question from a member on overly aggressive coaches

JMHO From Experience

A wise man told me one time, " Give me (9) orphans ,and I'll give you a ball team". Now think about that statement for a moment...no parent intervention...sometimes as parents including myself we mislead our kids in thinking we are their best guidance for their futures, in essence we sometimes are their worse enemies...we get mad about something and take our kids off a team that she might be very happy being on, but daddy thinks not !!! This year I have decided to let the coach do his job,and I'm going to sit back with ole friends and watch her play!! Last year she amazed me on what she could do when the pressure was off.

Guru

 

Outstanding point!!!!!!

 

Protection for the STUDENT-athlete

If this is occurring in a university program be reminded that these girls are STUDENT-athletes. Most university's (all in the UNC system) have university officials whose job it is to make sure that students are not mistreated in any setting. I can assure you that with proper documentation an abusive coach, just like an abusive prof, will not be around long. University's cannot afford the potential litigation or negative publicity that can occur. Even Chapel Hill (the women's soccer coach) eventually settled by writing a large check. If this is occurring at a small private institution then it may be more difficult. Some of these institutions may not exercise appropriate oversight. The only answer here may be to find another place to play and study.

 

I must point out....

Braves the first line above AMEN!!! There really trully is NEVER a place in coaching for this type behavior from any coach!!!

That next line though, I must say that not everyone you meet is gonna act that same sweet, nice way for the remainder of your contact time! I am sure you have seen people turn from Jeckle to Hide! It happens, no matter how much homework you did! Just for example, when you were being recruited for a college, said college had one coach, when you show up for 1st day of college, coach is gone, now you are left with whatever is in that coaches place, You had NO choice! Now yes a player can transfer out of that situation, but they may have to stick it out for awhile before that can be done! So there are always situations that are out of one's control and could not be forseen!

As far as my veiwpoint on this matter, I say buy one of those tiny little video surveillance cameras, and get the nasty deed on film! It is really hard to deny what is on film in front of you!
Do not be afraid to take your case to the top of the chain to make sure that it is resolved properly and promptly! Sometimes it is best to start at the top of chain and let them go down the chain of command!
Regardless this is a horrible situation for a kid to be put in! Their already dealing with being away from home, family and friends and various other situations. A coach should be there for the kid in any situation. Not be the source of the a situation that the kid is having to deal with!

 

One name Bobby Knight

I could name other examples, but that one just stands out so bold!
I agree that what one person deems as abusive behavior, another may take for aggressive coaching. but come on now, we all know that it all depends on how many games that coach's teams have won!
While I don't think that is the right wayI do think that is the reality of it!

 

Obviously, I gave a general response to a general question. There were no specific examples of what constituted verbal abuse.

But I can say this specifically. If my child suffered from known "verbal abuse", I won't need a spy camera or anything else. I'm going to march my butt down to the coach's office and we are going to have a "talk" with or without the AD. If I have to initiate a decison of transferring that's a small price to pay versus continuing to subject my child to abuse. But if my protests goes unheard or not corrected, then I will deal with that after appropriate measures have been taken.

But I temper my reply to this subject by noting that many parents get too involved in areas that they shouldn't......while understanding they are thinking they are doing the best for their child.

First- I can assure you most will not act sweet and nice after the student-athlete is attending college.

But...I have never not known how a coach treats his/her players after having discussions with ex-players, parents and current players. If you didn't do that, then you missed an important step in recruiting.

Yep...that can happen and it is not a fun time. One may find that the current coach does not want you either. When this happens, hopefully you attended the school of your dreams or keep the ph# of the coaches that showed interest in you when you were recruited because you are about to go through the process again.

 

To those points we agree!!!!

I agree with you!

 

I mentioned in another post if this was HS or college.

In HS, there is no room for boorish behavior by coaches. They are not doing this for the money (that's laughable). They are supposed to be doing this for the love of the game and developing young people into better citizens.

In college? We are talking about the NCAA. It's big business....the quicker one understands that, the easier it is to understand the things they do. This is the coach's livlihood...it's a business to them and they treat it as such.

It drives me crazy discussing the hypocracies of the NCAA and the Student-Athlete or Athlete-Student. It is what it is....no different than operating under the business culture of IBM. I'm sorry, I'm getting off topic. This is for another thread topic, but it would be easier to reply if we knew this was a HS or college coach we are discussing.

 

Who you trying to kid, we all know you are not innocent!!

 

Yeah...CanAm is back!!!!