This coach gets it.

[BadMonkeys]

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.

I remember running in football because my teammates stunk.

I also remember when our middle school science teacher threatened to punish the whole class when I put a whoopee cushion on his chair and another student lit some fire crackers and tossed them through the window before the bell rang. I fessed up. I wasn't going to take everyone down with me. The teacher didn't intend to punish everyone. He wanted us punks to man up. We did. Class unpunished, BadMonkeys one step further from the clink.

 

[BadMonkeys]

Total side note: BadMonkeys, the "Handicap & Umpire Parking Only" avatar is EPIC!!!! LMAO

That is a real sign I took a picture of at a tournament in North Ridgeville, OH. I love the irony.

Yes, I was wondering if anyone would notice if I parked there.

 

[BadMonkeys]

JJ, you're a good guy as best I can tell. I truly don't care much. I enjoy playing devil's advocate and upping my post count.
Football is a game of controlled violence. he was adding to the control portion. Coach did what he thought was best, maybe he'll be better off for it. I would hope that my DD wouldn't tell me a story of similar circumstance, I would be torn knowing her character.

 

[cuzmail]

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.

I've seen it also ruin team chemistry and totally miss the intended point. Doesn't always work like a charm. Address the problem and don't throw out a group response and hope the group does the work for you.

Maybe it works at the older ages. Younger ages not so much.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I've seen it also ruin team chemistry and totally miss the intended point. Doesn't always work like a charm. Address the problem and don't throw out a group response and hope the group does the work for you.

I agree w/ you and Monkeys on this. It's playing with fire. Now, as I stated prior, I do think this football coach can pull it off if he frames it the right way. It's all in the presentation. ''We're not good as a team in this area, and this is how we're going to work on it. We can all get better.'' Coach would help himself to take some personal responsibility: ''I've failed to teach you what's important. I'm going to fix that.''

But my daughter will attest to this: She hates the idea of being punished for the team's misbehavior. We had a major incident of this on her last team. We'd just won a game, but the head coach chewed the whole team out for lack of focus and effort when in fact it was all about two girls, neither of which was my DD. She never got over that and didn't return to the team. If you're punishing players when they're doing everything you ask of them, you're going to lose them.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

Good grief , either you are a part of the team or you aren't.

 

[chinamigarden]

Good grief , either you are a part of the team or you aren't.

Maybe if you get punished enough for what the knuckleheads are doing, you might not want to be on that team. Suspending the whole team for the acts of a few is lazy passive aggressive administration

 

[BadMonkeys]

I agree w/ you and Monkeys on this. It's playing with fire. Now, as I stated prior, I do think this football coach can pull it off if he frames it the right way. It's all in the presentation. ''We're not good as a team in this area, and this is how we're going to work on it. We can all get better.'' Coach would help himself to take some personal responsibility: ''I've failed to teach you what's important. I'm going to fix that.''

He ended up with the everyone's support, so it does look like it worked for him. Some of the parents in the article had the initial feelings I did, only they gave way. I probably would have held out, for the reason's I have already stated, unless my child risked being ostracized by the group.

On a related note, it was my DD's softball coach who made me aware of ASK.FM being used as an anonymous bullying site. One more thing to monitor.

 

[cuzmail]

I do think this football coach can pull it off

Gotcha. I was referring to girls (softball). Different than boys. Two different animals.

I should have said that not only is it age dependent it is also boy or girl dependent.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I just saw the coach and the players on Good Morning America. I did not know that players were cutting class. Those goof balls, shouldn't have been eligible anyway. Also, the new rules say no Fs. I mean really, every one should be A, B students with an occasional C. Also, the report said that almost everyone was suspended. But, I bet they all showed up for the weed pulling and visiting the nursing home. Back in the day, if a teacher had a problem with an athlete, all they had to do was tell coach. I am not much on school in particular, but "Way to go, Coach."