At the beginning of the summer, one of our parents shared with me the book Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life by Michael Lewis. A slim but powerful volume, it tells of “Coach Fitz,” Lewis' legendary, unforgettable, and exceedingly formative high school baseball coach. Lewis wrote the book after being struck by the fact that alumni at his school revered Fitz so much that they were raising money to renovate the gym and expand the athletic facilities in his honor. Yet, simultaneously, current parents were massing against him, pressuring the school's head to compel Fitz to change his unconventional, controversial, intense, and memorable ways.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠPutting aside whether one agrees or disagrees with how Coach Fitz goes about things and whether he should be roped in or encouraged in his teaching methods, I was struck by what under girds his approach: having kids have to grapple with really finding and giving their best effort. He maintains that most people have no sense of what it really means to try. Most are not willing, Fitz feels, to do what the legendary baseball manager Lou Piniella said was essential to reach one's full potential: to learn “how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠCoach Fitz believes children should learn the “importance of battling one's way through all the easy excuses life offers for giving up.” He challenges us by maintaining that the majority of today's parents have no stomach for anything like this for their children. He says, “The parents' willingness to intercede on the kids' behalf, to take the kids' side, to protect the kid, in a not-healthy way - there's much more of that each year. It's true in sports, it's true in the classroom. And it's only going to get worse.”
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠI have to admit that I would be challenged if I had Coach Fitz as a faculty member or as my son's coach. Yet I do feel that one of the most important lessons children can learn - and one of the most important expectations their parents and teachers can hold for them - has to do with giving their best. Coach Fitz makes clear that this is a much deeper experience, a more trying expectation than we often consider But it's a worthy lesson and goal to contemplate as we launch the 2005-06 year at The Country School. Welcome back!