Too Many Touchdowns

[Hyena Dandy]

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/2...ny-touchdowns/

Article link

Story Summary: Essentially, there is an 11 year old kid who is really good at football. As a result, the youth league he plays in instituted a rule banning him from scoring touchdowns past a certain number.

I see two sides to this argument.

On the one side, the kid should be allowed to excel. If he's good at what he does, and he seems to be really good, he should be allowed to do it. If he's better than the other kids, why limit him?

On the other side, there's the fact that he's playing in a recreational league. He's not playing at the professional, college, or even highschool level. He's far better than the kids he's playing with, so the other teams, and in fact the other 10 kids on his side, aren't getting any touches. As someone who was constantly shoved aside in a youth league, I can see why its upsetting if there's one kid who's so much better than anyone else that nobody else seems to even count.

Kids play the game for fun, after all, its a youth league, about recreation and enjoying yourself, and more importantly the rule (not detailed in the article, but I recall it from somewhere else) banned him from scoring touchdowns only if he'd scored 21 points already, and his team was up by 14.

So, my view on it?

I think he should be allowed to keep scoring. If he's so much better, he shouldn't be held back.

On the other hand, I think his coach has to make sure that other kids get the chance to play too. Its not on him to stop scoring, but on the coach to make sure the other kids enjoy themselves too.

Nevertheless, he seems to be taking it in good cheer. And while I think the rule is unfairly limiting, and people shouldn't be told to be less good at something, in the end if he doesn't mind, I won't throw too much of a fuss about it.

[Greenday]

It's tough. I mean, "You are too good. You can't score anymore" just sounds absolutely ridiculous. You don't see that in any competitive sport and like it or not, by 11, it's competitive. You want to win.

Then again, when you get destroyed every single play, what's the point in keeping going? Takes every bit of fun out of it. Hell, when you aren't involved in your own team winning because you never are given a chance, what's the point?

Here's my last argument: Why is this kid in this league? If he's so good that he scores every single time he touches the ball, what does he stand to gain playing at this level? He's clearly not learning anything anymore. If the talent level is so far below him, he won't get any better. It'd be like me playing against my little cousins. I'll dominate them but that doesn't make me a good football player. I'd have to play against people in my skill level in order to learn and get better.

[Andara Bledin]

He's likely still there because he's not big/mature enough to move up and if he doesn't play at all, he'll get rusty.

I do think that with a good coach, there don't need to be any additional rules in force regarding the kid. If it's a league for fun, then the coach should be making a point of letting all of the players have their time off the bench and not let a single player, no matter his skill, dominate the entire game.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

He's likely still there because he's not big/mature enough to move up and if he doesn't play at all, he'll get rusty.

He'll get rusty if he's not being challenged.

Though the coach should be rotating him out. If they are winning, there's no reason to not let other kids actually play.

[SkullKing]

Yeah, but he will actually be able to to say:

"I was so good they actually had to make a RULE about me not scopring too much"

as far as bragging rights go, that is pretty good

[EmiOfBrie]

I feel that the teams he plays against are getting shafted. They will never acquire the sports skills to try and devise plans to counter a superstar player.

When my dad coached little league, there was one rival team that had a 'superstar' pitcher, that rarely anyone could hit off. That rival team always won their games by huge margins.

This was only a 3-team league, and my dad's team was #2 (our town's team was usually #3, but we had a good season that year), so they went to the playoffs, but my dad had been studying that pitcher all season, and finally found a weakness. He passed that knowledge onto the team during practices...

...our town won the playoffs!

And that feeling of finally overcoming a superstar's skill is a feeling the opposing teams will never know in this news story's case, because instead of actually doing some *coaching*, the coaches decided to invoke a handicap rule... -.-

it's sad

[Andara Bledin]

But, on the flip side, if the opposing teams don't have a 'your dad' among the parents, then it's just crushing defeat after crushing defeat. Where is the fun in that for a group that's playing in a friendly league?

Plus, it's not a new rule; it's a rule put in place to help handicap a team with another outstanding player, who went on to the NFL. And it's not like the school is really punishing him or his team; they don't have to bench him until his team has a 14-point lead. That's at least two unanswered touchdowns, and based on the way it's phrased, I suspect he gets the green light to go back in any time the other team closes the gap.

Honestly, I think this is a far better solution than just ending the game once the score reaches a certain level of disparity as is enacted in other school sports.

^-.-^

[Hyena Dandy]

Also, football and baseball are very different sports. As difficult as it is to find the weaknesses in a good pitcher, and your father certainly deserves credit, it is much harder to find the weakness in a good combo back (running back/receiver) if he's just plain more athletic.

[flybye023]

How is this kid learning teamwork, though? If he gets the ball every time and can just run, he's not learning to depend on his team. I think that's one of the problems with higher-level sports these days is everyone wants to be a star and stand out which doesn't make for a good team.

[Hyena Dandy]

How can he learn teamwork if he's that far ahead of the rest of the team?

[AdminAssistant]

First of all, yay for a happy story from my home state! Secondly...the kid seems to be happy with the rule. It's extremely temporary, he's happy, his parents are happy...what's the controversy?

[fireheart17]

One question: do they have other leagues as well based on age, or is it just one league for all ages? For instance, it's common around these parts for some sports to have a U10, U12, U14, U16 etc. meaning "Under <number>". If the kid was say, playing for the U12's but was doing better than them, he could potentially be moved into an U14 side and train with them.

[AdminAssistant]

Usually sports go through the schools and are based on grade.

[Andara Bledin]

This is a school league, and it's set by grade.

The article states that next year, he will be in a different grade and no longer subject to the rule.

^-.-^

[senor boogie woogie]

That's completely asinine.

If I have a player that can score touchdowns at will, and the other team doesn't like it, fuck them in the ass with Mike Tyson's dick. Play the game, forfit or whatever.