Sometimes, as in the case with the “Gunderson 13,” children forget to check their sense of self-pride and independence at the door when they join a team.
I met coach Mike Allen on Nov. 29, 2011, after his Gunderson boys basketball team beat Sobrato 66-55 in their season opener.
He was excited for his team. The Grizzlies returned one starter but 13 players who were part of a 14-7 finish the previous year, when Allen took over a week before Gunderson’s first game.
“I keep 18 players on the team, just based on how we’re developing,” he said. “We’re trying to get to where we need to be.”
And with that, an assistant of Allen’s chimmed in with a sentiment both coaches obviously felt.
“They have potential, but we’ve had an outbreak of knucklehead-itis. Some of them think they can miss practice and still play.”
It was a sugar-coated way of saying the players lacked discipline. They needed to grow up.
I didn’t think much of it. It was Game 1. They’re high school kids. Thanksgiving break was the previous week.
When I saw the front page of the Jan. 24 edition of the San Jose Mercury News, complete with that telling photo of Allen standing in front of a nearly empty row of chairs during a game, I was as bewildered as you were. Thirteen players walked away from that team Allen was excited for because their coach suspended five standouts for being disrespectful and was not ready to reinstate them.
Then it hit me. They didn’t grow up.
High school can be an interesting, confusing time. Children become adolescents. They learn to drive. They turn 18. They want to be treated like adults.
Fair enough. But sometimes, as in the case with the “Gunderson 13,” they forget to check their sense of self-pride and independence at the door when they join a team. Or as Phil Jackson has said: “Surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we.’”
The suspended players thought they were being treated unfairly and not as adults when their coach disciplined them for not keeping with the school’s code, P.R.I.D.E.: personal responsibility, respect, integrity, diversity, excellence.
True, Allen did not treat those five like adults. He treated them like players. Players who needed to be punished, just as adults are when they show up late to work repeatedly or mouth off to their boss.
“We weren’t being that disrespectful,” one of them said.
Oh, my apology.
Allen told the Mercury News he gave the suspended players several chances to turn around their attitudes and reaffirm their commitment to the group. But they quit. And rather than hold their teammates accountable, so did eight of their peers.
“Walked out,” by the way, is too generous. Those boys – this is a boys basketball team – quit.
The rest of the Grizzlies have not. Gunderson, now a team of six, fell to 3-21 with a 69-54 loss to Branham on Saturday.
I asked members of Live Oak’s boys basketball team about for their thoughts on the situation.
“It’s stupid,” senior forward Austin Carvalho said. “To me, a team is when somebody’s not gonna walk out. And the guys that didn’t walk out, that’s messed up for them. Their season’s done. For their coach who works his (butt) off for you, what about him? Them walking out just shows how much of a team they aren’t.”
Acorns coach Brett Paolucci was shocked.
“Mike’s a nice guy, great guy, great coach,” he said. “There’s discipline in every program. The coach has the authority. He makes the decisions. When players think they’re entitled to playing, it doesn’t work that way. I was surprised because they’re very respectful to us, their players. This was a good team.”
I’m not saying these are bad kids. Some of them are outstanding students. I just think their priorities are mixed up.
I’m more disappointed with their parents. Some felt that Allen abandoned their sons, has gone too far and has treated them unfairly.
This is not too far. This is not unfair.
Unfair would be kicking them off the team entirely. Unfair would be denying them an opportunity to come back once they’ve learned from their mistakes.
Haven’t they heard of “Coach Carter?” Or “Hoosiers?” Or “Remember the Titans,” or John Wooden?
High school sports are meant to teach discipline, to respect yourself, your teammates, opponents, officials and, yes, your coach. They provide teens with a safe, positive environment to grow as young adults. But they are a privilege, not a right. When you break the rules, you get punished. What parent doesn’t want their children to learn that?
“We take criticism with an open mind,” Carvalho said. “When coach is yelling at us, none of us are looking for a shot back. We’re listening to what he’s saying. We know he’s just trying to help. Is that what you’re supposed to do? All of us have been raised like that.”
Acorns senior guard Jakob Conlan added:
“We never question coach. I think the players got too much speaking room in this.”
I’m proud of the Gunderson High School administration for standing by Allen. So often we see the squeaky wheel get the grease in this scenario, and good coaches fired – or “not asked to return” – because they couldn’t make a few busybodies happy.
As for the six Grizzlies who are still playing, they can be on my team any day.
