Basic unfairness in high school sports

I would like to respond to Marie Stahl's letter appearing in Fencepost on March 24. I am sorry to hear that things have not changed over the years in high school sports.

Our sons went to Elk Grove H.S. in the late 90's. We experienced the exact situation that her daughter has been going through at Conant, except in baseball. I actually witnessed one of the park district travel coaches coaching the high school team from the stands in an official game. His son came to the stands for advice from his father and then conveyed the information to his teammates through hand signals. Most of the high school team played for his travel team.

I think that was the point at which we knew we were fighting a losing battle for fairness. Also, we were not parents that sucked up to the coach. We wanted our sons to learn the all-important life lesson that if you work hard you will achieve your goals, i.e. make it on the team. Both of them made it on the high school team but didn't play much, which was not due to their ability to play.

When we saw the disreputable unfairness of high school sports, we felt like we had lied to our kids about life itself.

We, ourselves, were in awe that these coaches, who were supposed to be leading our kids, teaching our kids, were cheating our kids and even the "favorite" players. Cheating them out of an opportunity to learn about honor and integrity. Cheating them out of an opportunity to learn how to meet your goals through working for it, not having it handed to you.

People wonder why some of the major league athletes in any sport can be such crybabies and demand so much money. Well, if you ask me, this is how it starts.

Laurel Fudala

Elk Grove Village