AAU girls basketball concerns

I am writing with deep concern involving the fourth grade U-10 girls league (note I am not unhappy with the outcome but extremely concerned). At the beginning of the season after Lake Roosevelt’s first win, the LR coaches were told that due to concerns from one Moses Lake coach about LR’s dominance, that the Moses Lake teams would not fulfill the scheduled games to LR and would rather forfeit all games citing self-esteem issues with their girls. Keep in mind that in everything you are involved with in life there is always a dominate team, person, coach, etc., usually referred to as captains or leaders.

The solution was that LR move up to the fifth grade level of play and that they take a “less” than competitive team from the fifth grade and move down to the fourth. What about the self-esteem of those girls? LR played fifth grade level and finished 9-1 (the #5 starter was a 7-year old second-grader) so if you are concerned about all of the girls’ self-esteem what about the fifth grade girls who were taken on by second and fourth graders and beat, what about their self-esteem?

When it comes to tournament time in Moses Lake, the one coach that instigated the rule changes, forfeited to LR as she “feared for the safety of her girls!” Are you serious? I spoke to many parents at the tournament and they were simply unaware. I believe that it is our responsibility as parents, teachers, coaches and beyond to lead and teach our children regardless of the task to never ever give up.

God forbid our children should ever be presented with a challenge.

Everyone knows that you can’t suppress the ability of others, whether it be height, speed, knowledge or any other, but you can however coach positively and teach hard work and perseverance. This should be every coach’s goal.

LR has advanced on in tournament play (fourth grade) and has faced tough opponents (some even with a height advantage) with both win/loss outcomes. Our coaches work long and hard and have persevered, you can’t take that away. As fans of LR we truly appreciate their time and commitment given to our children.

We all pray that our children will progress in all aspects of life, so with that I ask that you not participate by holding our young ones back.

Carla Steffens

Moses Lake