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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Coach's notes: Playing field is uneven

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Coach's notes: Playing field is uneven:

Coach's notes: Playing field is uneven

“I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” --Michael Jordan

Today is the first day of freshman basketball tryouts. I wish they let me keep all the kids who try out for the team. I hate cutting kids. But CPS has sliced our sports budget so thin. They are threatening to cut freshman sports altogether and last year our kids got pushed out of the frosh league tournament when they cut it down to only four teams.

We only have uniforms for a dozen players and the ones we have are old. Coaches do the team laundry at home and often come out of pocket for kids who can't afford shoes. I will have to raise $380 so we can play in the Christmas Tournament at Whitney Young.

It's especially depressing when our kids take the bus out to play the wealthy suburban schools and see the kind of facilities and opportunities they offer -- massive and well-equipped sports complexes with multiple practice gyms, nice uniforms and sweats, matching shoes, trainers and training tables, video rooms, and big coaching staffs. I admit I try and use