Imagine you have dreams of making it in basketball. Every game you say, "Coach, let me in to play. I can do this." You practice outside of normal practice. Posters of NBA all-stars line your room. Daydreaming of going to Duke or Youngstown to play ball is common. You see life as a series of free-throw lines. You walk in stride, timing an imaginary basketball bouncing as you walk from place to place.

The coach never really lets you play as much as you'd like, but you get some game in and it's a rush when you see your opponents and your teammates hustle back and forth. The sound of squeaking sneakers puts you at ease. For you, whistles stop time.

At the end of the season, the coach singles you out and tells you that you are getting a special award and to be prompt at the festivities.

Your thirteen-year-old-mind is spinning with esteem.

At the pizza parlor, or school gym, your coach hands out awards to the other players: most rebounds, highest average score, best defender.

Finally, in front of your classmates and parents, this happens:

[...] A coach told the crowd that the boy was being honored because "he begged to get in the game, and all he did was whine." The trophy consisted of a silver figure of a baby atop a pedestal engraved with the boy's name, which was spelled incorrectly. Family members said the teen - an honor roll student - was so embarrassed that he stayed home from school on the following Monday.

I received about four requests and write-ups for this story...people seem to really be affected by this kid's plight and I wanted to wait till after the school board met this evening to relay the entire story. All this kid wanted to do was play ball, but somehow we can almost see the results of this one asshole coach's remarks and gestures. The kid no longer loves the game, or every time he plays it, all he can see is the embarrassment reflected in the eyes of his peers.

As for the head coach? "The Pleasantville Board of Education voted Tuesday night to fire Pleasantville Middle School coach James Guillen." It's up to the courts now to decide whether or not the board has the right to fire Gullen, but I don't think he can coach basketball anytime soon. As for the kid?

"He doesn't even want to play outside (now)," The boy's father,Terrence Philo Sr., told The Press of Atlantic City newspaper, adding that while his son may be short, he never backs down from a challenge. "I just keep telling him to stay on track. I keep him active. I just keep telling him, 'You're a good kid. Don't back down.'

GIRLinGLASS

River Falls, WI

August 2003

MAY 04, 2004 08:31 PM

That's fucking sad. I'd like to have a crack at that basketball coach with a baseball bat. What a heartless bastard! I knew kids could be cruel, but for that to come from a coach is absolutely despicable.

Corso

New York, NY

November 2003

MAY 04, 2004 08:35 PM

In this case a lawsuit for emotional damages would be completely appropriate.

pr0ject605

Pittsburgh, PA

February 2003

MAY 04, 2004 08:42 PM

Since when did Youngstown get any kind of good basketball program? Have I not lived there in THAT long??

Anyway, yeah, that's absolutely unnecessary. I hope that dude doesn't forget this for a long ass time, how him making fun on the kid completely ruined his desire to play and love of the game.

What a douche.

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA

September 2003

MAY 04, 2004 08:44 PM

Did you say Pleasentville?

Sean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

MAY 04, 2004 08:51 PM

The guys a sadist, one of those people who get into teaching middle school kids gym for the power, who would possibly come to his defense? Oh yeah the union.

"He has collective bargaining rights, he has due process rights," said the attorney, Jonathan Diego.

Pleasantville teachers union president Jean Hovey said the coach didn't deserve termination.

"Nobody should have a promising teaching career shot down by an obvious bad taste of judgment. To go as far as they're going? That's unconscionable," said Hovey, president of the Pleasantville Education Association.

Guillen's record in three years as a Pleasantville Middle School teacher is satisfactory, he said.

clara

MODERATOR

Baltimore, MD

MAY 04, 2004 09:03 PM

"Nobody should have a promising teaching career shot down by an obvious bad taste of judgment. To go as far as they're going? That's unconscionable," said Hovey, president of the Pleasantville Education Association.

I doubt he'd say that if it happened to him or his kid. Fucking asshole.

lostarchitect

Brooklyn, NY

January 2004

MAY 04, 2004 09:07 PM

Corso said:
In this case a lawsuit for emotional damages would be completely appropriate.

i dunno, i think he should probably be fired, but suing him just seems silly.

Cash

USA

OLD SKOOL

MAY 04, 2004 09:14 PM

Wow....this is really wierd. I didn't know this was national news. Pleasantville, NJ is about 3 miles away from where I live.

This story is all the buzz around here, but I had no idea it had national coverage.

He should be fired. That's an incredibly cruel thing to do to a kid. This guy is supposed to be encouraging children to do their best, not crushing their spirit.

What if Michael Jordan's coach had done the same thing?

The kid has a huge heart and all he wants to do is get in the game...so this fuckwad takes the opportunity to embarrass a 13 year old?

pr0ject605

Pittsburgh, PA

February 2003

MAY 04, 2004 09:20 PM

Sean said:
The guys a sadist, one of those people who get into teaching middle school kids gym for the power, who would possibly come to his defense? Oh yeah the union.

That quote reminds me of the kind of mentality that PISSES ME OFF! I've heard that shit in regards to so many situations where someone is let off the hook because "They've never done anything like that before, it's just not like him."
Fuck that, he never did it before but he did it now. That's what's important.

edited because mac keyboards make me make typos.

[Edited on May 04, 2004 by pr0ject605]

Finch

SUICIDEGIRL

Thailand

MAY 04, 2004 09:22 PM

that's absolutely fucking ridiculous.

i hope he gets fired. he absolutely deserves it.

unnecessaryz

Astoria, NY

July 2003

MAY 04, 2004 09:28 PM

Sean said:
"Nobody should have a promising teaching career shot down by an obvious bad taste of judgment.

Actually, that's exactly how you shoot down a promising teaching career.

Cash

USA

OLD SKOOL

MAY 04, 2004 09:31 PM

let's say for the sake of argument...at the very worst, the kid was a crybaby. What a perfect opportunity for the coach to teach him about sportsmanship. You tell the kid "I know you want to get in the game, Johnny...but when you ask me a million times if you're going to play...you're not being a good sport. If you're patient, I promise you'll get some playing time."

I used to coach a little league baseball team. In Little League, there are strict rules about playing time. Every player has to get at least one at bat and 2 innings in the field.

The only time a kid played the minimum was when he was disrespectful to me or a teammate...or if he just plain didn't want to be there, but his parents made him go out for the sport. I never cared about a kid's athletic ability...if he had heart, he got in the game. I may not have run a championship team...but I never crushed a little kid's heart.

The whole goddam purpose of youth sports is to teach them teamwork, sportsmanship and how to play the fundamentals of the sport. Case fucking closed. That's the ONLY purpose of youth sports.

High School is where competition should be introduced...not middle school.