The parents haven't made me aware of one, but of course that doesn't mean anything.
Dealing with unruly player?
- Thread starter CRJC
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The parents haven't made me aware of one, but of course that doesn't mean anything.
Knowing what you're dealing with is the first step.
If a player tells me that she doesn't want to play, I will have a conversation with her parents about whether or not softball is the best place for her to be. How it goes from there will depend a lot on the parents' attitude.
If she says she wants to play, I would reinforce that there are expectations of effort and attitude that go with participation, and her playing time (down to the minimum required by the league) will be a direct reflection of her effort and attitude.
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I have had that anwser, how do we survive together?
If she truly does not want to play, hopefully her parents will keep her home and everyone can move on. Unfortunately, as a coach you sometimes run into the nonsense that little Sally must finish what she starts even though she has a negative effect on the entire team. Too often parents are quite comfortable to make a half rear attempt at teaching a life lesson to their kid at the expense of everyone else.
- Sep 28, 2015
- 150
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Yup you are guaranteed one challenging kid and one awesome kid when you coach Rec.
I wouldn't make it too complicated and just reinforce the basic rules of being under your supervision. Once in a while remind the team at the start of practice the basic rules (same as school) and let them know what the consequence are and then simply follow thru when you need to. My approach was to give a fair warning or personal reminder and then for those difficult ones who were purposefully misbehaving they would be told to sit in the stands until I had time to talk with them. Give them 15 mins to soak up the isolation and see if they want to join the group.
But it really stinks that no matter what there is a degree of distraction!!!!
BTW, mom and dad are very aware of the situation and conveniently not helping to coach.
I wouldn't make it too complicated and just reinforce the basic rules of being under your supervision. Once in a while remind the team at the start of practice the basic rules (same as school) and let them know what the consequence are and then simply follow thru when you need to. My approach was to give a fair warning or personal reminder and then for those difficult ones who were purposefully misbehaving they would be told to sit in the stands until I had time to talk with them. Give them 15 mins to soak up the isolation and see if they want to join the group.
But it really stinks that no matter what there is a degree of distraction!!!!
BTW, mom and dad are very aware of the situation and conveniently not helping to coach.
Update! So after a little one on one chat, she decided she did in fact want to play. Apparently her bad attitude is the product of her fear of only getting to play in the outfield where nothing happens. I had her positioned in RF tonight and told her if she hustled and played her hardest we would see about letting her play @ 2nd base soon. Her attitude was a lot better tonight even though we still had some focus issues. I was really proud of the effort she put out tonight. Hopefully it'll keep up to the next game!
Side note: We won! Huge boost of confidence to all of our girls!
Side note: We won! Huge boost of confidence to all of our girls!
Awesome!! One-on-one talks directly with players can be very effective. Good job, Coach! I hope you gave her lots of positive reinforcement for her improved attitude and effort.
Awesome!! One-on-one talks directly with players can be very effective. Good job, Coach! I hope you gave her lots of positive reinforcement for her improved attitude and effort.
Oh yes!!! And the other girls even gathered around her and told her how proud they were of her. That moment just about melted my heart!
OF sucks at lower ages.
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