A 30 run victory against a local side was much more comfortable than the stats suggest. They had dropped out of the league at the last minute but maintained the same fixtures as friendly matches. They complained that the league was now too competitive for bringing youth players through to the senior setup and decided that friendlies were the way forward. In my eyes, if they are good enough to play then they are old enough to play and that limiting them to friendly village cricket is simply going to bore them away from the game or end up producing soft cricketers.
It seems this country's need to wrap kids in cotton wool will be the downfall of national sporting success. Our rugby team is in tatters ahead of the defense of their world cup crown and I wonder if that is because the next generation of player has come from a smaller crop of kids because of the turgid matches fought... ...sorry pranced out by instilling 'touch' rugby in schools?
It wasn't long ago that I heard of a school banning sports day because it meant that some poor soul would have to come last and it might their pride. It's ridiculous notions like that which will produce pansies out of these potential winners. What is going to happen to these kids when they finally hit the real world and suddenly there is no prize for coming last?
That said it seems that benefits and housing are often given to the underachievers of this country so perhaps that school is just preparing their kids for life in the real world.
It's disappointing to lose but it's those times that stick in your memory and act as the catalyst for victory the following week and the week after that. It's easy to be a part of a winning team but standing up and being counted when everything is going against you is what marks competitors out against the rest and earns you respect from your team-mates and opposition. Why, oh why, deny that opportunity to the kids of today?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment