Bits & Pieces

A Matter Of Principle

By Kim J. Harmon

 

We ask an awful lot of our coaches (the two most egregious things we ask is that they work for a pittance and deal with parents on a daily basis) and, yet, when they attempt to stick to some simple principles they become a victim.

One Newtown coach insists that her athletes attend every practice. Last year some chose to miss practices and to work out elsewhere and when it came time to hand out letters, some of the best performers on the team did not receive one.

It was a matter of principle.

And mainly because of that, some of those same athletes chose not to participate with the high school team this year and the team – once dominant – slid quickly back into the middle of the SWC pack.

Sure, other coaches have had arrangements with their athletes who have wanted to train outside the high school, but most coaches feel that isn’t the way to build a team or to foster team unity.

And they lose some very good athletes because of it.

But something like that is a matter of principle and coaches should be commended for sticking to it.

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Is there any school that does it better than Newtown?

Let me answer that for you – no.

I have been to a lot of different schools in several different conferences across the state and right from the ground up – literally – the sports experience at Newtown High School is second to none. From the field preparation (that would be Carl Samuelsson and his crew) to the concessions at the stadium (that would be Dan Barrett and his Blue & Gold Booster club crew), the public address at indoor and outdoor events (that’s Jay Edwards, the Velvet voice and possibly a fourth cousin twice removed of John Facenda), the national anthem (give Dan Winsett credit for periodically finding a student with a wonderful voice to sing it live and saving the rest of us from hearing Whitney Houston do her 27-minute version) and the scoreboard (come on, who does better clock than Jen Huettner?).

And it all comes from a commitment by athletic director Gregg Simon, almost as a matter of principle, to make the sports experience at Newtown special for all the athletes.

Kudos.

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Can you believe it’s time for basketball already?

The Newtown High School girls’ basketball team officially opens tryouts and practices on Monday, November 20. Every else follows suit the following Monday.

I don’t know if I’m ready yet.