When a player leaves the club, I am often sad.  And sometimes mad.  And sometimes confused.  Sometimes I even doubt what we are doing.  I think these are natural emotions.

A player recently left the club.  Her father was a coach, and she was put in a leadership position on her team, as a captain.  The parents went mid-season to another club’s practice and committed to play for that team.  They did this without telling us, and wanted us not to find out.  They got very angry when they could not control the flow of information as people found out what they had done.

A few different points about this bothered me.  First, the parents and player were dishonest with us and with the rest of the team.  Second, the player had become very selfish, and the coach had been bragging about the daughter on multiple occasions.

These are two things that I can learn from.

Never lie.

Never brag about my kids.

Tough lessons.  Especially the 2nd one.  I have been very good about not posting things to social media promoting my kids’ successes.  And I have limited my praise of my children when talking to others.  But sometimes I get caught up in the moment and brag.  It is hard not to when you are so proud.  So I need to work on that.