It’s time for Rio Hondo Coaches to let us do our jobs, and for them to do their own job.

In other words: Coach your team but don’t dictate to your players who or when they can talk to us.

All of a sudden some of the coaches won’t let us talk to their athletes unless they are in the presence of the interview with us –which can only make for an awkward situation as most players won’t answer to some questions and also that coaches will even make the athlete turn down some questions.

Why?

What are you afraid of?

Are you trying protect your players, or are you trying to protect your job?

It is understandable that as a coach you have the authority to regulate what your athletes do during practice and during a game. But that does not mean that you have the authority to regulate what we, as a student-body-press, strive to do: and that is to inform scholars and faculty members what is currently undergoing around campus.

Therefore, the intention of this article is simply to to inform scholars and faculty members about the childish dilemma we are facing with Coach Johnson (women’s basketball) and Coach Urquidi (women’s Softball).

We as Student-Press do not have the resources to make appointments based around you to interview an athlete. Besides, the athletes are the topic not yourself.

Coaches are advising the players not to speak to us without their presence, but I ask again, what are you trying to hide?

It’s called freedom of speech. So let the athletes answer their own questions.

My first encounter with Coach Johnson had to be the most awkward and irritating experience ever. Even as I courteously tried to introduce myself as the new, Sports-Editor, he overlooked the greeting and nodded his head – and if it wasn’t for the lady in the room he probably would have avoided my hand-shake.

Now, if that would’ve been the only occasion it happened, it would have been easy to assume that he was having a bad day. But it wasn’t.

His childish attitude continued, when he kicked my staff writer out of the school gym even though she was there to interview Coach Lowe (men’s basketball) and not him. While waiting quietly and patiently in the bleachers for Coach Lowe, Johnson yelled at the student from across the gym to leave the gym because she had no business being there.

Proper manners, something Johnson lacks.

Even after informing Johnson that the student was with the newspaper, he didn’t go to her but instead sent the assistant coach. After talking it over with the assistant, the reporter was still ordered to leave the gym “even Coach Lowe was surprised to hear this” stated the reporter.

He continues to avoid her and instead of letting her interview him, he left the gym immediately even after the reporter waited outside for him.

It is unfair for us because we are being graded; we are trying to do our job just like you are and would appreciate some professional courtesy from your part.

Athlete features are on the athlete’s life and what they’ve done in order to succeed. In other words their personal story about whom they are as a person.

After finding player Klarissa Ayala on campus (during her own student time) for an interview, she advised us to set up an interview through Johnson.

The Interview with Ayala didn’t go as planned.  In the hostile environment of his office, Johnson was quick to interrupt, and was obviously upset that we did not have our facts straight before doing an interview.

When we tried to interview a softball athlete who we nominated as athlete of the week. We tried to interview her on campus in-between her classes.  She had to deny us the interview because the coach had banned all her players from setting up interviews without her consent.

We were told to schedule the interview with the Head coach and the player.

After doing so the student athlete looked uncomfortable, as the player was previously advised to give short answers.

Not only that but the coach wanted to overlook the questions in advance to tell the athletes what question she could and could not answer.

How are we supposed to write a well structured and developed article on a student if the coach pre-determines what we can ask?

Out of about 20 questions, not even half of the questions were answered.

One of which was “which was the toughest game for you so far.”

As if being interviewed by the police, a simple student-to-student interview turned into a police interrogation for both the interviewer and the interviewee.

The athlete answering the questions had to look over to the coach for approval on the questions and sometimes was advised what to answer.

Both of these interviews cause the staff writer’s article to be dull and useless. To prove this, the Softball feature never even made the paper because it was too short.

We want respect as student’s journalist. How are we supposed to learn if coaches interfere or ignore us?

How are athletes supposed to shine if their coaches cover up their real life struggles?

What keeps Coach Johnson from ignoring our existence?

Why does Coach Urquidi insist on advising our questions for athletes? (But don’t answer that question).

This is not common between all coaches, as most of them want to show off how well their team is doing in the paper. If coaches want to censor what we can and can’t say about their teams we can simply stop covering and publishing any of your events.

But then how would that look?