Got Casted in high school

In high school, I played softball (in addition to gymnastics). I was a center fielder with years of experience at that position. Junior year, I was bumped to left field and a freshman girl with a room brightening smile took over at center. I asked the coach in my most non-bitchy, it's-cool-I'm-just-curious voice the reason for the switch, and was told (I swear I am not making this up) that my replacement had more upside.

Then the coach clomped away in her Birkenstocks to her Subaru. (really)

PamelaOC said:

In high school, I played softball (in addition to gymnastics). I was a center fielder with years of experience at that position. Junior year, I was bumped to left field and a freshman girl with a room brightening smile took over at center. I asked the coach in my most non-bitchy, it's-cool-I'm-just-curious voice the reason for the switch, and was told (I swear I am not making this up) that my replacement had more upside.

Then the coach clomped away in her Birkenstocks to her Subaru. (really)

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Hey PamelaOC glad you made it back home safe. What year approximately did the hippie misguided coach tell you that the affeleta had more upside?

Westside said:

Hey PamelaOC glad you made it back home safe. What year approximately did the hippie misguided coach tell you that the affeleta had more upside?

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LOL. I'm 28 years old, if that's what you're really asking.

Center field is the cornerback of baseball. Even the great Mike Trout was bumped from center to left field, presumably because his smile failed to brighten the room to the required wattage. Left field is like safety. Shortstop is like running black.

Pro-black/anti-white sports policy has to be really bad for the girls. It's all about looks and the average black girl looks more masculine then the average white guy today. While there may be some ways for white guys to look bad ass as a teenager, for a white girl, other then coming off as a stone cold dyke, being compared to the average black girl, a white coach will see an affalete in the black girl every time.

Especially in baseball/softball where there are almost no blacks at that level anyway, a black girl has to be seen by your average white HS coach as the next Willie Mays. I would think that the castesystem is worse for the ladies. It's just not that obvious since women's sports is not as publicized.

jaxvid said:

a black girl has to be seen by your average white HS coach as the next Willie Mays.

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That is the case for girls and boys. Early middle school is when the caste system sorting really takes place. While I don't have any daughters, and my observations of girls' sports are admittedly limited, I don't think it's as bad on that side. The caste system depends on black boys being more muscularly developed at an earlier grade/age. They look more cut in the 7th grade, and white coaches just go gaga over it. As I continue to have to buy new pants and shoes for my 9th grader who is now pushing 6 feet (and a hulking 128 lbs.), I notice that NONE of the black kids in his class are still growing; so much for "upside". The black girls don't have that early muscular development, they just get a huge butt (and pregnant).

Awake in America said:

That is the case for girls and boys. Early middle school is when the caste system sorting really takes place. While I don't have any daughters, and my observations of girls' sports are admittedly limited, I don't think it's as bad on that side. The caste system depends on black boys being more muscularly developed at an earlier grade/age. They look more cut in the 7th grade, and white coaches just go gaga over it. As I continue to have to buy new pants and shoes for my 9th grader who is now pushing 6 feet (and a hulking 128 lbs.), I notice that NONE of the black kids in his class are still growing; so much for "upside". The black girls don't have that early muscular development, they just get a huge butt (and pregnant).

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I have sometimes and I will stress sometimes, have disagreed with my CF brothers on this subject. When looking at black kids, it's always important to check their ages not the grade. Most of the time when I thought a black kid looked older, more mature, muscular, which wasn't that often, than my son, it was because the black kid was 15 or 16 in middle school, where my son was 12/13. He didn't turn 14 until just before his Freshman year. Big difference between a 12 year old and a 15 year old, black or white, it doesn't matter the skin color

A lot of blacks fail early on in elementary school and are held back sometimes 2 years. My son had a late summer birthday, but I pushed him forward. What's even sad is now white parents are holding their kids back if they have a late birthday, hoping this gives them an advantage athletic or academic wise. The jury is still out on the effects it has, whether good or bad on the child.

I'm probably one of the few here who have raised 2 boys, 1 in college and 1 a senior in HS and experienced all of these things in regard to maturity, athletics, recruiting, etc. Both my sons were all-state
in their chosen athletic endeavors. One an all-state wrestler, and the other an all-state RB, he was pushed forward, instead of being held back.

With all that being said, if I were discussing this with another parent, I might would tell them to hold their child back if they had a late summer birthday. Our situation was different and I can certainly see advantages to holding a child back, but I believe you get better by playing against better competition.

It's a tough call.

This is a great topic, but should be moved to another thread, so it doesn't get missed by any CF members. Maybe moved to Happy Hour or Media Racism thread. Could we do that Don? I think their would be a lot of thoughts on this subject!

Carolina Speed said:

I have sometimes and I will stress sometimes, have disagreed with my CF brothers on this subject. When looking at black kids, it's always important to check their ages not the grade. Most of the time when I thought a black kid looked older, more mature, muscular, which wasn't that often, than my son, it was because the black kid was 15 or 16 in middle school, where my son was 12/13. He didn't turn 14 until just before his Freshman year. Big difference between a 12 year old and a 15 year old, black or white, it doesn't matter the skin color

A lot of blacks fail early on in elementary school and are held back sometimes 2 years. My son had a late summer birthday, but I pushed him forward. What's even sad is now white parents are holding their kids back if they have a late birthday, hoping this gives them an advantage athletic or academic wise. The jury is still out on the effects it has, whether good or bad on the child.

I'm probably one of the few here who have raised 2 boys, 1 in college and 1 a senior in HS and experienced all of these things in regard to maturity, athletics, recruiting, etc. Both my sons were all-state
in their chosen athletic endeavors. One an all-state wrestler, and the other an all-state RB, he was pushed forward, instead of being held back.

With all that being said, if I were discussing this with another parent, I might would tell them to hold their child back if they had a late summer birthday. Our situation was different and I can certainly see advantages to holding a child back, but I believe you get better by playing against better competition.

It's a tough call.

This is a great topic, but should be moved to another thread, so it doesn't get missed by any CF members. Maybe moved to Happy Hour or Media Racism thread. Could we do that Don? I think their would be a lot of thoughts on this subject!

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I think it's both. Blacks are older for their grade on average, and reach sexual maturity earlier on average. They also walk earlier, their brains stop developing earlier, and they die earlier, again, all on average. All lot of whites don't like to hear this because they think it means blacks are "better" at something than whites. Quite the contrary. Whites, blacks, and Asians don't develop at the same rates on average. This holds for physical and intellectual development. We just don't. It has nothing to do with working out, or nutrition, or trying hard, or anything other than genetics.

One of the reasons well-intentioned liberals think education can bring blacks up to the level of whites is because of the differing rates at which children mature. Black toddlers walk earlier, and they are equal with whites and Asians intellectually. This makes libs think that Head Start and other wastes of time and money actually work. The problem is that the black kids are not on the same trajectory. The black toddler's skull will fuse at an earlier age, stopping brain development. So, yes, the black "beat" the white to the brain/skull development finish line. That's not a win, unless the race is to an I.Q. of 75. By 1st grade the black kids are left in the dust. By 5th grade they are already hardened cases; confused and angered by a world they aren't equipped to cope with. Leave them alone and a classroom immediately becomes Liberia. They have no upside. Again, this is all on average. There are obvious exceptions.

The white middle school (or earlier) coach sees much the same thing the liberal educator sees. His thinking is that if the kid is that physically gifted at that young age, imagine how great he will be once all that upside develops. The research is pretty clear on what he's seeing. It's the result of genetic differences that present themselves in physical and intellectual development. The black kid is likely to get muscles earlier, but not more muscles overall, and also fail a grade or two due to that 75 I.Q. We are not the same.

I agree it's a tough call on holding a child back. My younger son has a late September birthday, and we waited on him. He would have been fine for school and sports, but at the time it wasn't so clear. Sometimes I wonder if it was the right thing to do, because he hasn't really been challenged in the classroom. Hindsight is 20/20. I think intellectual rigor should be the deciding factor. If the child can handle the school work, and some other factor isn't overriding that, holding them back is often about Mom and Dad wanting to live through their kid's sports achievements.

haha, Westside is working his magic! :icon_cool:

i just wanted to say, Birkenstocks are pretty comfy, not that I'd wear them myself!

Pam, did the coach actually use the word upside? What you described happened before I discovered CF and its posters quoting that term and its cousins (I hardly pay attention to sportscasters' rhetoric bion).

John