Discipline

[Cannonball]

My 2 cents. If a coach wants to punish a team or practice then do it themselves. I wouldn't be hip to having my child run because the coach picked someone who had a beef with her and so, she got punished. Look, players/kids can be "caught doing good" so much that you shouldn't have to punish if you praise. Sure there were times when I punished. I wanted 8 positives to any negative. Still, that negative was a real negative BUT I also punished myself because I wasn't a good enough coach to get through to whomever in whatever situation. Again, my 2 cents. Keep in mind that my opinion plus roughly $7 will get you an extra value meal at McDonalds.

 

[JAD]

Not the committed work ethic kind but the consequence kind.

What are methods and types of discipline you use when the ladies are messing around and arent taking the game or workouts seriously.

14 year olds going on 15.

This would not work with older players, but for 14 year olds who's parents had to take the time and effort to get them to practice....try cancelling practice in the middle of it if the players are not taking it seriously. Just tell them "practice is over, if y'all are not going to take this seriously just go home". If that happened to my DD I would light her azz up and there is a good chance she would be running home the last 2 miles....the coach would not have to do a thing. Some parents would use this as an opportunity to take the DD for ice cream, so parents responses could differ.

 

[grcsftbll]

I'm not a big fan of punishments in general and avoid them as much as possible. Rewards too, the flip side of the punishment coin. I love finding a way to guide kids to find intrinsic motivation. When they do what's right, what they should be doing, for the sake of doing the right thing and not to avoid a punishment or earn a prize, I feel like I'm doing something right. JMO

 

[JAD]

............

 

[Cannonball]

Isn't there a difference between a "hard practice" and punishment? Like all things moderation is the key.

 

[Easton33]

Isn't there a difference between a "hard practice" and punishment? Like all things moderation is the key.

In football??? No. A "hard" practice is usually code for you guys played poorly, practiced poorly, or made a poor decision so now get ready to puke cause we are gonna run your tails off, make you hit till you are bruised all over and can't move tomorrow, or we are gonna do both.

 

[dadofadirtlover]

Isn't there a difference between a "hard practice" and punishment? Like all things moderation is the key.

Agreed, but I think alot of today's athletes would consider a Bear Bryant practice as punishment. Seems like that would fall under the "it depends who you ask" category. What some call practice is just punishment. What some call punishment, others call discipline. What some call discipline, others call.....the list goes on and on. Like Jim Collins said in Good To Great (and I'm paraphrasing here drastically).....believe in whatever your philosophy is. You have to own the fact that YOU are YOU. Once that happens, the rest is just....the rest.

Same holds true for the word moderation. I know of a coach that runs his girls for the entire practice once every 2 - 3 weeks. Some think that's too much. He thinks that's moderation. It's an 8U TB team for context. I love the guy. If I had an 8U child, I just would choose another coach because I don't think that's moderation. He does and it's his team and he owns that fact. He's also a big enough of an adult to appreciate that everybody doesn't agree with him, but he at least tells everyone up front.

One person's moderate punishment is another person's "practice was just a touch edgier than usual".

 

[dadofadirtlover]

I'm not a big fan of punishments in general and avoid them as much as possible. Rewards too, the flip side of the punishment coin. I love finding a way to guide kids to find intrinsic motivation. When they do what's right, what they should be doing, for the sake of doing the right thing and not to avoid a punishment or earn a prize, I feel like I'm doing something right. JMO

I get where you're coming from, but softball and life for that matter has punishment and rewards all the time. Why should practice be any different? Every at bat, there is a punishment and a reward, isn't there? The pitcher or the batter wins the battle. If the batter wins, the have an opportunity for another punishment or reward situation.....base running. Except this time it isn't pitcher vs. batter. It's baserunner vs. defense. Someone will be rewarded and someone will be punished. I don't drive crazy anymore. Why? I didn't like the punishment of higher car insurance. So, I changed my behavior and as a result of that behavior change, I was rewarded with the lowest rates possible. I also drive obnoxiously slow now, but that's another story. Bottom line is some things we're going to do BECAUSE we're supposed to. Some things.....we need external motivation. And that could be the carrot, the stick, or both. Just kinda how it is, you know?

 

[Easton33]

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.

Here we go with Wooden again. Wonder how many of those championships he would have gotten if he would have followed NCAA rules? Yes, money man Gilbert was actively involved in the recruiting process and to quote the NCAA field investigator, he could have "suspended UCLA indefinitely" had he not been told to drop the case. Gilbert did everything from cash to play all the way to arranging abortions and Wooden is on record saying he turned a blind eye. Not objecting is the same as condoning. How about him letting Walton smoke dope?
Wooden would yell at and harass the opposing team's players while they were going down the court. This is someone you want emulate? Look it up, it's all out there. Wonder how many National Championships Bobby Knight bought, sure as heck wasn't as many as your mentor.

 

[Cannonball]

I've tried several times to type a response here. I can't without sounding wrong. In short, when my team had practice, it was a hard practice.