Corporal Punishment

[GOINGDEEP]

I'm not the drill sergeant type, but if a girl can't run and do a few push-ups she is in sad shape.

Now here is my take, if we lose a game on errors, a few 3rd strike "looking", bad baserunning, we will have some exercises at the next practice. No way during a tournament, the physical part is too demanding as it is. HS games being the exception, girls lose ( meaning errors, bats, fielding ) they run a lap after the game. They play good and "just" lose, no punishment.

And I'll throw this in, if I lose a game for us with bad coaching I have done pushups and ran right in-front of them. That way they see it works both ways.

 

[coachtucc]

1) Yesterday at my 12U game, I had a gilr not slide into 2nd base during a steal and almost get thrown out. In-betwwen inniungs, I told the girls if you don't slide when told to, I will pull you! Same girl two innings later didn't slide again! So guess what, I pulled her right there and then. That's punishment enough for me. Best thing is she came right off of the field, said "Coach...my fault, I didn't slide and I should have". Lesson learned and no laps ran!!
2) My girls do a lap ONLY when they are not paying attention and/or giggling/fooling around..never for a physical/memtal error!!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I don't agree with it and as I have stated, if the team is running laps, the coach better be leading the pack.

 

[CoogansBluff]

If they never make a mistake, then they're not trying hard enough.

Very good point. If you never make mistakes, you're not being challenged. If you never strike out, then you should be playing at a higher level.

Here's a practical example - I used to run a drill where 4 players would occupy each base and throw the ball to each other, alternating grounders across the diamond with straight throws to the base to your left. I would have them count how many they could do in a row without making a mistake. Well, that's fine, especially for younger players. But at some point, I realized they'd get more out of the drill if they made more mistakes. So instead of counting correct throws and catches, I began timing how quickly they could do it. The errors increased as they stretched their limits, but so did their ball skills. Maybe that's common sense, but the philosophy behind all that has made me a better coach this year, imo.

 

[mad hornet]

I would never punish a kid for an aggressive mistake. Not paying attention or continue making the same mistake we've talked about a hundred times? Sure. BUT, never in front of an opposing team. Now I have never been confronted with a situation like Slugger's above but hopefully I've already headed that one off. Head coach determines the culture.

Now two weekends ago we played up in a preseason tournament. First game of the day was against an older team who beat us in a championship game the year before - a very fundamentally sound team. We played an epic battle winning with a tie score of 2-2 through 10 innings. Top of 11 the other team put 3 runs on us. Our kids responded with 5 straight base hits to win the game 6-5. I was so proud of them.

Then the very next game they were losing 4-1. As soon as the other team took the lead our kids acted like they were at a funeral! Had kids crying and pouting because they got out! (yes 12u) For whatever reason nothing I said - even reminding them of the game they had just won after being down 3 - had effect. We had a long talk about this at our next practice and yes they ran their little butts off. I can only hope that this experience of running was bad enough for them to remember the next time they are behind - and I know it will happen. And I don't care if we win every game as long as our girls play good softball and give 100% to the final out. This was not about winning or making errors.

 

[ScottBev]

I'd never do this during a game or tournament. I watched a coach do it this weekend during a 7 game guaranteed tourney. The team would be doing sprints for 20-30 minutes after each game. Do that after 4 games in a day and the girls are beat.

Now admittedly I've had to use running to refocus the team during practices. When a group has completely lost focus, I'll consider sending them to the far foul pole to bring them back. Its not my normal method, but I'll use it if necessary.

 

[Greenmonsters]

This past weekend 12U I actually had a coach start with 8 girls on defense and 1 on the bench. It was punishment for not following one of the team rules prior to the game.

She then proceeded to in the middle of the inning pull a girl out of the field because she didn't participate in the team huddle and run out to her spot on defense.

Really like beating the coach - felt bad for the girls.

Why??? You don't believe in team rules or consequences for ignoring them?

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

What is wrong with consequences when the players dont to the things the right way (the way they were taught). I am pretty sure , the consequences werent for mistakes that were made for the very first time ( most likely a lot of teaching and reps prior). Maybe a little running and pushups will refocus them on the task at hand

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Here is what I think is wrong. It does not promote the skills for softball. Conditioning 4-5 days a week will, but running the girls once a week does nothing for softball. Also, the soccer girls don't mind. It just gets their running done for the day. The softball girls that aren't used to running, are the ones being punished. And the heavy girls..... well, they will either be embarrassed to death or quit.

I had a so called All Star coach decide that the girls were going to run a mile, one night. There were several problems with that. It was 95 degrees. He didn't have enough water and he had them run in their softball cleats, while he sat his big butt on the bucket. He lost his #1 pitcher to shin splints.

Just do a bunch of Howard Kubota's drills and teach the girls something.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

Embarrassed or quit? If that is the case , they dont need to be out there anyway. Sofball is a sport , right? There is running involved in the game , right? What do these girls do when they get a hit? Let someone else run the bases?