The other day, I came across some surprising comments from Coach X, a national team coach, who had been to the recent Rotterdam World Championships. The gist of his comments was that while he had no problem discussing the latest round of rule changes and bellyaching about them, he had no time to decide whether the rules were good or bad, and had no time to complain.

I always thought that a coach was an advocate for his players. As such, I find it inconceivable that a coach would abrogate a portion of his responsibilities to his players without trying to be part of the decision-making process. It’s true that presently coaches have few political means of being part of that process. Voicing our concerns through email would be a good start. Continue reading →