Kool-Aid was once commonly known as a brand of artificially-flavored drink mix.
The past four decades, however, the notion of “drinking the Kool-Aid” traces back to the tragic 1978 cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana when Jim Jones persuaded his followers to move to Jonestown.
Late in the year he ordered his followers to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Kool-Aid laced with potassium cyanide.
Therefore, the notion of “drinking the Kool-Aid” also refers to a blind belief in an idea or philosophy.
That notion carries into a sports context as well. As a practical joke in my years of covering the Upvalley sports beat in St. Helena and Calistoga, CA, I bought a box of Kool-Aid for St. Helena High girls basketball head coach Will Densberger. That season, 2008-2009 to be exact, Densberger was trying to keep various parents and players grounded during the team’s record-setting 23-3 season. This delivery came in the earlygoing of the season. My comment to Will was, “I drank a glass of this stuff, that means you’re winning the state title.” Will got a good laugh out of it, and kept the box near his computer the rest of the season.
Later that season, I remember interviewing Will for a feature story on the team, which was 16-1 at the time. One of my questions was to the effect of, “while expectations were high coming into the season, did you see success of this magnitude?” Will kind of chuckled at me and said, “Well, as you know, I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid.” I could not resist but use that quote. Those reading the story without knowing the reference had to be thinking, “who are these Jabronis?”
The phrase I use followed by Kool-Aid sipping is “pump the brakes.” That notion especially applies when one assumes that a JV team’s success will automatically carry over to the varsity level.
I find it absolutely amazing when I see a JV football team go 10-0 or a JV basketball team go 21-5. Again, coaches and athletes deserve their due in that situation for working toward that success.
What I find nauseating, however, is listening to people say, “boy, just wait until they are on the varsity. They’ll kick butt.”
Talk about a very shallow statement. Then, these same people are befuddled when the same group struggles to achieve similar success on the varsity. There’s nothing wrong with optimism, but people need to realize that it does not always work that way.
I’ll give a small sample size of what I saw. St. Helena High JV football went 0-10 in 2006 and 9-1 in 2007. Which were the real Saints? The truth lied somewhere in the middle. The next two varsity seasons St. Helena went 5-5 and 4-6 in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
In 2005-2006, Vintage High JV football went 18-1-1 with Billy Smith as the head coach. Smith then replaced Les Franco after 2006 to become the varsity head coach. Unfortunately, the JV success did not translate on the varsity level as the Crushers went a combined 10-11 in 2007-2008.
While I have seen JV teams experience success flame out on the varsity level, I can only remember one bad JV team turn into a great varsity team. It was easily explainable.
In 2011, American Canyon High made its varsity debut with no seniors. Then head coach Ian MacMillan brought up six sophomores to the varsity. The purpose was two-fold, those players were varsity ready and give the JV kids that needed playing time the reps they needed. The Wolves JV team went 2-8 but I’m inclined to think that had the aforementioned sophomores remained on the JV team, the record might have been 8-2, not 2-8. Two years later, American Canyon’s varsity team went 9-1.
No matter how successful a group of athletes were on the JV level, they start at 0-0 once they get to varsity — just like the rest of their opponents.
I’m not trying to douse any parades, but the realities of these youngsters’ varsity high school careers are not here yet when on the JV team. Plus, it’s not fair to put those expectations on the kids.
There’s nothing wrong with being excited about the future, but to think their current success will automatically mean high school success is premature.
JV teams with great win-loss records might show “potential” for when their varsity careers begin, but as the old saying goes, “Potential means you haven’t done it yet.”
That’s why all optimism needs to have caution.
The downside in getting caught up in thinking that same success will translate at the varsity level is that there are many unknown factors — some kids reach their potential sooner than others, some kids mature sooner than others, sometimes talented teams get under-coached when reaching the varsity team and sometimes lesser-talented teams get coached up to greater heights. It can even be as simple as some kids moving away, some losing interest in the sport, etc. Another reason might be that the JV and varsity coaches’ teaching philosophies of fundamentals and systems are not the same. Point being, sometimes people try to gauge varsity expectations on what that team’s JV record was two years earlier. Heck, I’ve been guilty of it, too, but the truth of the matter is that it is not always the best gauge.
At the JV level, winning is all well and good, but coaching the JV teams are more about getting players ready for varsity in terms of developing fundamentals and the right approach to the game.
If winning and proper development are happening, then you’ve got the best of both worlds. However, if a JV team is winning the majority of its games but getting away with fundamental mistakes against inferior competition, then success is Fool’s Gold.
By no means am I diminishing the importance of JV sports programs because, after all, they are the future.
One common argument I hear is that “JV kids work just as hard as varsity kids.”
True, they indeed do work hard, but athletic programs are not judged on JV success.
There’s nothing wrong with celebrating JV success — just remember that those achievements come with no guarantee of continuing on the varsity level.
No comments:
Post a Comment