Health & Fitness
Opinion Mixed About Incentive Program in West Hartford Youth Football League
One team's program has been discontinued after parents and board members expressed concern.
It became public knowledge last week that players on the Chargers in the West Hartford Youth Football League’s Pony Division were receiving GameStop gift cards for performance during games.
The cards, given by assistant coach Steve Merkel, were not mere tokens; they are valued at either $25 or $50 each. The incentive awards were presented by Merkel for at least three weeks to “players that have performed the best and made an impact on the game,” wrote Merkel in an Oct. 1 email to team parents.
Merkel made it clear in that email that the GameStop gift cards were not a “bounty program” rewarding players for “illegal hits/tackles” but rather as an “incentive for performance.” He also made it clear that the cards were not being given out to all players, but any of the players could earn one.
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In an interview with the Hartford Courant last week, Merkel said that the incentive program began as a way to get the Chargers players, who are 7th and 8th graders, to focus better. "The kids were not concentrating like they could have or should have, so I mentioned it to my son. He said, 'Why don't you give them a couple gift cards,' " Merkel said. "The kids that really do their plays correctly, don't go offsides, make their blocks, make their tackles, they'll be eligible for a gift card to GameStop,” Merkel is quoted as saying.
Merkel did not want to offer additional comments, stating in an email on Saturday that he had already provided all of the details to the Courant. He did add that he would be glad to provide input on an article about the dedication of volunteer coaches, the life lessons learned from playing an organized sport, or “how incentives are a part of life.”
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So why did Merkel stop handing out the GameStop gift cards? In his Oct. 1 email, which was when the team parents were first formally informed of the practice, he asked for feedback and said that the continuation of the program would depend on what the parents thought about it.
West Hartford Football League President Walter Hussey said he put a stop to the program on Oct. 1. “When I found out about it that’s when it stopped,” Hussey said Saturday in a phone interview. He said that the league plans to amend the bylaws to address such practices.
Hussey said that he was made aware of the incentive program by an individual who wanted to remain anonymous. That person contacted Hussey again after the Courant story was published and said, “[I] never wanted it to come to this,” Hussey said.
Board Vice President Sara Salomons, a minister who is also the mother of four sons, said she found out about the gift cards when she received a phone call from one of the team parents. She immediately notified Hussey and another board member, she said in a phone interview.
Salomons said Hussey emailed her on Oct. 1 and said the matter had been handled but on Oct. 13, a parent stopped her at a game and said it hadn’t been handled and claimed it was still happening, Salomons said. She contacted Hussey again and told him that the matter had not been handled and asked to discuss it at a future board meeting, and Hussey agreed, Salomons said.
Travis Lytle first found out about the incentive program from his son who is on the Chargers team. His son did not receive a GameStop card the first week but was very motivated to get one the second week, Lytle said in a phone interview.
The incentive program seems to have lasted for at least three weeks. Lytle thought it was still in place the Sunday after the Oct. 1 email, and said he didn’t know when it officially stopped or who made the decision to end the practice.
“The mistake was imposing the program without talking to parents first,” Lytle said. Although most parents (reportedly 18 of the 20 families) approved, he said, the size of the gift seemed “out of whack” for middle school students. “The kids would have been motivated by $5 gift cards,” said Lytle.
Lytle said the kids were working harder and that this was not a “bounty program.” He doesn’t like that this issue seems to have “taken on a life of its own.”
Hussey said that board member Brian Cohen, who resigned during the October 24 meeting, “wasn’t satisfied with the [board’s] response.” Cohen, who is a department head with the West Hartford Public Schools, told the Courant that, “I find the behavior unethical and immoral, and I didn't think I could be part of the board any longer without taking a stand.”
According to Salomons, the entire board was not made aware of the program until Cohen emailed everyone on Oct. 19 after hearing about it at a high school game.
At its Oct. 24 meeting, the board decided that this “needed to stop,” Salomons said. She volunteered to write a proposal to include wording in the league’s “Coaching Code of Conduct” specifying that incentives are not to be permitted. Salomons said she was “one of the stronger voices in opposition” to the use of incentives, although some of the board members, Salomons said, “don’t see the ethical dilemma in this.”
“I could understand how an outsider looking in could misinterpret it,” Lytle said. “The coaches were very well-intended, trying to motivate kids. It got their attention.” He thought the Chargers team was playing better as a result.
Hussey said that there are 372 participants in the West Hartford Youth Football League this year, and that “most people are satisfied.”
“The league itself is tremendous from top to bottom,” said Hussey. “We’re here for the kids and they have a great time.”
Three of Salomons’ sons currently play in the league, and she said that she joined the board to because she believes in the purpose of the league. However, “this is wrong and it needs to stop,” she said. She is not aware of any other teams with incentive programs, other than handing out helmet stickers which do not have monetary value.
“I do not believe it will be an issue, but important learning has taken place to ensure it won’t happen again. I’m confident that we’re doing that,” Salomons said.
In high school as well as in the NCAA there are very strict rules about compensating athletes with cash as well as gifts.
Rules differ for youth leagues. In Sept. 2012, scandal erupted in California when a California Pop Warner football coach allegedly paid cash incentives as a bounty to 10- and 11-year-old players who made “big hits.”
What do you think about providing incentives to play youth sports? Please provide your opinion in the comments.
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