Coaching Today's Youths

Recently I have read several articles on high school coaches being fired for their "unprofessional" conducts, such as yelling at the kids, calling them out for their mistakes, and other "unconventional" methods, and personally I am disturbed by this. As a coach your job is to motivate, condition, and prepare young athletes for competition, but now it almost seems as the coach's hands are tied.

Growing up I always had coaches yell at me, tell me what I was doing wrong, learning from my mistakes, and building character and overall it helped me to become the person/athlete/coach I am today. Their motivation got me to achieve my dreams/goals, to overcome adversity, and to never settle. Yeah, at times it was very intimidating because you were always worried about getting yelled at if you messed up, but you know what... IT WORKED!!!

Now I am not much of a "yeller" but to get your point across, to show that you are passionate about what you do and the time you sacrifice so you see them succeed, you sometimes have to yell or find a means to get your point across. This coddled method lately has turned the sports world into a bunch of soft, that it is ok to fail, that everyone is a winner notion is just plain out ridiculous. The competitiveness has lost it's vigor, and the hint of a coach that shows any emotion to help their team/player, they are at risk of losing their job! When did this happen?

What caused me to write this hub was a recent article about a HS cheerleading coach who lost her teaching job and coaching job over a recording of her "going off" on her team. I'm sure there is a bit more to this story, but I am tired of reading these claims that coaches are "too rough on our kids!" I realize there is a fine line on what you say, but in the heat of the moment your tongue sometimes slips. I know for a fact HS kids say and hear far worse. The coach ranted that her team didn't seem to want to work hard, and called them "heifers." Now I realize that she shouldn't have said that, but I don' t think she should have lost her job over it. When a coach is passionate about something they give it their all, and there is nothing more frustrating when everything you are trying to do is undermined by laziness.

The sad part about this, other than her losing her job, is that a PARENT complained about it. Whatever happened to toughening up? It's not like she beat anyone! The art of coaching is losing its methodology, and quite frankly I'm ashamed. If you don't want to work hard, if you don't want to be scolded, and if you don't want to be a part of something special, then go join the chess team (no offense).

Being apart of a team with a strict coach not only helps them succeed, but it also brings them together as a team. You're not supposed to like your coach, you are supposed to respect them! I couldn't imagine if I had a coach that patted me on the back after I failed and said that it's ok, I expect him to ream into me, motivate me, and get me to work harder so that the next time I compete I don't lose! I expect them to be a COACH!!!