Tell me what you think?

Here is the letter I wrote Randi's coach....

My name is Michelle Garrett I am Randi Garrett’s mother. Randi has asked me not to speak to you on numerous occasions but this time I am not going to stand by her request. I am writing you this letter in hopes you HEAR me. I am not one of those parents that will tell a coach how to coach but I feel that you have crossed a line and I feel the need to tell you how I feel. Randi has played basketball since kindergarten. My daughter has always been very confident in her basketball abilities and loves to play. Is she the best player perhaps not but she has the heart to play. Now all I hear is “I am not good at basketball.” “I can’t do it!” When I first came to your beginning of the season meeting I was excited for her this year you seemed to have a positive approach and you were going to let everyone play. I haven’t seen any positive approach to your coaching thus far and in actuality you have broken my daughter’s spirit. You have managed to damage Randi’s self esteem to where she won’t even try next year to play basketball. Randi has made it to all your practices except one and has even came to practice with her finger broke and during Christmas vacation even when it was a hardship for my husband and I. My husband and I had to leave work or leave early to have her at those practices. Randi has been very dedicated to your practice schedule. In turn you have shown her that her dedication has meant nothing. I have been at a Saturday game only to see you not even play my daughter. I have also let my daughter leave school on two occasions for out of town games only for her to sit on the bench. Please tell me Coach how you would feel if you were the only teammate that sat on the bench and didn’t get to play? How would you feel about your self worth or your dedication to the team after that was done to you? Imagine how Randi must have felt in Cheyenne seeing all her teammates play and she was the only one left just to watch. Randi is an honor society student and it is not acceptable that she is taken out of school for her to sit on a bench and watch her teammates play. I understand that she is a JV player but I have also seen when the JV does get to play their little 2 quarter games you pull the JV girls out to let your Varsity players play and in fact more so then the JV girls It is only 2 quarters I don’t see why you couldn’t let those JV players finally get to play their game. Then when their isn’t a JV team you told the girls you would let them all play only to see once more my daughter sit on the bench. Randi has also told me you have humiliated her and belittled her in front of her teammates and peers by telling her that she has less basketball ability then everyone else on the team. Maybe you consider my daughter your worse player but really when you are losing the game by over 30 points would it really hurt to let my daughter play and not just sit on the bench? If winning is what you want then why not of just saved my daughter and her parents the heartbreak of this year and have try outs and say “I am sorry Randi you didn’t make the team this year try again next year.” That would have been more of a challenge for her to gain more abilities to try next year then her being torn down by you and embarrassed in front of all her peers. Randi at this point feels you have a problem with her personally. I have never taught my children to be quitters and in fact my main goal in life is to create strong young women that have a I can do it attitude. This is the first time that I feel that Randi should turn in her uniform to you and not play for you or Centennial for the rest of the season. I told Randi she will not be going to your practice today and I am strongly encouraging her to turn in the uniform. You are more then welcome to call me but I am not sure what you could possibly say to me that would make a difference on how I feel at this point or my daughter for that fact. I have never been more disappointed then I am now of the treatment of my daughter from someone in a position such as yours. Your position should be of one that should be there to build self esteem and character in our children. Even with this being said I do however find you to be an outstanding math teacher and my daughter Brooke is learning very much in your class. I hope you take in consideration everything I have said and I hope in turn you will make it easy for Randi to turn in her uniform to you.

What do you think of his reply?????

Michelle,I really don't know where to start with regards to your email. But here it goes, I would like to state to you what I have stated to the team throughout the season and that is that basketball skills have no correlation to what I think of your daughter as a person. I guess I’m way off but I thought Randi and I were getting along fine.She has never expressed any concerns to me about any of the issues you brought up in the email in regards to playing time, embarrassment, or humiliation. I know it's hard to approach a coach if you have a problem but that's part of growing up. If you know anything about me then you know I would sit down and talk to your daughter in a very professional manner. I might not agree with everything but then she would know where I'm coming from.This has been a unique season with regards to numbers and I know playing time has been hard to come by for some of the players. When I had the pre-season meeting we planned on having two teams but situations beyond my control have limited us to one team. When we found out that we couldn't play both games I talked to Randi and a couple of other players with regards to playing time and let them know that I'm sorry we can't play a JV game. If we were playing a JV game she would still be getting playing time. She was taken out of JV games when she asked to come out, she looked tired or she just wasn't hustling. We do that with all the players. As a coach, I feel kids need to understand it’s not how much they play but how they play once in the game that really matters to us and no matter how small your role is you are just as important as everyone else on the team.I’m really confused on the “I haven’t seen any positive approach to coaching” and “being torn down by you and embarrassed”. I tell kids they need to be honest with themselves as far as where they fit in basketball wise but like I said before this has nothing to do with how I feel about them as a person. I'm sorry that Randi feels I haven't been positive with her but I can remember quite a few times when I've publically prasied her for her effort and hustle in front of the whole team. I believe that I’m always trying to look for ways to be positive and encourage players to be the best that they can be. I would still like to have Randi finish the season but I will support whatever decision you make as a family. In the future I would strongly suggest that you and your daughter talk to the coach or teacher before things get as bad as you feel they are today. If Randi understands that playing time will still be limited but she would still fill a valuable role then I would strongly encourage her to continue to be a part of the team.Thanks for the compliment with regards to teaching. I take great pride in providing a positive learning enviornment in both the classroom and on the court.

I am interested what you all think.......