The Agony of Success
Every year coaching hockey we have a draft. Each team is allowed to protect 5 kids from year-to-year, as they enter the division at 14 and leave at 17. It is always a big challenge dealing with the kids that go back into the draft, particularly when we are not able to get them back on my team. Last year, the last kid picked in the draft absolutely loved playing for us and was sincerely upset at the possibility of not getting back on our team (he did improve significantly).
The job we do in developing our weaker kids each year is something I take incredible pride in, not to mention receiving many complements from parents, coaches and other people throughout the league. It does have its repercussions though, such as the disappointment from those couple of kids every year that we are not able to get back.
The night before the draft, the mother of this kid I mentioned previously, called me saying her son was having an anxiety attack and didn't know if she could get him to play if he wasn't on our team. Last night we held the draft and I couldn't get him back. I know one would think that we should just let the kid back on our team, but the boys are young adults and I don't believe that it is a good lesson (or positive behavioral conditioning) to allow the kid to get his way by becoming "ill." In my opinion, kids need to learn to deal with disappointment and new challenges.
Still, it hurts. He has sent me several texts tonight and I don't want to communicate anything to him until his new coach has had a chance to call him. I wil speak with him, but it will be difficult.
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I was able to work things out that way.
Interesting a colleague I worked with who ran another baseball league than where I managed barred the managers from the draft. The league assigned the players in what it believed an evenhanded way.
I do recall when we held our softball draft -- we had two teams from our league in the 9/10 age category at the time, we agree to divide the then four pitchers first. A day after the draft, a former player for the other manager joined. Based on the rules, she was assigned to my team. Ira, the other manager, whose daughter filled in once for Fred's team in 2012, offered me back one of his pitchers (who I had developed the year before) for that late joiner. I agreed. It left Ira with one really good pitcher who when we played for the title in the collaborative league our teams played in, was on vacation. And of course, the girl traded back to my team single-handled pitch and hit us to the title game win; a surreal outcome. After the season we played in the girls LL WS and advanced through the sectionals with the best players from both of our teams.
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