects to being a great teammate than just being the best individual player on the field.

How in the heck am I spinning the definition of stereotyping when I almost gave the definition in verbatim to Webster's? Just because you wanted to talk in particulars such as race, sex, "ETC," that doesn't mean my definition was spun through an alternative or from a nonexistent meaning. I mean Good Lord.

I don't understand your argument that if a "person acts a certain way" that can't be stereotyped. So start over if you want o clarify yourself. If I smoked pot and was drug dealing a ten ounces of weed, I was told by somebody they were three stereotypes, low-life, lazyass" and non violent. Smoking pot or drug dealing isn't "personal traits" so umm I'm not getting what you're saying.

I'd bet this woman is a racist homophobe gun clinging bible thumper amirite? She needs to be fired and there need to be protests ongoing until she is. Her type can't and won't be tolerated. Who the hell does she think she is?

[aujeff11 6,243]

Almost literally word for word for what I just said

http://www.merriam-w...nary/stereotype

http://www.merriam-w.../characteristic

Characteristics are something that make up a person, not their actions or choices. For instance, in this case, the characteristic is being a top athlete. The action is focusing on themselves instead of the team.

You are lost if you're trying to use the definition of characteristics as your argument.

I'm attempting to point out that you are trying to spin the definition of stereotype to include people who act a certain way, which is does not. Stereotyping is all about personal traits, thus the use of the word characteristics in the definition that you provided.

Anyway... more important things to do today than argue about something someone else wrote. If you think it's crap, that's your right. I personally hope some high school athletes who aren't getting the kind of mentoring they need will see it on social media, read it and realize that there are some very important aspects to being a great teammate than just being the best individual player on the field.

How in the heck am I spinning the definition of stereotyping when I almost gave the definition in verbatim to Webster's? Just because you wanted to talk in particulars such as race, sex, "ETC," that doesn't mean my definition was spun through an alternative or from a nonexistent meaning. I mean Good Lord.

I don't understand your argument that if a "person acts a certain way" that can't be stereotyped. So start over if you want o clarify yourself. If I smoked pot and was drug dealing a ten ounces of weed, I was told by somebody they were three stereotypes, low-life, lazyass" and non violent. Smoking pot or drug dealing isn't "personal traits" so umm I'm not getting what you're saying.

I'd bet this woman is a racist homophobe gun clinging bible thumper amirite? She needs to be fired and there need to be protests ongoing until she is. Her type can't and won't be tolerated. Who the hell does she think she is?

WTF are you talking about

[triangletiger 1,599]

I think there's a lot of wisdom in the letter. As far as the previous post which seem indicate that the writer of the letter deemed the athlete to whom it was directed as a 'lost cause', I don't think that's the case at all. The coach is making a decision based on observations and is just not willing to accept the risk that bringing this athlete into the fold will be poison for the team. I'm sure the coach hopes that is not how things turn out for the athlete, but a coach has to put what best for the team ahead of the needs or desires of any individual athlete.