Just an FYI, early this fall dd and I were out of town and stopped by and saw a D1 school's last practice of the year. They did pretty good in batting and fielding but their final thing to do was scrimmage. 3 innings later there was a screw up on base running and defense on same play. Guess what the coach did...they all joined hands around the circle and talked about the errors, then they sang a harmonic tune and swayed in sinc. (NOT!!!) He lined them up and made them run, not just a simple pole either. Here is the kicker, you won't like this Mr. Draconian, this coach has been to the world series multiple times in different capacities in the last 5 years. Yeah, sounds like a recipe that doesn't ever work.
Discipline
- Thread starter 4KidsDad
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Someone should have ushered those poor kids to a designated Safe Zone where nobody could further bruise their self esteem and then organized some protests, walkouts, and demanded resignations from the team water person all the way up to the President of the school.
Tell it to John Wooden.
While I'm not as emphatic about it as Sluggers, I am 100% on board with the Wooden approach - and if you'd care to argue against it, just remember you're arguing against a career .804 winning percentage, 19 conference championships, 10 NCAA championships in a 12 year span, 7 of those in a row, and 4 undefeated seasons with an 88 game win streak thrown in for good measure.
"You discipline those under your supervision to correct, to help, to improve — not to punish."
"I say a coach has the greatest ally in the world if he isn't afraid to use it, and that's the bench."
~ John Wooden
Coach also used the tactic described earlier in the thread of just shutting them down for the day. If it's the whole team then practice is over, they can call mom & dad for a ride and explain to their parents why they had to be picked up early. If it's just one or a few, they can go sit in the bleachers and watch.
The idea as I understand it is to correct the behavior, not to punish the player.
There is enough room in the world for multiple approaches, and those approaches will meet with varying levels of success. For myself, I try (vainly) to emulate the most successful.
I've never said anything close to that. If want to quote me, at least find something I really said.
There is conditioning and there is punishment. They are two different things. They aren't the same. (My DDs could literally wring out her T-shirt when we were done practicing. She would be soaked, and so would I. When we worked out, we worked out.)
To be clear, there is nothing wrong with a jog around the infield as a way to "refocus" the kids. If you have a bunch of 14U girls at 4PM, you are going to have to do something to burn off some energy. I get that.
But, the "picking out a teammate to be punished" takes this to a whole new level.
We have an adult ordering a *CHILD* to inflict pain on another *CHILD*--for making a fielding error. That makes no sense.
Heavens...DD#1 went to the NJCAA championships twice (her juco coach is now a successful D1 coach) and the MAC championships twice. DD#3 played college hoops, went to the NCAA playoffs twice, and won one national championship. So, I suspect I know how college athletes are treated.
But, the discussion isn't about 20-something women. We are talking about 14U girls.
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- Jun 7, 2013
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To me, the holding hands and singing would have been the worst part of the punishment. Really!
- Jun 7, 2013
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Now you're talking!
Strange, I would have expected you to be more of a Woody Hays guy. Unfortunately, what worked 40-50 years ago may or may not work today. If the methods of John Wooden are so timeless how do you reconcile the success of coaches like Bobby Knight?
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Lets keep it real. It is running, not waterboarding. If a little bit of running is painful, maybe they should stay home on the couch.
Likewise my DD and her team won a National Championship and their coaches ran them until they puked. It was punishment, they all knew when they screwed up, but none thought it was personal and in the end were not emotionally or physically scarred.
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Like this:
You'd be hard pressed to find someone affiliated with Wooden who has anything negative to say about him. Conversely, you can't throw a stone without hitting someone who'd say nasty things about Knight (and those who coach like he did). Different approaches, different levels of success.
