Small Culbs Team: A Short Story

In his autobiography Life Lessons from Little League, Vincent Fortanasce says “Winning is never final, and losing is never fatal.” At the end of a game, one team will win and the other will lose. Failure to accept this concept has become detrimental to American youth sports organizations. Our society has become infatuated with winning, and all of the additional perks associated with it. What is considered the “best” for children as young as five years old has grown to an unrealistic extent. Parents want their children to be in a reputable organization, young athletes want to play with highly skilled teammates, and coaches want to recruit talented players all in hopes of being the absolute “best”. The amount of young athletes, ranging from five to fourteen years old, participating in local sports organizations has declined within the last two decades due to the highly competitive and unhealthy environments they are being exposed to.Taking pride in your local community has decreased form an athletic point of view. Representing the place I grew up in was a motivating factor when I put my uniform on for every single softball game I played in high school. I had the privilege to play on the field next to girls I had grown to love the sport with ever since our tee ball days. Today, young athletes are branching out from their homegrown roots to play for club teams who recruit players from a larger region. The popularity of traveling teams has substantially diluted the

Hello? 38. 39. 40. - Barry? 41. - Adam? 42.

“I said it was either misplaced or someone took it and he was like ‘oh if that happened we can just get you a new phone if you can’t find it,” she said.

If that child were to regain his sovereignty he may not even know how or see the point in it. Because to regain the freedom of having his own experience of playing, that child needs to just go outside find some other children and have fun. There does not need to be any strict rules or regulations. There is no set start and end time. They are just being active and having fun because they can. This is what is lost in current day when everything is about status and who does what. Parents want to have the kids with the most activities and who are very successful at those activities. There is a certain anxiety for both the child and the parents because “they are afraid that at any moment [they] might fail” (463). Sports teams turn the activity into a competition for the parents and that leads the child to just want to do well enough not to upset their parents. It is not about the kids anymore; it is about winning and following the standard. Break those standards and that child will have such a better experience; one where they learn something other than how to win or how to please a coach, a parent, and a team.

“How come y’all ain’t scared of us like you were Dally?” Johnny said. He had that scared look in his eyes, that told me he’d been badly hurt, but I could only tell because I had that same look for weeks after my mother died. I sighed, “You two are too sweet to scare anyone. First of all, you didn’t join in Dallas’s dirty talk, and you made him leave us alone. And when we asked you to sit up here with us, you didn't act like it was an invitation to make out for the night. Besides that, I’ve heard about Dallas Winston, and he looked as hard as nails and twice as tough. And you two don’t look mean.”

America’s baseball diamonds, soccer fields, hockey rinks, and basketball courts have never been so busy with children. The number of kids involved in an organized sport is not what is so groundbreaking. It’s the way in which children are playing or how their parents are arranging for them to play that may be cause for concern (Ferguson). Much controversy surrounds youth sports with the biggest disagreements coming over parental involvement and the intensity of play. Although there are many benefits for team participation, there is a growing fear that the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives.

Coaches should be required to give equal playing time to kids 13 and under because studies have shown that “70% of children are dropping out of organized sports by the age of 13” (Sullivan). There are multiple reasons for why this is happening. The kids could be finding new things that interest them more for example, but one of the reasons is because they’re sitting the bench, not getting playing time. A reason for the coach benching them is because they might be underdeveloped and not the best player so the coaches try to mandate their playing time. In an article, by an anonymous writer the person states that “If kids are on a team, and they never get to play meaningful minutes or get pulled out after any mistake, they are going to quit!” (Sullivan). This is true. Who wants to sit on the bench and be forced to watch your other teammates play. How are kids supposed to develop a real world view of the game? How are they supposed to improve?

Somehow, he pulls it off. "That 's my daughter 's phone number in California. My sister read it to me over the phone last night. They 're going to strip search me and I can 't take anything to the Walls and I 'm afraid I 'll forget it. Give it to Father Walsh. Then I 'll have it when I make my last phone calls."

“SHHH dude be quiet we don’t want the guards to know about…th-th-the wonderful food.” Young said to save us as a guard walked nearby.”Dude you need to be more secret you are going to blow our cover!” Adams whispered silently but harshly.

In the fall of 2014, the Monte Irvin Baseball League located in Orange, New Jersey faced problems with their players not trying their best. A kid named Samajay Stovall was criticized by his whole team as they didn’t want him playing because of the way he was playing.

The ADL called Cohen, “Let me speak with Mr. Cohen, tell him Daniel Myers is calling,” Mr. Myers says. Cohen took the call.

That hurts the team as well as themselves. Jeffrey Rhoads from insideyouthsports.org has an interesting quote about giving children opportunities based on how they practice. “Teach Everyone Everything in practice, but tweak playing time as necessary in games so that everyone is placed in the best position to succeed.” It means kids will be placed where they deserve to be placed.

First off, after his first quest from defeating Sinister, he was given some gadgets that were to assist him in his journey callings. One of the things he was given was a phone that rings whenever there is an emergency and locates where it is. This starts with Adam sitting under the shade-giving tree with his girlfriend Alissa, all is normal nothing out of the ordinary. They are both enjoying the moment when the phone starts to vibrate violently, Adam tries his best to ignore it. He continues to ignore it, he did not want to waste this beautiful moment so he refuses to accept the call to action. Now Alissa well knowing of what Adam does, tells him to go and she will be waiting for him when he comes back. As Adam runs home to the scene of action, he does not check where the villain Telecno is; there at that moment he was hit with a boulder that had flown through the air. The rock had hit him square on above his head, Morpheus was on the verge of death. Morpheus opened his eyes and found Telecno standing fifty feet behind and ten boulders around him controlled with his telekinesis. Telecno sends them all flying towards Morpheus, with lightning speed and power he transforms into a jaguar and leaps on every boulder, he jumps off and strikes Telecno. There Telecno turned to dust, the only thing remaining was his belt, Morpheus did not know what it was so he returned home with an unknown prize. He met up with his girlfriend and there they enjoyed the rest of the day

My dad flipped his keys to the sharply dressed valet as if he’d done it a million times before. Although his 2004 Volvo in a line of BMWs, Lexus’, and Mercedes’ said otherwise. We entered a five star dining center, flashed our Lexus Club wristbands, and walked in as if we owned the place. I immediately felt underdressed in my khaki pants and Timberwolves shirt as many of the men there wore ties and some freshly pressed suit coates. The restaurant was dimly lit with black everything: black chairs, black tablecloths,

“Opening Day games are often played during working and school hours, requiring adults and children to invent excuses