Wednesday November 13th 2024
At the beginning of the year, I published an article in the Montreal Gazette. The subject? How growing teacher fatigue as well as increasing workloads would affect high school sports. I should add some context to this as I was an active witness and participant. The teachers in Quebec were in the middle of a school strike. Unlike previous negotiation tactics, such as a “Work To Rule” in which teachers would teach, but not do any extra-curricular activities (which is not mandated in our contract), this strike was a complete stoppage in work itself. What made this even more pronounced was that it was part of a Common Front, in which many workers ranging from Hospital employees to other professionals across the province were on strike at the same time in order to force the government to take notice
Rain or shine, sub-zero temperatures or not, we manned the picket line
Some of the issues at hand were that salaries hadn’t caught up with the cost of living. The government was also looking to increase things such as class size, retirement age and add additional time to a teachers workload, which is already pretty substantial as well as reduce support for students with special needs. To add another tone-deaf blow to our situation, the Provincial government gave all their MPs a 30% retroactive pay raise. In the end, we settled for a rate that wasn’t what we had asked for but with some perks for newer teaches, with the emphasis on retention as most teachers leave the profession within the first five years. This is business as usual as we’ll go through this ordeal in the next five years.
Being a teacher in North America can be hard for many reasons
Fast forward to the beginning of this school year and nothing has changed. With the growing demands on teachers, a concern that I had raised was that how would this affect high school sports? Teachers in a school setting play an additional role as they’re often the gateway to students becoming student-athletes in the future. Some would argue that the club system has replaced that outlet but not everyone has access to a club sport within their area. In some cases, the school might lead the student to seek out a club in order to go farther in the sport. My school in particular plays host to many people from across the island as well off it. Our status as a 240 school allows us to accept students from nearly anywhere as they are not limited to a certain area by geography. Other schools don’t have that option. If you’re coaching a sport like soccer, then finding a club within your area is not a problem. Wrestling doesn’t have that luxury.
The location of my school allows access to a wide variety of students as it sits close to a bus and train station (Photo property of Google Maps)
Wrestling itself isn’t that prolific as it used to be as there are only a few certified clubs on the island of Montreal and around it. This geographical shortcoming further limits access to the sport of wrestling. At present, there are more schools doing wrestling then there are clubs. So this in turn increases the importance of high schools as far as expanding the participation of wrestling.
All of my greatest successes in coaching have come from developing an athlete from the ground-on-up, most which I discovered in high school
This leads me back to the importance of having high school coaches. While many of the students that plays sports are associated with clubs, there are quite few that will never be involved in the club system and will only play for their respective high school teams. With school sports in danger of losing coaches, this will hurt participation as whole. Having a wrestling presence in those schools helps the exposure of our sport that much more. So what happens when those teachers start to lose their motivation? Logically, that teacher will cease to be involved. I’ve often mentioned that a wrestling program will normally start with a person, but that when that person leaves, the program will end. If that person begins to lose their motivation, then chances are the program will falter or end altogether. Many things can cause this loss of motivation, whether it’s lack of support from the staff, student body or the administration. More often though, the sheer amount of work (with more on the horizon) is the leading cause. The lack of vision and appreciation from the government doesn’t help either.
The lack of facilities can often serve as a deterrent for sports
I speak to colleagues in my profession. Some teach in the public sector and some in the private. While the private sector doesn’t seem to have a problem with finding people to coach, it’s becoming more and more of problem in the public sector. Lack of space and lack of funds will seriously damage the prospect of a school wrestling team but other sports suffer as well. I spoke recently to a colleague from my old school as I watched them play my current one in soccer. Due to the lack of personnel, this had been his fifth playoff game in a row that he had coached in that week. My old school is known as a soccer and futsal powerhouse in the English Montreal School Board. And yet, even at this point in time, they’re finding a hard time getting teachers to coach. I know that when he retires, soccer at the school will suffer.
I also coach high school soccer to help out. How long will that last though?
So why is it that the older generation that’s stubbornly holding on? Let’s face it, as you get older, the motivation and energy starts to diminish. Responsibilities tend to be more and personal time, harder to come by. Logically, it should be the older coaches leaving, to be replaced by a fresh new crop of young and enthusiastic people. Why is it, are we seeing the reverse? Is it a sense of duty or is it the fact that the younger generation is feeling so disenfranchised that they don’t want to give any more than they have to? You can talk to anybody and see both sides of the argument. Nevertheless, in this scenario as I stated previously, the kids will be the ones to suffer.