In All Fairness

I often hear players talk about favoritism by coaches. The frequent complaint is that "favoritism is unfair treatment," and while there may be a small absolute truth here, the larger truth is that "sameness" is not "fairness."

I am sometimes described as "treating players unequally" on the tennis court, and I would say it’s an accurate observation because I believe that individuals are all different and each person has unique needs.

If a teacher, coach or any leader treats everyone the same way, that’s unfair.

John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach at UCLA who nurtured many great athletes and great people believed that "Treating everyone the same is the most sure way to show favoritism." Coach Wooden believed that everyone deserves to be treated fairly, while acknowledging, validating and encouraging individual differences.

I will take some license here and argue that Wooden would also agree that players should stop complaining about "bad" feeds.