It is so hard butting out...last night, I didn't...

[CoogansBluff]

I was very disappointed in my dd. She is in shape and I don't know why she did this. She has one of the highest work ethic of most players...she still isn't the best, but she works hard at it.

Not criticizing, but curious. You say you don't know why she did this. Did you ask? What's her side of the story?

 

[CoogansBluff]

According to this article in Active.com, there are 6 major benefits to running - improved health, disease prevention, weight loss, boosted confidence, stress relief, and prevention of depression.....so why is everyone against it?

6 Benefits of Running | Active.com

No one is against running. Some are just against using it as a punishment. They'd like it if the coach were using it to improve health, boost confidence, relieve stress, prevent depression and all that stuff.

 

[obbay]

everybody needs to get over the "no running as punishment" BS. It has been used as consequences in sports for as long as I can remember. It always worked when I was a player.

yelling at kids used to work too. Since I've been coaching girls sports, I've found that what may have "worked" in practices when I was a boy, doesn't necessarily apply.
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[Cannonball]

First, I don't think it is BS. Secondly, if I or my dd wanted to go out for cross country then she would. I expect for softball to be taught at softball practice. I expect for coaches to know how to motivate without threats. I expect players to have the ability to work and sometimes mess up without the fear of running or being punished. If there is someone on the team that needs punishment, don't punish mine because you don't have the guts to punish the offender. Oh, you can take the sleezy way out and call it "team building." The fact is that you actually expect for the teammates to threaten this player so that they don't have to run instead of stepping up and administering the punishment yourself to the troublemaker or less motivated. So much for our bullying lesson today.

BTW, we're not talking about a few laps. We're talking timed punishment according to the OP. We're talking about punishment instead of practice. We're talking about ineffective coaching instead of someone who can coach players through times when they don't play/practice well.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

If running as punishment worked, the Chicago Cubs would have had to run to the Wi. line, by now.

Use the time that you have to work on the skill that needs worked on. When I see a team running for punishment, it shows me that the coach doesn't know how to correct what is wrong and he better be off his bucket and at the front of the line.

I have no problem with having the girls take a lap, now and then, if their heads aren't in the practice and I have tried over and over to motivate them. But, after a game? No.

 

[barlowjames]

I understand about protecting your kid, but I had to let mine fail enough so she would let somebody help her. They have to learn that lesson for themselves at some point.

I'm in the middle of that right now. Hopefully my daughter responds like yours.

For those of you who are using running as a punishment maybe you could try a rolled up newspaper or magazine instead. A swat on her nose has done wonders in keeping my dog of the couch and takes a lot less time than watching a group of girls slowly jog around the field. Maybe your players could learn their lesson that way.

Let's be honest that once the girls know you are timing them they are just going to sandbag their first run so what exactly are you hoping to teach them with that.

I'm not adverse to using something to help motivate the girls but I like it to be useful and worthwhile for us both. I find burpees (I know, girls can't do pushups) to be a wonderful tool for any girls who are a bit lacking in focus during a drill. Helps with conditioning, get's them dirty, works on full body strength and flexibility, and I could bury them all on a race to 100 if they start to complain so it's an all around win.

 

[Dtwn92]

I see most peoples point here. I'm not wishy washy on the subject, I played hockey and believe me if you messed up enough you skated (thinking running) until your coach got tired. In the military if you messed something up, you did push ups or something else until the DI got tired. The message got thru really fast, loud and clear! After said push up/running/skating evloution, you put more effort and concentration in that before, the last thing you wanted was to go back to making the coach/DI tired.

Now on my DD's team, the HC and AC disagree on this subject. The AC says practice is for working on softball related stuff. If practice gets out of hand the HC will make them run or do 5 pushups if they miss a catch/throw or w/e. This has caused so much headache it isn't even worth the fight anymore. The HC doesn't use it anymore so I guess the AC won that battle, but you know what I see? Chatting going on, bad throws all over the field and a general lack of worrying about being accountable for making a dumb play. Breaking off a "take a lap" or "give me 5" keeps them focused and wanting them to make the solid play because if there are no consequences to constantly messing up (like what is going on now) they stop worrying about it and just looking to have fun and finish up.

Not exactaly sure where the happy medium is but what I see from my DD's 16u team at times, laps would be a welcome change.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Softball is not boot camp. For one, the players are not there all day at the pleasure of being abused by the dril seargant; time is a factor here.
And as I said before, education experts think physical punishment in sports does not work with kids, so I go with the experts. Accountability can be gained with softball related skills and that is the coach's responsibility, not based on using laps or push ups. You can do the skill over 5 times instead of doing 5 push ups.

The main reason they don't like the punishment approach is that we are fat and out of shape as a society and you don't need to produce negative views in kids about exercise. Kids naturally like to do exercise so you don't want to make them hate it.

For example, I know a coach who made pitchers throw in the rain for a long time when they claimed they could not do it and wanted to go home because practicing in the rain was a waste of time. (IF they had done it properly while it was still drizzling, they could have gone home earlier.) That worked. The pitchers now pitch well in the rain in games.

Just remember that education experts are responsibile for for the wildly successful No Child Left Behind program. Expect little, have no performance-related consequences, give everyone a trophy for showing up and you'll be the proud coach of a fastpitch team that couldn't beat a soccer team. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

 

[sluggers]

If there is someone on the team that needs punishment, don't punish mine because you don't have the guts to punish the offender. Oh, you can take the sleezy way out and call it "team building."

Come on, Cannonball, tell us how you *really* feel... (As an FYI, Cannonball is the most successful former baseball/softball coach on this board. If he says its a waste of time, it is a waste of time.)

As Cannonball pointed out, running as punishment is a waste of valuable practice time. You've only got two or three hours the way it is...why waste 30 minutes doing something as lame as running around a field?

If the kids are asleep during practice, 99.5% of the time the problem is the coach. Kids feed off the vibe of the coach...if the coach has a well planned, thought out practice, then the kids get into it. If the coach is disorganized and unfocused, so are the kids.

 

[softballphreak]

I use burpees. It doesn't take long to do 5 or 10. They're good conditioning and for whatever reason the kids hate to do them. I let them know up front I love burpees and am looking for a reason to do them. Many (most) times the whole team does them together. It's amazing what peer pressure does for paying attention.