The ultimatum.
Dear Janice,
This has been a very tough day. Unfortunately, it wasn't until earlier this morning that I checked my email and caught wind of Haubrich's new rule about seniors on JV. I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from when I say I'm quite worked up about hearing that all the girls I've been cheering with since I started here at Concord High are being told that they can't come back unless they make Varsity. I know you haven't been a part of this program for very long, but let me please explain how hard every single one of us has worked to go from absolutely nothing, to be a team that tries to compete with the best. Concord did not have a Junior Varsity team until the year that my class came up from Rundlett, because we never had enough turnout to support a JV and Varsity team. Since then, this program has accelerated itself on both ends into two very strong and competitive teams and continues only to get better and better with each year, and the future looks bright with all the talent headed this way. To tell any one of those girls that because she can't do a back handspring, she can't cheer with the best of us, is just so explicitly wrong that I don't understand how anyone could try and do so.
Furthermore, the fact that, once again, I have been made exception to the rules that everyone else follows is beginning to wear on my nerves. I've cheered five seasons at Concord High, six in total, and for those five seasons at concord high I've been on JV despite my greatest desire and aspiration to make Varsity, compete at states, and work at a level that I know I am capable of working to. I've done my best to help the girls on JV, spotting tumbling, offering help, assistant coaching if you will, and just doing whatever I can to help everyone get better as a team, to become more and more competitive as the years go by, just like every other person in my class- because all we've ever wanted was to win-win-win. It upsets me to be told by Mr. Haubrich, or anyone else for that matter, that everyone I've cheered with for so long is not allowed to cheer with me. If they are not allowed on JV, I should not be either. That's just fair. But to be honest, I haven't seen this program or the Athletic Department be very fair to anyone, when it all comes down to it.
I don't want you to feel like I am putting all of this on you; because I understand your position and that you have very little power in the situation, and you also have a responsibility to try and build a very successful varsity team this next season.
To be honest, I'm very happy with what you have brought to our program so far; it's been a long time since I have seen all of the girls, both JV and Varsity, conditioning that hard and sweating so much in the first half hour of a practice. I have a lot of respect for a coach that can understand that's fundamentally important, and knows that hard work starts at the basics. I'm excited to see where you bring this program, from this year forward, and I look forward to some state titles as well ;)
But this is what I've decided, and I want to tell you now. I wish we all could have known about this sooner so these kinds of decisions could have been discussed sooner...
I'm cheering with Sarah this fall season, so that I can have one last season with the team that I've been with for three years now, and because there are few to zero coed teams in the fall. (Even if I feel that I don't belong there if none of my classmates are allowed to be there with me.) But after this fall, I'm going to try out again, and I'm going to ask that Varsity take this winter season and change divisions. I feel that I've put up with being shelved and ignored for four years, and after this last straw I feel that I deserve one season competing at my own potential. If that ends up being impossible (which I can't understand it being), then I won't be cheering at all. I really hope that we can work this out, and that you understand where I'm coming from by asking this of you. And I'm sorry that this is all happening so close to tryouts when I'm sure you're already stressed and busy enough, but this is very important to me, and I feel it's been put off for three years now, and it's time for something to be done.
Thank you very much for everything,
-Mike
This has been a very tough day. Unfortunately, it wasn't until earlier this morning that I checked my email and caught wind of Haubrich's new rule about seniors on JV. I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from when I say I'm quite worked up about hearing that all the girls I've been cheering with since I started here at Concord High are being told that they can't come back unless they make Varsity. I know you haven't been a part of this program for very long, but let me please explain how hard every single one of us has worked to go from absolutely nothing, to be a team that tries to compete with the best. Concord did not have a Junior Varsity team until the year that my class came up from Rundlett, because we never had enough turnout to support a JV and Varsity team. Since then, this program has accelerated itself on both ends into two very strong and competitive teams and continues only to get better and better with each year, and the future looks bright with all the talent headed this way. To tell any one of those girls that because she can't do a back handspring, she can't cheer with the best of us, is just so explicitly wrong that I don't understand how anyone could try and do so.
Furthermore, the fact that, once again, I have been made exception to the rules that everyone else follows is beginning to wear on my nerves. I've cheered five seasons at Concord High, six in total, and for those five seasons at concord high I've been on JV despite my greatest desire and aspiration to make Varsity, compete at states, and work at a level that I know I am capable of working to. I've done my best to help the girls on JV, spotting tumbling, offering help, assistant coaching if you will, and just doing whatever I can to help everyone get better as a team, to become more and more competitive as the years go by, just like every other person in my class- because all we've ever wanted was to win-win-win. It upsets me to be told by Mr. Haubrich, or anyone else for that matter, that everyone I've cheered with for so long is not allowed to cheer with me. If they are not allowed on JV, I should not be either. That's just fair. But to be honest, I haven't seen this program or the Athletic Department be very fair to anyone, when it all comes down to it.
I don't want you to feel like I am putting all of this on you; because I understand your position and that you have very little power in the situation, and you also have a responsibility to try and build a very successful varsity team this next season.
To be honest, I'm very happy with what you have brought to our program so far; it's been a long time since I have seen all of the girls, both JV and Varsity, conditioning that hard and sweating so much in the first half hour of a practice. I have a lot of respect for a coach that can understand that's fundamentally important, and knows that hard work starts at the basics. I'm excited to see where you bring this program, from this year forward, and I look forward to some state titles as well ;)
But this is what I've decided, and I want to tell you now. I wish we all could have known about this sooner so these kinds of decisions could have been discussed sooner...
I'm cheering with Sarah this fall season, so that I can have one last season with the team that I've been with for three years now, and because there are few to zero coed teams in the fall. (Even if I feel that I don't belong there if none of my classmates are allowed to be there with me.) But after this fall, I'm going to try out again, and I'm going to ask that Varsity take this winter season and change divisions. I feel that I've put up with being shelved and ignored for four years, and after this last straw I feel that I deserve one season competing at my own potential. If that ends up being impossible (which I can't understand it being), then I won't be cheering at all. I really hope that we can work this out, and that you understand where I'm coming from by asking this of you. And I'm sorry that this is all happening so close to tryouts when I'm sure you're already stressed and busy enough, but this is very important to me, and I feel it's been put off for three years now, and it's time for something to be done.
Thank you very much for everything,
-Mike