coachmccormick
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Discipline: A New Approach - 2006/09/25 09:34
Check the Blog to read today's entry by Coach Tuk, a high school coach fromthe Houston area:
http://www.thecrossovermovement.com/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,61/p,23/
Coach Tuk's points remind me of a series of bogs I wrote on my blog last winter after watching a couple teams play.
Now, the games I saw featured guys I trained, so I am biased in some respects.
However, the two coaches used an autocratic style and players, except the chosen star, played in fear of being pulled out the game. One player I trained, a kid getting DI interest as a 6'4 SG, nearly quit playing basketball. Another player, a phenomenal 6'2 athlete, nearly gave up the game this summer to persue music. Basketball lost its enjoyment.
Discipline is always a tricky subject with coaches. But, the problem, as I see it, is that coaches typically view fun and hard work as opposites; I disagree. I think you can enjoy what you do and work hard. Unfortunately, many coaches end up not enjoying their season or coaching in general because they are so consumed in "working hard" that they lose all perspective.
If it is not enjoyable, what's the point? Maybe for the one tenth of one percent of players who end up earning money as a pro player, the effort is worth it because of the end salary. But, for the other players, the vast majority of players, why play if it is not enjoyable? Whay coach if it is not enjoyable? Fun is not the opposite of hard work or discipline; to me, fun is the opposite of boring.
I coached an u-9 AAU team that went to Nationals. While there, other parents from teams in Oakland, North Carolina and Georgia approached our parents and remarked on our discipline. Now, I thought it was funny because creating discipline or punishing kids was about the last thing we tried to do. I was 24 and my co-coach was 25. I didn't know you had to wear pants to coach at Nationals, so the team bought us pants to wear and coaches' shirts and they were XXL's, which are quite baggy on me. I'd show up in fli-flops and shorts and change right before the game. In warm-ups, our players practiced And 1 moves because we used them to increase confidence and ball handling ability. We never yelled at the kids; in fact, at one tournament in LA, our staff nearly went after another coach because of his abusive behavior toward his own players (and son). We were more likely to laugh at our players' mistakes than to yell at them or yank them out of the game.
We had no out of bounds plays other than starting in a 1-4 set. We had no set offense. We had no zone defense or offense. We ran a little press, but mostly that was freelance too.
Basically, we did the opposite of what most coaches believe defines discipline, yet other parents applauded the team. I think, most of all, the other parents saw a team that actually enjoyed playing the game and being teammates. And, they saw good fundamental skills for the age group. And, most of all, isn't that what a parent wants from a youth basketball experience: enjoyment for their son and a certain amount of skill development?
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coachvargas
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Re:Discipline: A New Approach - 2006/09/25 13:10
I've come to believe that coaches who punish do not understand how to effectively challenge their athletes.
Really, why do coaches most often decide to punish their athletes? Because their kids are acting out, not focused, or in violation of team policy.
Enjoyment for the athlete can be measured as the proper balance between skill and challenge. When the challenge level is too low, the athlete is bored. Too high and you create anxiety. Bored or anxious athletes act-out and lose focus. Athletes who enjoy what they're doing do not.
I certainly think there's more to it, and coaches must enforce policy or they cease being viewed as leaders, but generally speaking, in my experience sufficiently challenged (mentally and physically) athletes are typically viewed as well disciplined.
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TomScott
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Re:Discipline: A New Approach - 2006/09/25 16:28
My son has been playing ball at a community center. One one side of the one court kids, mostly from the "underpriveleged" section of town, play ball. On the other side a little white guy coaches a team of girls whose moms bring them in new suburbans. This guy screams at those girls constantly. He has them run laps around the gym and SCREAMS if they cut corners. The other day a girl's cellphone rang and (gasp) she answered it. The guy went ballistic! Two girls bumped into eachother on the layup line and one let out a little girly shriek. The coach guy got in her face and yelled "we don't need no supersonic in here!". The girl gave a quizzical "huh?" (which was my reaction too) and he repeated it.
To the girls's credit, they seem to tune him out and just do their thing with giggles and good attitudes.
The screamer guy saw my 6'1" wife drop my son off and overheard her mention our daughter to the guy who runs the center (an excellent basketball teacher with AAU success), the screamer guy talked to my son. When Screamer found out that my son had a 6'4" 15 year old sister, he insisted that if we could just bring her in, she would fall in love with basketball.
My daughter had no interest in sports, but there's no way I'd let her play for that guy anyway. My wife, who's college coach was a Bobby Knight disciple who used "discipline" as an excuse to be downright mean, is even more adamant than I am that our kids will not play for a screamer.
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coachb
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Re:Discipline: A New Approach - 2006/09/26 02:27
So as coaches, where do we draw the line? Is it ok to cut corners and answer cell phones during practice, or should it be addressed and handled differently?
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coachtuk
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Re:Discipline: A New Approach - 2006/09/26 03:56
No it is not o.k. to answer your cell phone in practice. Most coaches who read my stuff are so short sided in their thinking. If a player wants to answer their cell phone in "your" practice, then you are not running your practice correctly. All too often we punish the kids, when we should evaluate ourselves as coaches. Look at teacher's in inservice. They act as bad as any kid I have ever been around! Read the paper, get up and leave, answer their cell phones; all when they are supposed to be listening to a speaker. Ice Cube said it best, "So come on and chickity-check yo self before you wreck yo self." Sorry I like rap.
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coachmccormick
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Re:Discipline: A New Approach - 2006/09/26 08:13
Agreed. In my eyes, we have created a scenario where players are encouraged not to think for themselves. And, then we as basketball coaches call ourselves "teachers." What are we teaching?
In the classroom, a teacher does not do a lesson and then give the students all the answers; the SAT tutor cannot follow the student into the test and sit next to him and tell him the right answers.
The teachers job, in its simplest form, is to prepare the student; it is to educate, which comes from the root "to bring forth" not the root "to fill up" which is how most teachers and coaches view education.
When do kids "act up"? Typically when they are bored. So, what is the best form of discipline, if one looks at "discipline" as preventing the players from misbehaving? Challenging the athletes; engaging the athletes; maintaing a high motivation level and a state of peak arousal (coach vargas' post).
Yelling and screaming, yanking players in and out of games and simply making kids run and run fails in each respect, which is why the behavior occurs again. As some have alluded to, in these situations where "kids are out of control," it is the coach that needs to change his ability to reach the players moreso than the players need to behave properly.
I don't yell (unless I have to raise my voice to be heard over other noises in the gym). And, I cannot remember a time I have had discipline problems. It is all about creating the right atmosphere and environment so the players understand the expectations, which are neither too high nor too low, and are given the opportunity and chalenge of meeting these expectations.
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