Youth Entitlement in Sports

Youth Entitlement in Sports

English 102
23 July 2010

Scholastic Sports: Then v. Now
A fourteen-year old teenage girl named Laura, who is significantly overweight and suffers from asthma, attends the spring signups for field hockey for that following fall. During the meeting the coach for the field hockey team explains by the first day of practice each girl wanting to be a part of the team must be able to complete a mile run in less than twelve minutes. As a helpful tool the coach has comprised an exercise calendar for the girls to do over the summer. The calendar consists of thirty minute exercises to be done every day to help prepare them for the upcoming season and to help them achieve the goal of running the mile under twelve minutes.
The first day of field hockey practice season arrives and, as told in the spring meeting, the girls have to run the mile. The girls begin to stretch and warm-up for their run. Laura, who is still significantly overweight and asthmatic, does not complete the mile in the time given. Laura stops running less than half-way through the exercise and starts walking back to the starting point. While sitting on the bench with the other girls who had finished the mile, Laura is complaining she has cramps, the weather is to hot, and her asthma is acting up. This is the reason she gives as to why she was unable to complete the task. The coach proceeds to tell Laura that she is not “physically fit” enough to play on the team this year, but she should work on her athletic ability and try again next year. Laura leaves practice very upset and tells her parents that evening about the day’s events. Laura’s parents are enraged by the coach’s accusation of Laura not being “physically fit” claiming the coach was just calling her fat but in a nice way. The parents then contact the superintendent of the school to notify him of the recent event. The parents do not bother to contact the coach to hear her reasoning of why Laura did not make the team. Instead, they just...

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