As I was contemplating this topic over the past few weeks, I became very sensitive to the idea of broken commitments in youth sports. I found it very easy to look for evidence of commitments, commitments that were not honored, and the effects of not honoring commitments. Some players, parents, and coaches do not take their commitments seriously. Since the focus of this column is youth sports, we have to consider that commitments may be the MOST important concept our kids get out of participating in softball. Therefore, everyone involved with these commitments needs to understand the moral and ethical implications of breaking team commitments.


PLAYER COMMITMENTS – When a player joins a team they are accepting many types of commitments. First they have a commitment to the team: to attend practices, to arrive at practices early or at least on-time, to stay for the entire practice, to work on improving themselves outside of practice, pitchers may be expected to take pitching lessons, catchers may be expected to take catching lessons, all players may be expected to take batting instruction or at least go to the batting cage, to try their best, and to support their teammates. Next, they have a commitment to their parents: to be ready for practice, to care for their equipment, to complete the season or other time periods that the parents paid for, and to make the most out of the experience. Players make commitments to themselves: to play with sportsmanship, to work hard, to be honest about their abilities compared to their teammates, to be persistent and to never give up.

COACHES COMMITMENTS – Coaches also make commitments. They also have commitments to the teams they coach: to be fair in assigning positions (not to play favorites) , to be fair in assigning playing time, to provide adequate training so the players can improve, to provide meaningful and worthwhile practices, to protect the players from unfair treatment by other teams or umpires, to enter the team in skill and age appropriate competitions, to dedicate enough time to keep the team operating smoothly, to be a role model and to set an example on and off the field, and to complete the season or other agreed upon time period.

PARENT COMMITMENTS – Even parents have commitments: to get the player to practices and games at the requested time, to make sure that the player gets enough rest to be effective, to make sure that the player doesn't injure themselves horsing around off the field, to provide adequate hydration for the player to bring to practices and games, to provide the necessary equipment to play the sport, to not interfere with the coaches during practices and games, to not enter the dugout or immediate area during games and to be supportive of their player and the other players.
-Mitch Alexander