A nine-year-old kid is being told he's "too good" to continue playing Little League baseball...
No, really,
I'm not making that up.
Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out.
The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.
Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho's coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.
It gets better...
League officials say they first told Vidro that the boy could not pitch
after a game on Aug. 13. Jericho played second base the next game on Aug. 16.
But when he took the mound Wednesday, the other team walked off and a forfeit
was called.
So, what's the lesson that we're teaching these young kids? Seems like we're saying that when life gives you things that seem impossible to overcome, that giving up or trying to change the rules is the way to go instead of challenging yourself and working to overcome them. I'm sure Jericho is a very good pitcher but even the best pitchers aren't unhittable. But instead of using this as a chance to teach these kids about the power of working together and never giving up in the face of the odds being stacked against you, they should just give up.
You know, I thought playing sports was supposed to teach kids about how to win, how to lose and other life lessons like how to work together to overcome long odds and come out on top. I'm not sure which irritates me more in this story--the league saying that Jericho couldn't play or the other team that just walked off the field and refused to even bother to put forth an effort in playing against Jericho.
What kind of message is this sending to the young people of this town? And how long do you think it will before this spreads to other Little League types of sports?
posted by Michael Hickerson at 8/26/2008 01:26:00 PM |
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