Neutral ... It sounds like you had some great coaches and teachers growing up. Not all of us did though.
Nu'Trelle can put things into perspective for you with one sentence:
There isn't one chance in a BILLION that ANY of the prima donna players that we see today would have elected to transfer to the HS Nu'Trelle attended as a kid. Not ONE.
That said, did we have coaches and teachers who were good? Yes, some of them were. Did we have some that were not so good? That's also correct. Would Nu'Trelle's HS have gotten one of today's "A" ratings? No chance in hell. We had far too many under-achievers ... kids who really didn't give a rat's ass ... and teachers who looking to collect their pay, not perform miracles.
Why did Nu'Trelle stay in that system? Pretty simple, my friend. It was an era when you didn't question why you were assigned to go to school. Plus, all of Nu'Trelle's friends went there.
Had you grown up in the same hood as Nu'Trelle, you would have gotten up in the morning, brushed your teeth and marched your young ass to school. And if you would have bad-mouthed the school or one of our .500 +/- teams, your a$$ woulda gotten beat to a pulp. Poor neighborhood, but one with no shortage of pride.
What's the main reason Nu'Trelle escaped the place? Wasn't a teacher. Wasn't a coach. It was the lady who raised him. She was the type of person who believed that weak people made excuses, while successful individuals took full responsibility for their own destiny.
It was true back then. And it's still true today. Show me someone who offers excuses (e.g., bad coaches, wrong offensive scheme, etc.) and I'll show you a born loser who will never figure out how to improve his/her lot in life.
Mom grew up dirt poor and had to raise Nu'Trelle in the very same hood. She wouldn't accept any type of excuse and feeling sorry for yourself was COMPLETELY unacceptible. As a kid, Nu'Trelle's biggest fear in life is that he would lose his Mom. His second biggest fear was that he would disappoint her in some way.
Finally, one last thing about Mom. She wouldn't be upset with you for calling Nu'Trelle a clown because she occasionally did the same thing. Even as a kid, Nu'Trelle couldn't resist an opportunity to crack a joke. He learned at a very young age that laughter could help alleviate some of the deprivation.