Pea Ridge Letters

— A D.A.S.H. to Remember

We would like to thank the city of Pea Ridge for making our inaugural A D.A.S.H. to Remember 5K race a big success. We could not have done it without the help of the Pea Ridge Police Department, Mayor Jack Crabtree, our sponsors, our local businesses and the many, many volunteers. And a special thank you to co-race directors, Tim Fielder and Carolyn Armour. We appreciate all the volunteers who came out on such a cold morning to stand and direct runners on the course. Ryan would have been so proud to know that so many people came out to help. Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, was Make A Difference Day. Thank you Pea Ridge, you truly made a difference!

CHRIS, ANDREA AND ASHTYN MONDY Pea Ridge, ARPlay and learn

I want to congratulate all of the Pea Ridge Youth Football coaches on the success and good work you are doing at all of the levels of football, second grade through 12th.

I would like to write about one thing I have noticed from watching second graders play, all the way up to seventh grade and beyond.

This topic can also be include any other sports or extracurricular activity, however since this is football season; football is what I am talking about.

Being a former player and a coach of young kids, one of the things I have learned throughout the years is that the more you play, the better you become. So, why is it that our young players are in a learning process, however there a good number of players receiving only a handful of plays per game.I am talking less than five plays per game. How are they supposed to learn if they are standing on the sidelines? Real game action, competing, is where they will learn about themselves and the game they are playing.

To do that, they need playing time. I see it from second grade up, you get 30 to 40 players wanting to play and learn and have a great time, yet 10-15 see 90 percent of the action.

If this is to continue, once they get into high school you will only have 10-20 players wanting to play, because you've lost kids due to the frustration of not being able to play and learn.

Apply this same coaching concept to teaching in a classroom, teachers have to teach the entire class, they don’t just pick 11 kids that are good and have those 11 take the test and leave the rest out.

I think the same thing needs to apply to sports in general.

Colleges and the pros have one offensive and defensive unit; I don’t see why we can’t apply the same concept to the youth football programs. We have 30 plus kids wanting to play from each grade, we as adults need to step up and let these young people learn about themselves.

Pea Ridge has an opportunity to have an outstanding football program, if only coaches from second grade up will realize all kids need to get playing time. I understand there are kids that have natural talent, however, we are going to lose those that have a chance to be really good if we continue to leave them on the sidelines.

Thank you, LEON KELLEY Pea Ridge, Ark.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/04/2009