Joe
17-03-2001, 12:45 AM
As a coach of a top club in the county I was outraged to find out that in the Bagcats Age Groups a medal was only presented to first place. I know this is possibly a selfish example, but I have a 12 year old boy swimmer who did not feature in the top 30 in the County last year. This year he would have picked up two bronze medals! NOW!!! Is swimming such a BIG sport at the moment that our younger swimmers need no motivation to compete at County level. As a former swimmer myself I know that getting a medal at Countylevel for the first time means a lot in ones career. SO, how many coaches out there would like to turn round to their 12 year old boy and say "sorry mate, you dont get a medal...all you get is 400 points that on a Nationl scale dont mean much at all". because let me tell you...its not easy!!! Every club at the end of the day has one of these 12 year olds who suddenly pops up from no-where and suprises everyone...so when he turns round to you and says he may aswell play football and get more reward for it...CAN I BLAME HIM IN THE SLIGHTEST!!!!