Would having a Special Needs Child on your child's basketball team upset you?

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Permalink Reply by Robert M. Harrison on April 11, 2009 at 6:02pm

My child is ADHD and enjoyed basketball and did extremely well on a championship team. I felt fine with my son and other special needs children. Experience no problem with coaching these youth. However, for some its all about winning and others may disagree.
Have a terriffic Easter.

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Permalink Reply by Brett Davis on April 12, 2009 at 1:21am

In real life, I don't see this situation happening on a varsity team. More than likely, if the coach decided to have a special needs player on the team he would only use him/her in garbage minutes (Either they are losing by a lot or winning by a lot.)

This might sound cold hearted, but I would have a special needs player play in a special needs league. From my personal experiences (having a close family member with special needs and seeing how sportsmanship can be non-existent in leagues), you wouldn’t want to put a person in a situation where they would fail. If the special needs player was severely limited in what they could do, some opposing coaches might be jerks about it. If that player got the ball, they might double or triple team the player. They might decide not to guard the player, and just double team a better player. If the game was close, they might foul the player in hopes of them missing free throws.

I remember a few years ago hearing a story where in a little league game, an opposing coached intentionally walked a good hitter just to get to a special needs hitter to strike them out. Striking out the special needs player caused the other team to win the little league championship. If my kid was pitching, I’d make damn sure he didn’t strike out the player. If I was on either team, I would have expressed my feelings when the children weren’t around. (It’s never a good idea to drop wordy-dirties in front of children. :) )

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