A Misguided Effort To

‘Rebuild’ The Baseball Team

To the Editor:

In a misguided effort to “rebuild” the Newtown High School baseball team, the school administration has unwittingly taught some talented but unfortunate upperclassmen some sad lessons about life. In the end, the losers may be the school and the “lucky” underclassmen.

Early this season, High School Baseball Coach Carl Strait cut a dozen junior and senior athletes from the baseball program. Then he catapulted unseasoned freshman and sophomores on to the varsity, filling spots that should have gone to the upperclassmen.

Presumably, the logic in this move was to force feed underclassmen, in hopes of producing a championship team a few years down the road. Winning is important in high school sports. But this seems to take the “win no matter what” creed to a new level. Traditionally, high school sports –– much like minor league farm clubs –– use their freshman and junior varsity teams to mature and discipline youngsters for the rigors and pressures of varsity sports, honing their talents and hopefully teaching them good sportsmanship. Like the majors, only gifted players with superstar potential leapfrog this seasoning process.

In their win-all wisdom, Coach Strait and Athletic Director Gregg Simon have turned this process on its head. No doubt, some of the recently elevated freshman and sophomores are talented athletes, but surely not all are superstars! Some of these kids may end up with an undeserved sense of privilege or an inflated opinion of their skills and talents that could be trouble later on. Others will be disillusioned when they’re abruptly removed from the varsity to make way for next year’s freshman.

Meantime, the upperclassmen have been short-changed the well-earned opportunity to play their high school careers on the varsity. For them, the high school program demanded hard work and dedication on the freshman and junior varsity teams –– with an implicit promise that the more talented would make the varsity.

Now that promise has been broken. It’s been a crushing experiment for some, but youth is resilient. Many will go on to play baseball on summer teams. Others will devote more time to after-school jobs or new opportunities. All will have learned some hard, but maturing lessons. The system is not always fair. The more powerful can change standards at whim. Leaders have clay feet.

Charles Fulkerson

8 Currituck Road, Newtown                                        April 26, 2003