Team Discipline

Just curious...

One of the things I love to see on the field is a disciplined team. You can just see it in everything they do.

So...my question to you is...

What are some of the things that you do (or have seen done) to instill discipline in your team?

If a player or players do something that really gets under your skin and makes your blood boil - do you usually address it right away? Or do you wait until your a little less "hot" to deal with it?

1) A coach has to LIKE his/her players and ENJOY coaching.
2) A coach has to want each and every player on the team to be successful
3) The coach has demonstrate that he is willing to work his a** off to help the player be successful.
4) The coach has to *know* what the game is about.

So, if a coach is all of those things, then the players are getting a lot from playing for the coach. The players know it, and they respond. A coach doesn't have to have a great personality--just the knowledge and the sincere desire to help each and every player become the best that the player can become.

If a coach is all of those things, discipline is extremely easy:

(1) You tell the team what you expect. You tell them that if they don't meet your expectations, they will be benched.
(2) When a player does meet the pre-defined expectation, you bench her. Not forever, just for one game. *NOTE* That does not mean that she gets to play the next game. Everything goes back to the way it was. So, if she were scheduled to play in games 1 and 3, but not game 2, and if she were late, she would sit out game 1 because of the problem, she would sit game 2 because that was the plan, and she would play in game 3.
(3) And then the coach should forget the incident ever happened.

For girls, and this is CRITICAL--> *EVERYONE* has to be treated the same. If little Suzy, the star pitcher/clean up hitter, is late, Suzy sits. If you do this at the very beginning to your "star" player, you won't have any problems.

StacieM said:

Just curious...

One of the things I love to see on the field is a disciplined team. You can just see it in everything they do.

So...my question to you is...

What are some of the things that you do (or have seen done) to instill discipline in your team?

If a player or players do something that really gets under your skin and makes your blood boil - do you usually address it right away? Or do you wait until your a little less "hot" to deal with it?

Click to expand...

I just read an article in the NFHS magazine I received concerning coaching female athletes. It confirmed many things I do when I coach females. One of them is my policy to praise publicly and criticize privately, at least the first time. I absolutely address any discipline issues immediately but in private. Girls do not like to be called out in public in front of their peers, not saying the boys like it but they are different in the way they handle it. As far as the team looking disciplined on the field that the coach preparing them for as many different situations that might happen as possible. Also having a set pregame routine so they know what to do at all times. Nothing worse than a coach that just rolls it out differently every day.

sluggers said:

(1) You tell the team what you expect.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. I think the starting point for Discipline is laying out the plan for what is EXPECTED, instead of assuming that a 16U A athlete should know what is expected and then sticking to it, even when it might hurt the teams chances. I've seen coaches bench the 9'th batter on the team when she goofs off in practice, but ignore the fact that the teams #1 pitcher was also goofing off because "the team needs her to pitch in order to have a chance to win." If there is going to be DISCIPLINE it must be CONSISTENT.

I also couldn't agree more that it all starts with the coach. I've seen teams where the head coach shows up 15 minutes before the game, is dressed hap hazardly, does 2 minutes of warm ups, no batting warmups, and then has the nerve to dress down players after they don't perform well, or walk on and off the field in the game.

Gotta agree with Sluggers. It starts with the coach. The players will only rise to the coaches level of expectation.

Ray: great post! I also think it's very important to let them know exactly what you expect from the start. It's not fair to rail into them for something they didn't know you expected or were never told to do. It's also important that each player is treated fairly and that no one gets special treatment because they are a "star" player. Actually, for me as a coach, it's those that really annoy me when they try to test boundaries or get away with things just because they think they won't get the punishment or basically act like they are above the others on the team and can do things differently.

What kind of disciplline problems are you referring to?

Girls must respect their team and their coach or they have no need to be there.

Some teams can show up, get serious and complete warm-ups, etc and be ready to play without a coach. They have had the coaches expectation made clear, they do what they have been taught. (Also know that if they dont and he finds out they willl have to run)