Teachers, coaches urged to help young athletes learn right from wrong

Published: 2007-04-12

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Catholic teachers and coaches have an important role to play in teaching student athletes about moral and ethical lines that must not be crossed, an official of Major League Baseball told participants in the National Catholic Educational Association convention April 12 in Baltimore. "Catholic schools are not afraid to ask a lot of their students," said Joe Garagiola Jr., senior vice president of baseball operations for Major League Baseball. "But when you ask a lot you can get extraordinary results." Garagiola, son of the famous catcher and baseball commentator, admitted that there are pressures on coaches, teachers, parents and the athletes themselves at every level of play -- to win, to keep student athletes eligible to play, to get more playing time for their child and to succeed at any cost. But he suggested that other sports could benefit from a system similar to the minor leagues in baseball, which he called "a pretty humbling experience, where you're not in the nicest hotels and there are lots of 4 a.m. wake-up calls." "Many of the problems in the other sports stem from the sense of entitlement that their athletes bring to the sport," he said. But Garagiola said coaches and teachers must help athletes learn early in their careers that they may have "a special talent or a special gift ... but that does not make them a special person."

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