The more than mumbling coach...

[bbodb]

Some opinions please on how to best handle this situation:

As a match is progressing, the coach for team A makes comments from the bench about calls during rallies. For example, as a play unfolds, a hit is made by a member of team B and the coach says out loud "wow, can't believe he didn't call that.. "

A few points later, another borderline play unfolds and coach A says something like "Geez, doesn't this guy ever call a lift?"

All of these comments are spoken loud enough to be heard, but not shouted. The comments are directed to no one in general (in fact the coach is facing forward in his chair as he made these comments) but as R2 I know good and well coach A wants these comments heard.

During a timeout, I had a conversation with R1 to let her know what was going on - mostly for the purpose of giving her a heads up in case things escalated to something that had to be addressed.

Upon later reflection, I'm still wondering what the best way to address this situation was/is. I had the following thoughts / observations:

1. If I address the situation with coach A, I may needlessly escalate a situation into something much more than it really was. It seemed to me this approach would be akin to putting gasoline on a (very small) fire.

2. If I let this situation go (essentially ignoring Coach A), I am thinking the tension of the situation could possibly escalate. The other problem with ignoring the situation is that grumbling is very contagious on a bench. Once a person starts, others on the bench tend to join in.

How would you handle this?

[MCBear]

There are a couple of things that need to happen in this situation.

1 - The R2 needs to step up and "serve and protect" the R1. The coach needs to be reminded that sporting behavior is not only expected, but demanded. Borderline comments can easily cross the line so that sanctions become necessary thus allowing things to get ugly.

2 - If the R2 continues to ignore the comments, they are NOT going to just go away. "Kill the monster while it is little" is imperative in this type of situation. Acknowledge to the coach that you hear his/her concerns. That may help to allay further comments. Sometimes the coach just wants to know that their concerns are being heard. Have rapport with your benches.