CVCHS Women's Soccer Email Nov 7. 2012 | Comments (3)
After reading Coach Tate's email I have been trying to figure out a way to guage the level of interest in moving forward. I contacted Coach Tate and of the 18 response to his email 3 were negative and 15 were positive. I still have a child in the CVCHS Soccer program and like many others I am afraid to "put myself out there" for fear of retaliation. Your information will be kept confidential. Remember, there is strength in numbers!
Here is a copy of the email for anyone that did not get it~
CVCHS Soccer Families,
(These are the opinions of former Head JV Coach Eric Tate and only his opinions)
I would like to make you aware of what to expect should you choose to involve yourself in the CVCHS Women’s Soccer Program. I have spent the last three years attempting to change the culture but was let go this summer for failing to “see eye to eye on some coaching decisions”. The decisions I did not agree with include:
· Selecting players based on family relationships, personal friendships and club affiliations. There are multiple examples of this in the last three years and I’m sure there are many more that I didn’t know a relationship existed. The players that made Varsity solely due to their relationship with the Coach Booth – AB, TP, CA (only in 2010), KD and RL.· Not selecting players because your children do not like them.
· Skewing tryouts to make certain players paths easier than others, thus reinforcing the preselected roster the coaches developed before tryouts.
· Preferential treatment and playing time for the coach’s daughters.
· Treating the Frosh Girls team as a “cash cow” while not giving them equal access to the facilities. They play their games on turf but practice in the mud.
- Hazing of the freshman players on Varsity. They are made to carry the equipment all year. This was in place when Pat Middendorf had the team, and that is Coach Booth’s reason for keeping the practice. My opinion is that if a player is good enough to play for the Varsity team they should be treated as a Varsity player, not less of a player because they are a freshman.
Some other bias’ you will encounter:
· If you are competing against a player Coach Booth has coached on his MDSA Elite Team you will be at a disadvantage.· If you are competing with the child of someone in Coach Booth’s riding clique you will be at a disadvantage.
· If you play for a club other than DFC you will be at a disadvantage.
· If you did not play on Coach Brandon Enriquez’ DFC team you will be at a disadvantage if you are looking to make the JV team.
· If you don’t play on the JV Team as a freshman you have little chance of EVER playing Varsity soccer at CVCHS.
Changes I would make to the Women’s Soccer Program at CVCHS:
· Hire a Head Coach that has played the game of soccer at a level or two above what he is coaching and evaluating.· Hire an Assistant Coach that has played the game of soccer at a level or two above what he is trying to coach.
· Hire a JV Coach that is not influenced by the parents on his club team, and has played soccer at a level above what he is coaching.
· Allowing the frosh girls training time on the turf field.
· Treating all players fairly regardless of club affiliation or friendships.
· Injured players would be required to prove fitness in training before returning to competing in game conditions.
· All field players would be required to meet a pre-determined fitness level before playing in a Varsity game (7 minute mile).
· The Varsity team would always have one qualified goalkeeping coach to work with and develop the goalkeepers during their training time.
I regret that I will not be a part of the CVCHS Women’s Soccer coaching staff this winter; I feel retaliation by Pat Middendorf, Greg Fister and Scott Booth is the primary reason for this. The retaliation took place in three forms:
1. The first reason for retaliation was over a conversation I had with Pat Middendorf. After the season was over I requested meetings with Athletic Director Middendorf for several months to discuss issues of bias within the CVHS Women’s Soccer program. Finally on May 16th Ms. Middendorf was able to free up 10 minutes of her time, if I showed up knowing she might have to cancel. I spoke candidly of what saw during the season as favoritism shown by Coach Booth. First by even selecting his daughter Amber on the Varsity team as a forward, then moving her from position to position to create a place for her. Also discussed was the lack of accountability for the coaches daughters (Sam Boeger and Amber Booth), thru much of November and early December these players were unable to participate in conditioning with their teammates yet still started games and were not limited during games. This included a week of not training by Amber and starting a game her first day back.
Pat’s initial response to this was that she was concerned about this during the season so she asked Head Trainer Achilles Walker if Amber was good enough to play varsity soccer. Her next statement was “well, Amber should be good enough to make Varsity next year, right?” She proceeded to tell me she would speak to Scott about it and left to run off to another meeting. I believe she did speak to Scott about the situation but only to let him know I had spoken to her about the situation.2. The second reason for retaliation was because my daughter requested a place on the agenda for the July 11th CVCHS Board meeting, requesting the CVCHS Board adopt a policy prohibiting parents from coaching in a sport where team selection is subjective. If you are competing with the coach’s daughter in Track or Swimming it is very easy to distinguish the superior team member. In baseball, football, soccer and other sports the parental bias can be masked in any number of ways. Alex did indeed speak to the CVCHS Board and explained that not only are the athletes put in a no win situation, so is the coach. She explained that she could not go to the coach to ask about her playing time because it was obvious to her and her teammates that Coach Booth was going to do everything in his power to keep his daughter on the field.
The same day as Alex was going to speak at the CVCHS Board meeting I received an email from Coach Booth explaining that my services were no longer needed because we disagreed on some coaching decisions last season.
My belief is that Coach Booth knew why Alexandra was speaking at the CVCHS Board meeting and retaliated after gaining the approval of new Athletic Director Greg Fister.
3. The third reason for retaliation involves new Athletic Director Greg Fister. During a JV Girls Soccer game at Northgate High School last season I overheard several players on my team making comments about “being creeped out” and “why would he be here” among other statements. Throughout warm-ups and during the game I was able to ascertain that these girls were speaking of their PE Teacher Greg Fister. That evening I received a call from concerned parents explaining in more detail the actions the girls were “creeped out about”. I felt it was my duty as the Head Coach to report this matter to the administration of the school. I did not report this to Athletic Director Middendorf because Mr. Fister worked in the PE Department and my feeling was that she may not have taken any action. I met with Vice Principal Barbosa and explained the situation and within minutes I found myself in Principal Brothers’ office with the Vice Principals and the Concord Police Resource Officer assigned to campus. I recounted the conversations I had overheard and was assured by Principal Brothers that the administration took this type of behavior very seriously. Many if not all of the JV Girls Soccer team were subsequently interviewed at least once by the Concord Police over the next month. I have never heard any results of the investigation and because it is classified as a personnel matter I do not know if this was considered when Mr. Fister was selected as Athletic Director or as Head Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Coach. I do know that at the very least it displayed extremely poor judgment for a Teacher or Coach.
I made Coach Booth aware of the incident and let him know that I had reported the situation to the administration. At the time Coach Booth stated that he had heard similar comments regarding Mr. Fister giving female student the “creeps”.
I attempted to work with Director Linzey but the administration refused to admit any bias occurred and are either unwilling or unable to make the changes necessary to prevent another 3 years of the same favoritism. My hope in bringing these issues to light is that parents can discuss these issues with the administration if they feel any of these biases against their child. It was very difficult for me to coach last season knowing that not everyone was being given the same opportunity, I had several players deserving of a place on the Varsity team and several more quit the program because they were treated unfairly. It is my strong belief that every student athlete is given a fair chance, a chance not based on whether they know the coaches or are friends with the coach’s daughters or play for club X or play AYSO, they all deserve the same opportunity to compete for a spot on the team and a place in the starting line up!
I have so much more I can say but for now, that’s it!
Sincerely,
Eric Tate
Former Head JV Girls Soccer Coach
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