Coach Berating Players

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by griblets

When working a summer tournament about 20 years, a coach was berating his 13-14 year old players terribly. It wasn't in an effort to help them. He was simply crushing their spirit. It was absolutely atrocious the way he belittled his players. I've always carried regret for not giving him an unsporting T for his behavior. I think the team's parents would have applauded.

Fast forward 20 years, and I had a similar situation last night with a BJV coach. It was obvious that the kids were not learning anything because the coach couldn't say anything positive. They were visibly upset with the treatment they were getting. It was sickening how he was treating them. He's going to drive many of those kids away from playing next year. I almost got an opportunity to rectify my regret from 20 years ago, but couldn't find the right situation to give him an unsporting T.

I wonder if anyone else has or would T a coach for the way that he treats and/or speaks to his team?

Not my problem at all. There are places that have no issues with certain language being used or how it is used. Parents control that along with school districts that may or may not have certain standards. If as officials get involved in that type of stuff in those places, you might be getting rid of everyone in the first few minutes if you do not want to hear certain kind of language or certain kind of interaction.

And I will take it a step further. I think we as adults get way to worried about things that do not involve our kids. When I was a kid the language that was used in my presence was a lot worse than I hear to day in almost any situation and we are so concerned when a kid hears something that we were constantly exposed to years ago, but we act like we have to protect children from everything. If the parents have an issue, that is for them to address. But the reality is there are many things going on around kids that many of us do not seem to accept. Heck I was watching Rated R movies long before the age of 17 or 18 and heard Richard Pryor and other comedians long before I was that age and somehow I turned out not using that language in the right situations. There are a lot worse things we can worry about IMO.

Peace