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SCSP

Syndrome

To the Editor:

Many of our high schools have sports teams that have fallen victim to SCSP.

What is SCSP? Selfish Coach-Selfish Parent/Player syndrome. The disease originates in the culture of desperate individual college scholarships. Since college education in America has gotten out of control financially, parents, coaches, and players are put under tremendous pressure to forsake true teamwork and concentrate on the “look-at-just-me” image. This syndrome turns potential championship teams into losers, creates an atmosphere of indifference and low morale, and teaches that team effort really doesn’t matter.

Is there a remedy? Yes. The school and the coach must clearly present the priorities of character building, selflessness, and hard work as a team at the beginning of the season. The school must not tolerate any single parent-coach cronyism or even collusion to help an individual player get special recognition for scholarship purposes. College sports scholarships should include a player rating based on the positive values of ability to motivate a team, selfless leadership by example, and teammates’ referrals. Left untreated, SCSP can cause serious long-term damage to a school’s sports program.

Scott & Barrett Anders

15 Grand Place, Newtown                                   November 18, 2005

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