Column: Thanks for Listening

I need to apologize.

My column on Sept. 22, 2011, upset quite a few people, and that was not my intent. My intent was to praise a really good group of female student-athletes who are having very good personal seasons.

My intent was not to ever smear or ridicule any of the male student-athletes but to challenge them to work harder.

My intent was not to ever say the upper-class girls were not having great seasons also, but to point out that there is a strong group of girls who are standing out in seventh to 10th grades.

On Monday I spoke and learned a lot from a very intelligent Ahlahasa class. This class informed me of the many different viewpoints that the various students had about my column.

The opinions ranged from mocking the male athletes to not standing up for every athlete on every team. A few thought it would be best to list every single athlete and not just pick a few.

All of the students made great points, and I really liked that they all showed genuine concern. Over the last few weeks I have also listened to the concerned parents of the male and female athletes at Albert Lea.

Again, I apologize that I chose the wrong way to get across my message.

I stumbled in getting the correct message out and that is that the Albert Lea girls’ sports teams are full of unbelievably talented athletes and that we should all attend and praise them for all they are achieving.

To the parents, coaches and both male and female athletes who I may have upset — I am truly sorry about offending you in any way with my writings as that was not my intent. I will choose my words and tone much more carefully in the future.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer is a fan of Albert Lea High School sports. His column appears every Thursday.