Irate Coach - First time flagging a coach

[PocketSidewalk]

Originally Posted by CT1

Coach: “Why didn’t you give me my time out? I was yelling at you for a time out.”

Me: “Coach, I didn’t hear you call for a time out. Please get back to your sideline"

Coach: “I was right in your ear yelling on the sideline. I called for a time out. You had to have heard me. I called for a time out.”

Me: “Coach, please get off the field.”

Coach: “I called for a time out. Why didn’t you give me a time out? You had to have heard me. I wanted a time out.”

You: (FLAG)

Once you flag him, get away by moving toward your WH to report your foul.

Thanks, CT1. It's simple statements like this that are very helpful. It seems like such an obvious thing to say in retrospect, but at the time I was at a loss for words. It's like my vocabulary shrunk the instant I looked up and saw the coach standing there. I don't mean to give the impression that I was afraid of him, but it certainly was a situation I hadn't dealt with previously or prepared for; it caught me off guard to say the least.

Reading your modified conversation and replaying the events in my mind help me to see how I might have better handled the situation by using a few simple, yet powerful words: "Coach, please get off the field." I'm sure that's something I won't soon forget should a similar situation happen in the future.

It kinda reminds me of something I heard at a clinic earlier this year. One of the clinicians told us a good, non-confrontational phrase to use when dealing with coaches. That phrase was: "I hear you, coach." It's such a short, simple phrase, yet it conveys several messages:

• You've heard the coach's argument/plea;
• you're not simply ignoring him; and,
• there's no need for him to continue repeating himself because his point has been made and acknowledged by you

Simple phrases, seemingly obvious, yet powerful and good to have in your arsenal.


I'll dispense with the rhetoric and end by saying that another good thing to have in your arsenal is a shiny yellow flag. And while my vocabulary seemed to fail me on the field, I could've filled up the stadium that night with several much more colorful words that I would've loved to have shared with the coach.

[wisref2]

"Reading your modified conversation and replaying the events in my mind help me to see how I might have better handled the situation by using a few simple, yet powerful words: "Coach, please get off the field." I'm sure that's something I won't soon forget should a similar situation happen in the future."

And congratulations. You just became a better football official!

And with the attitude you displayed here, you will keep getting better.