I've always had a bad feeling about public sports drafts in camp. Here's why.

First point.

The draft is a big moment for many campers. So many kids show up to the draft assuming they'll be picked. Many of them won't be. They leave feeling like a piece of dirt.

This is especially true because it happens at the beginning of camp, when kids barely know each other — all they really know is their own bunk or group. A kid who came to camp alone might be the best at sports, and it won't matter, because nobody knows it yet. He'll walk out of that draft without being picked.

And that's not even talking about the kids who know they're not great at sports, and now have to stand there while it's confirmed, out loud, in front of everyone. Or the kids who think they're good — and have to now hear the hurtful truth.

More kids walk out of that room with a tear than with a smile.

Second point.

Too often, the sports draft puts the wrong kids on stage.

Kids who bully. Kids who disrupt every davening. Kids who start every inappropriate conversation in the bunk. These are not the kids who should get a fancy entrance while the staff cheers them on and the whole camp watches.

All summer, what's chassidish, what's eidel, what's chabad is on the spotlight. That's what is celebrated, that's what is applauded. Every kid knows that.

Then the draft happens, and for those few minutes, it's flipped. The kids who cause the most trouble get the spotlight and the praise. And the kids notice. They really do.

It breaks my heart to know that the normal good kid feels out of place. The kid that works hard not to bend to the pressure of the kids on the stage. He knows he's doing the right thing, but here he feels lonely.

Sports will be koch regardless. If not, surely there are other ways to make it exciting.

זו רק דעתי, מה דעתך?