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Jun 27, 2011
5,088
0
North Carolina
Punishing bad guys is ok. Punishing kids who may not have done anything is wrong.

I agree w/ that sentiment in general, but serving your community, taking character classes and helping your family isn't punishment, IMO. It's part of the training to become the kind of student-athlete that the coach wants. It's what the coach believes the team most needs to work on. You're in it together, so you all work on it. If the coach frames it the right way, I think every kid worth his salt will buy into it, even those who did nothing wrong. But if the coach frames it purely as punishment, then he might have a problem.
 
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JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
Punishing bad guys is ok. Punishing kids who may not have done anything is wrong.

setting up a code of conduct and making a team responsible to each other is the goal here. Its the same principle as having the entire team run a lap if one kid is goofing off. They need to be a unit and trust each other and be indebted to each other and realize that when they are disrespectful to ANYONE then they are disrespectful to themselves and their teammates. Sometimes we will modify our behavior more when someone we care about pays the price for it.
 
May 23, 2012
365
18
Eastlake, OH
I agree w/ that sentiment in general, but serving your community, taking character classes and helping your family isn't punishment, IMO. It's part of the training to become the kind of student-athlete that the coach wants. It's what the coach believes the team most needs to work on. You're in it together, so you all work on it. If the coach frames it the right way, I think every kid worth his salt will buy into it, even those who did nothing wrong. But if the coach frames it purely as punishment, then he might have a problem.

I see value in what he asked the players to do. He could make this a permanent part of his program. When I had a chance to sit on a board meeting of my DD's softball org I felt that character building could be a part of what the girls did. I had hoped that maybe we could require some type of community service, volunteerism, etc. Maybe the young ladies and a family member could spend a day at a shelter of some sort, etc. It turned out we did a food drive at a tournament we hosted instead. Point being I get it. I also see value in punishing the bad guys and specifically not punishing the good guys. It perverts my sense of justice to treat the good guys and the bad guys the same.
 
May 23, 2012
365
18
Eastlake, OH
Its the same principle as having the entire team run a lap if one kid is goofing off.

I've seen Full Metal Jacket. :)

I get it from a character building standpoint. On principal I disagree with punishing people who do nothing wrong because I think it may also lead to resentment rather than the team trust. Just a case where I don't see the ends justifying the means.
 
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JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
I've seen Full Metal Jacket. :)

I get it from a character building standpoint. On principal I disagree with punishing people who do nothing wrong because I think it may also lead to resentment rather than the team trust. Just a case where I don't see the ends justifying the means.

I hear you, but don't knock it till you try it. I've had GREAT success improving overall team focus and effort and fixing individual problem attitudes by making the whole team pay the price for a single kids misdeeds. This did not lead to resentment either, it led to trust between them. May seem counterintuitive but it works like a charm. If you remove the crime/punishment viewpoint and look at it as treating many individuals as one entity it makes a little more sense.
 
May 23, 2012
365
18
Eastlake, OH
What does this say to the kids who needed behavior correction? They were not required to do anything more than anyone else. In essence they suffered no consequences.

No mention of the coward players who did the bullying that pushed this over the top having come forward when they saw their teammates being punished. This is the real purpose of this type of punishment. To root out the truth to be able to punish the actual wrong doers. The article doesn't say if that happened. See, wise King Solomon threatened to punish both the guilty and the innocent when he ordered the child be split. He didn't split the child to prove a point, he rooted out the confession.
 

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