2008 Woodie Awards
Coaches who take players to sporting events are liable
Bermudez, David
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: Points Of View
Many of us count on some sort of transportation to get us from place to place. It may be a bus, a car, a bike, a skateboard, BART, or whatever else you can think of.
At Chabot College, our athletic teams also have to worry about how they are going to get to and from a game. Instead of depending on some sort of chauffeur service like our sister college, Las Positas, the coaches are the ones who have to drive their players in school owned vans.
A typical game plan for a coach at Chabot College will probably go something like this: what he wants the offense to do, how the defense should react to a certain play, keeping the team focused, and having a set of maps and directions to the particular college the team is playing.
The last part of the game plan does not make any sense.
Why should a coach who prepares all week for a game have to worry about driving his team and getting them to their destination safely? The coaches at Chabot are asking that very same question. A coach should not be forced to be chauffeur and coach at the same time, trying to be two things at once. He was hired to be a coach, not a driver.
Give the coaches at Chabot what the coaches at Las Positas have. The administration might say that it would cost a lot of money and that we have a lot more teams than Las Positas. Yet, all of our teams at Chabot have done well.
Our basketball team made the playoffs, our tennis team is undefeated, our golf team is one of the best in Northern California, and our football team is one of the hardest working teams.
How safe is it really when our football team travels to Hartnell College, which is located in Salinas, for a night game and Chabot loses a heartbreaking game all because of the ref?
The coach is furious at the calls and the final outcome and that is all he can think of. Even though he may be angry, he still has to drive all the players back to Hayward. All of us know what it feels to be angry, so if a coach is mad about the way his team played and the way they lost, that can greatly affect his or her driving.
The school will take no notice or care of this until, God forbid, a crash happens or something else drastic occurs. Then maybe the school will take notice and get some sort of bus driver to take the players and coaches. Why take such a big risk?
I think that all of the coaches at Chabot should all take their concern to the administration and let them know that they should be able to get a shuttle service for their teams for the safety and well-being of the student athletes.
That was what the coaches at Las Positas did in order to get theirs. Perhaps the coaches do not really mind driving their team around, but they are not bus drivers, they were hired and paid to be coaches.
At Chabot College, our athletic teams also have to worry about how they are going to get to and from a game. Instead of depending on some sort of chauffeur service like our sister college, Las Positas, the coaches are the ones who have to drive their players in school owned vans.
A typical game plan for a coach at Chabot College will probably go something like this: what he wants the offense to do, how the defense should react to a certain play, keeping the team focused, and having a set of maps and directions to the particular college the team is playing.
The last part of the game plan does not make any sense.
Why should a coach who prepares all week for a game have to worry about driving his team and getting them to their destination safely? The coaches at Chabot are asking that very same question. A coach should not be forced to be chauffeur and coach at the same time, trying to be two things at once. He was hired to be a coach, not a driver.
Give the coaches at Chabot what the coaches at Las Positas have. The administration might say that it would cost a lot of money and that we have a lot more teams than Las Positas. Yet, all of our teams at Chabot have done well.
Our basketball team made the playoffs, our tennis team is undefeated, our golf team is one of the best in Northern California, and our football team is one of the hardest working teams.
How safe is it really when our football team travels to Hartnell College, which is located in Salinas, for a night game and Chabot loses a heartbreaking game all because of the ref?
The coach is furious at the calls and the final outcome and that is all he can think of. Even though he may be angry, he still has to drive all the players back to Hayward. All of us know what it feels to be angry, so if a coach is mad about the way his team played and the way they lost, that can greatly affect his or her driving.
The school will take no notice or care of this until, God forbid, a crash happens or something else drastic occurs. Then maybe the school will take notice and get some sort of bus driver to take the players and coaches. Why take such a big risk?
I think that all of the coaches at Chabot should all take their concern to the administration and let them know that they should be able to get a shuttle service for their teams for the safety and well-being of the student athletes.
That was what the coaches at Las Positas did in order to get theirs. Perhaps the coaches do not really mind driving their team around, but they are not bus drivers, they were hired and paid to be coaches.
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