Do they think all of our kids are going to become professional football players? Basketball players? Volleyball players? Come on! Let's look realistically at the reason for sports. Why were sports created? For recreation! To keep folks in shape. And why were they brought into our schools? To keep kids busy but to also learn about life lessons. That's it. Now, I do realize that sports can open doors for kids. They can get scholarships, go to good schools, go to school at all. Sports give some kids great opportunities. But let's keep things in perspective, especially when the kids are ... nine! Puh-lease!

Yesterday, my daughter made a really bad lay up. She admitted it. And she apparently broke a cardinal rule. She laughed at herself. She didn't laugh at someone else's poor attempt. She laughed at her own. She's 9. If you know any 9 year old girls, then you know they laugh. Period. They laugh at silly things. They laugh at the news, which is rarely funny. They laugh when they're embarrassed. They just laugh. It's healthy. And the coach got mad at her, made her sit out and said, "It's not funny." Puh-lease!

Let's keep things in perspective. Even I can have perspective on this. If it was Kobe Bryant shooting the last shot of the championship game, and it meant the Lakers winning or losing, which meant hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, well, I get that. I can understand that he shouldn't laugh if he misses. But, my daughter is in summer camp! Not a National Championship game. Did I mention she's 9?

I'm just saying...

Now I will freely admit that there are some GREAT coaches out there. Coach Moh, you are awesome! But there are some really horrible coaches out there. I'm not saying my daughter's coach yesterday was lousy. He had a bad moment. We all have those. But I have witnessed some really horrific coaches in action. And it is appalling. And they are cheered for having winning teams. And it makes me sick. So they win a game, at what price? How much damage have they done to children, teens, adults? Trust me, I've seen kids damaged by coaches' careless words, heartless actions.

I understand this is a very deep issue that can't be mined in one little blog. It's a symptom of our society. And I'm not going there today. I'm just saying ... can we please keep things in perspective? It's SUMMER CAMP! She's NINE!