[IAM22]

If my son is or was trying to get a football scholarship and he had a choice as an elective between choir, guitar, personal finance or advanced weight lifting with a certified lift trainer, there is not a bit of doubt with me which class he would take and I would not be a bit ashamed to say he took it.

As for discipline - there are loose ships and tight ships. You can discipline differently at Trinity or Highlands because there are 3-4 kids ready and able to step up if someone gets booted. It's different at a smaller school. As much as we want to say rules are black and white, discipline is increasingly a world of grey scales. I think in extreme cases, coaches who mete severe sanctions to players should let the team vote on a secret ballot if they want a suspended player to return to the team. A good coach will know his players, the parents, his community and what techniques to use. What works at St. X would not necessarily be the right mix at Louisville Central or Mayfield. Discipline that worked for Bear Bryant in 1965 would not work for Nick Saban today

Personally I think that personal finance should be MANDATORY to graduate. Way to many parents are clueless about money, so where are these kids going to learn about it? I feel it is better to learn it the easy way instead of finding out things the hard way. For first generation personal finance students could end up educating their parents, who do not have the basic financial skills to make intelligent money decisions. It will only help everyone involved.

Parents who like taking time away from academics when it is available says it all about the mindset of too many!! The weightlifting can be done before or after school. I would bet that the "certified lift trainer" is a coach and is available before and after as well.

A secret ballot vote should never take place!! Kids, heck even adults, will tend to vote with their hearts. It is the job of the coach to make the decision. If he doesn't have enough balls to make the decision for himself and would rather rely on the opinions of 9th to 12th graders they need to get out of the coaching and teaching world.

Part of taking that job, of HC, is having to take responsibility for the team and actions of others, and be a consistent leader who sets an example to everyone in the community, school, football team, and each student. I listed the responsibilities in order of importance.

One important thing to add is that I want a coach to be consistent on discipline issues.