Predicament

I got a call tonight from one of the parents on Bridget's soccer team. She has been playing community soccer with this same group of girls for two years. Four of the girls make up half of our 9 person Girl Scout Troop (Bridget being the pivot member). Well, it seems the coach has decided he needs a more competitive team, so he 'cut' half the girls.

First let me say, I understand having to put the best girls on one team to be competitive, but at their age, it is against the rules in our league. Don't get me wrong, every community does it. The problem is, the girls on the team seem to have been picked for parental political reasons. They didn't pick the oldest girls, because there are girls younger than the 'cut' ones on the team. They didn't pick the 'best' players because one of the worst players made the team, but her mom (R) is the coach's friend.

One mom, K, has a daughter who is not one of the best players and was cut. However, she used to be very good friends with R, but their friendship has fallen apart in the last year. Well, when K confronted R and the coach about the cuts, they responded that it was merit based. K expressed her disbelief. R later called her and invited her daughter and the rest of the cut girls to be on the team.

So, should the cut girls join the team even though they are obviously not wanted? More importantly, what do the girls want? Should the parents of the cut girls let them choose, knowing that they will probably sit on the bench all season? Should those girls be told they were cut and later invited? Should the girls who were not cut still play or should they support their friends and boycott the coach? None of those choices feel good to me.

Oh, how I loathe team sports. Why couldn't my daughter be interested in tennis?