Re: Pinewood Derby Winning
Bruce Harper (bharper@VT.EDU)
Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:50:09 +0900
From: RYAN KEIL <RYAN.KEIL@M.CC.UTAH.EDU>
>On winning, I would first ask what is winning? Does a person, be that
>person a youth or an adult, lose when that individual participates in
>something but doesn't perform better than another person?
In addition to Scouts, my boys (and myself) are involved in the local
recreational soccer league (I've been a coach, 6 seasons as an age-group
coordinator, and am starting my second year as league president). The
league is of the "go out and play in the sunshine and fresh air and maybe
learn a little about soccer and team play" type--we don't keep individual
or team stats and when the game ends, no one really remembers the score.
Most all of the kids have no problem with this, but there are some parents
who (as others have said here) should stay at home.
In one of the "coaching youth soccer" books I picked up along the way, the
author stressed a very good philosophy about working with young players. He
said that when a game ends, there are "winners and learners" going off the
field. I think if this were the emphasis we as leaders put on things (instead
of the main point being "you came in _second_" with the implied "you failed"),
the kids would be much better off. The bottom line of a Pinewood Derby is
not who got the trophy for the fastest time or most races won, it is the
time a Cub spent with his dad or mom or some adult working on the car and
the sense of accomplishing something. (Now if we could figure out a way to
get through to the parents . . .)
Bruce in Blacksburg
Bruce Harper bruce.harper@vt.edu
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