S
sjexpress
Guest
A few weeks ago difficult child made a decision to leave a baseball team he's been playing with for 5 yrs. When this spring season started back in March, suddenly, difficult child was no longer a starting player and worse, when he did go into the game, it was not his regular position. The coach told husband that over the winter he got 2 more players to join the team and he thinks one of them is better than difficult child and since they both play the same position, difficult child had to move and share a spot with someone else. This of course has grated on difficult child for the whole season and of course has caused lots of tears and more acting out at home due to his frustrations. You have to understand, for many years, difficult child was one of the "stars" of the team so this new player taking over for him is a huge hurt for him. He was basically demoted and I can't blame him for having his feelings hurt.
Fortunately, there is a 2nd team that difficult child plays for and the coach thinks he is a great player and difficult child plays the whole game each time at the position he loves. We had a long talk with difficult child about leaving the first team and playing only for the 2nd. We weighed all the pros and cons with him and gave him all the support about how we know it is a difficult decision to move on but sometimes things are for the best. Like I mentioned at the beginning, difficult child will quit the original team.
Well, last nite was the last game for difficult child with that team and he is really struggling with anger and sadness!! Yes, that is how competitive sports are, etc... my head knows it but I still can't help feel like my heart is breaking for him. To me as a parent, that coach showed no loyalty to a player who gave his all in every practice and game and was more than commited to the team.Even in this last game, the coach was a jerk! difficult child did get to play his original position because the other kid was pitching but with only 2 outs left in the whole game, the coach goes onto the field and tells difficult child to head to the bench and replaces him with the kid who was just pitching. What the heck was that for? difficult child had done nothing wrong. This crushed difficult child as he thought he'd finish his time with the team at the same position he'd started at years ago. I know it is corny, but this is how he wanted to go out! It was all I could do not to cry I felt so bad for difficult child!
difficult child was only 1 of 3 remaining original players on the team and husband was assist. coach who busted his butt helping the team no matter what had to be done! difficult child was a starting player always and the team won numerous championships over the years and now suddenly, he was not good enough! These players are still just boys for goodness sakes! They are not making millions of dollars to bring home the trophy!
So hopefully as they say, time heals all wounds, but I think it's a rougher road when dealing with a difficult child. I truly believe when the summer season starts in few weeks with the new team only, difficult child will be happy with his decision. I hope.... in the meantime, our family will have to deal with some excess behavior from difficult child which by the way, started this morning when he refused to go to school because he was too sad and wanted to wear his dirty uniform that he played in and then proceeded to sleep in and then but back on after he showered this morning, because he was too sad to not look at it anymore!! Oh the drama! He did eventually put on clean clothes and I drove him to school a bit late but at least he went!
Fortunately, there is a 2nd team that difficult child plays for and the coach thinks he is a great player and difficult child plays the whole game each time at the position he loves. We had a long talk with difficult child about leaving the first team and playing only for the 2nd. We weighed all the pros and cons with him and gave him all the support about how we know it is a difficult decision to move on but sometimes things are for the best. Like I mentioned at the beginning, difficult child will quit the original team.
Well, last nite was the last game for difficult child with that team and he is really struggling with anger and sadness!! Yes, that is how competitive sports are, etc... my head knows it but I still can't help feel like my heart is breaking for him. To me as a parent, that coach showed no loyalty to a player who gave his all in every practice and game and was more than commited to the team.Even in this last game, the coach was a jerk! difficult child did get to play his original position because the other kid was pitching but with only 2 outs left in the whole game, the coach goes onto the field and tells difficult child to head to the bench and replaces him with the kid who was just pitching. What the heck was that for? difficult child had done nothing wrong. This crushed difficult child as he thought he'd finish his time with the team at the same position he'd started at years ago. I know it is corny, but this is how he wanted to go out! It was all I could do not to cry I felt so bad for difficult child!
difficult child was only 1 of 3 remaining original players on the team and husband was assist. coach who busted his butt helping the team no matter what had to be done! difficult child was a starting player always and the team won numerous championships over the years and now suddenly, he was not good enough! These players are still just boys for goodness sakes! They are not making millions of dollars to bring home the trophy!
So hopefully as they say, time heals all wounds, but I think it's a rougher road when dealing with a difficult child. I truly believe when the summer season starts in few weeks with the new team only, difficult child will be happy with his decision. I hope.... in the meantime, our family will have to deal with some excess behavior from difficult child which by the way, started this morning when he refused to go to school because he was too sad and wanted to wear his dirty uniform that he played in and then proceeded to sleep in and then but back on after he showered this morning, because he was too sad to not look at it anymore!! Oh the drama! He did eventually put on clean clothes and I drove him to school a bit late but at least he went!