Maine’s true heroes

The Maine Black Bears are true heroes!

The officiating in Saturday’s national final against Minnesota was so very one-sided that the officials should be ashamed of themselves.

I wish the coaches and team would watch the game, observe the very obvious penalties that were never called and protest the officiating.

It was pathetic and I believe the Maine Black Bears are the true heroes! Congratulations, Maine Black Bears, on a great year.

Nora J. Therrien

Baltimore

Black Bear pride

Last Saturday night, the late Shawn Walsh would have been extremely pleased with the performance of his hand-picked successor Tim Whitehead and his 2001-2002 Maine Black Bear hockey team.

To coach Whitehead and every Maine Black Bear player, I tip my UMaine cap!

Shame on anyone who blamed coach Whitehead and/or any member of the Maine Black Bear hockey team for its loss to Minnesota in the final minutes of the overtime.

In the years I have been connected with the great University of Maine, as was my father, Dean John E. Stewart, I cannot ever remember being more proud.

Go Maine academics and athletics!

Kenneth W. Stewart

Eastbrook

Parents need to back off

Because of the location of where I live, I don’t often get the opportunity to read the Bangor Daily News. I happened to see a copy of the paper from March 19 and viewed the articles in the feedback section of the sports page.

It was quite discouraging to read (once again!) about fellow coaches who were having difficulties from parents of kids in their basketball programs (articles on Brewer and Sumner High School). Parental involvement has become an incredible problem and has certainly escalated over the past five years or so.

At the end of every sports season, we constantly read newspaper articles, hear about a situation, or talk directly with coaches who have resigned or have been forced from their positions. Parental influence on coaches, school boards, and administrators has gone way too far. I certainly compliment the administrators around the state who don’t buckle in to chronic complaints of small adult posses who get together in an attempt to remove a coach, or even a teacher for that matter. Unfortunately, we are starting to see more and more examples of coaches being let go without the proper support from their superiors.

It is not a hidden mystery that we have become a “feel good society,” and there are far less young people who are brought up with the same values of the past. A great example is in sports. Now, more and more parents want their kids playing, especially at the varsity level, regardless of whether or not they work hard, they are a team player and they have a positive attitude, let alone if they even have the ability to be there.

Many more parents, as compared to the past, simply expect all the playing time in the world for their child, no exceptions! Unfortunately, parents are also very outspoken in front of their children which only compounds these situations. Many are quick to criticize coaches, other players, and even other parents directly to their kids. Instead of reinforcing all the positives that young people can gain from participating in a sport, we see so much more individualism. Instead of working extremely hard toward team goals, many people only look into what personal glory there is for their son or daughter.

We recently lost another good basketball coach from the Lewiston area who had a stroke after his playoff game a few weeks ago. He is recovering quite well and had planned to return to coach. While he was in the hospital, only three players came to visit him. In the meantime a number of parents of the underclassmen were paying a visit to an administrator to see if they could remove this coach.

This is another example of the change in our society. This coach does an outstanding job on the court and I know personally that he truly cares about his players. He had a very serious situation for a couple of weeks in regards to the stroke, and parents do not even accompany their daughters to see about his well-being. For a few days there was a possible life-and- death situation with this coach, and what do we hear about? A group of adults who were concerned about their kids playing time, who were trying to get him fired while he was in a hospital intensive care unit.

Give me a break! When I was told of this situation, I came close to resigning my own coaching position. I have such an incredibly hard time accepting the changes in people and in our society. This situation blew me away.

For those parents who support their coaches, their teams, and their son or daughter, I whole-heartedly congratulate you. For those of you who talk to your kids about commitment, hard work, loyalty, trust, teamwork, and the many other great character-building aspects of sports, I tip my hat to you. For those of you who support you coaches, and especially if your child is not a starter, thank you.

For those of you who realize that a vast majority of coaches are in the profession because they love your kids and they love working with young people, thank you again! And thanks to those of you who realize coaches give an incredible amount of their own time for you children while often sacrificing time with their own families. For the negative people out there; we do not call you up to tell you how to parent, leave the coaching and coaching decisions up to the coaches. Try being supportive. It will have a positive influence on your child, and the experiences for you and your child will be much more gratifying.

Gavin Kane

Dirigo High

girls basketball coach

Wilton