Participating on a sports team

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Participating on a sports team

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You know, in sports, not everybody is going to play. I think the first thing that we’ll evaluate is if it's a highly competitive or noncompetitive situation. If it's a noncompetitive situation, recreational sport, they should all play and then you need to ask or what it is that would take for my child to play? The difficulties a lot of people ask, “How come my son doesn’t play or my kid doesn’t play?” You know, that’s a hard answer. You know for any coach, the reality is you want to know what it is going to take for my child to get on the field? That’s how I approached my athletes. I want them to ask me what it is going to take for me to play because if they do X, Y, Z to play, they should play. And that’s ultimately it. Now, the answer is it this highly competitive and not everybody’s going to play, then you really need to evaluate your situation if that’s the right place for them to be playing at anymore. If they never play, it might not be the best place for them to be at even though they might like all the kids and they might like the situation, then as a parent, you have to decide what's more important – the situation or my child actually getting on the field and play. You know, you could make a big issue out of it and then it becomes a bigger problem for everybody. One of the things that happened to me when I was a kid was when I got cut as a senior and I did everything I possibly could and I remember it was the only day in high school I ever cried. I went home and cried to my father and he look at me and say “You did everything you ever think is possible?” and I said “Yes, absolutely.” At the end of it, you know, he said, “You have nothing to worry about. If you’ve done everything in your control to make it and you don’t make it, that’s okay.” And I think that’s a great lesson for me and it served me my whole life. So, sometimes when you don’t plan and you have those moments of difficulty, it could be the best lesson for you later in life.

Learn about: Participating on a sports team from Rob Kodama,...

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Rob Kodama

Director of Admissions & Marketing, Crespi Carmelite High School

Mr. Kodama has been a Certified Gurian Trainer since 2007. He is the Director of Admissions, Marketing, and Public Relations at Crespi Carmelite High School. He is also the head soccer coach and the Director of K-sports Soccer Camps. He has been involved in the educational field since 1991.  In his role as the Director of Admissions he has increased enrollment at Crespi Carmelite High School nearly 20% within his first five years. He has taught a revolutionary course called ”Becoming a Man” to seniors at Crespi Carmelite High School for the past eight years. In this innovative class, he challenges his students to look at what it truly means to become a man in our society. He explores what their roles are as sons, brothers, fathers, husbands, and mentors. He has presented this class at the Gurian Institute in Colorado Springs. He has served as the social studies department chair, and taught World Cultural Geography, US History, AP Macroeconomics, Micro Economics, and World History.

As a certified trainer and teacher, Mr. Kodama brings a wide variety of experience working with children, parents, students, and athletes. He has been training parents and schools about how boys and girls learn differently and how to help them succeed in school since 2007. He was recently the Keynote Speaker at Pierce College in Woodland Hills for the Early Childhood Development program. He has presented numerous times at The Gurian Summer Institute in Colorado Springs, and has worked with the following schools: Berkeley School, Crossroads Christian, Serra High School, Encino Presbyterian Children’s Center, St. Mel’s School, Kirk of the Valley School, Laurel Hall, Weekday Preschool, Young Oak Kim Academy, Our Lady of Malibu, Palma High School, and Army Navy Academy.

As a coach, he has worked with both boys and girls as young as four, through college. He has been running soccer camps, clinics, and coaching for over 20 years throughout the Los Angeles area. Many of his players have gone on to play at advanced levels of soccer.

He grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He is the youngest of five siblings, and is married and has a seven year-old son and six year-old daughter.

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Transcription: 
You know, in sports, not everybody is going to play. I think the first thing that we’ll evaluate is if it's a highly competitive or noncompetitive situation. If it's a noncompetitive situation, recreational sport, they should all play and then you need to ask or what it is that would take for my child to play? The difficulties a lot of people ask, “How come my son doesn’t play or my kid doesn’t play?” You know, that’s a hard answer. You know for any coach, the reality is you want to know what it is going to take for my child to get on the field? That’s how I approached my athletes. I want them to ask me what it is going to take for me to play because if they do X, Y, Z to play, they should play. And that’s ultimately it. Now, the answer is it this highly competitive and not everybody’s going to play, then you really need to evaluate your situation if that’s the right place for them to be playing at anymore. If they never play, it might not be the best place for them to be at even though they might like all the kids and they might like the situation, then as a parent, you have to decide what's more important – the situation or my child actually getting on the field and play. You know, you could make a big issue out of it and then it becomes a bigger problem for everybody. One of the things that happened to me when I was a kid was when I got cut as a senior and I did everything I possibly could and I remember it was the only day in high school I ever cried. I went home and cried to my father and he look at me and say “You did everything you ever think is possible?” and I said “Yes, absolutely.” At the end of it, you know, he said, “You have nothing to worry about. If you’ve done everything in your control to make it and you don’t make it, that’s okay.” And I think that’s a great lesson for me and it served me my whole life. So, sometimes when you don’t plan and you have those moments of difficulty, it could be the best lesson for you later in life.