Hey everybody,
I teach at the school where I coach, (going into my 2nd year) so I get to know my players pretty well. Many of my players are multiple sport kids so I watch them play soccer, basketball, and volleyball before I get them in the spring. One thing that I think I could have done much better with last year that I plan on improving is discipline in general. In our school specifically, keeping a certain few egos/big shots in check is a big issue. its a small school, so benching kids is tough with a small team and limited talent. So I want to find other ways of discipline that are effective without having to bench unless i really have to. all of the best research/opinions I've looked into state that when disciplining/punishing, its important to keep the punishment relevant to the offense. A lot of people agree that this is important, but very few people seem to be able to provide good examples of how to do this. Most coaches simply make kids run for punishments. the NFHS training i went through explicitly states that this is not recommended. Fitness should not be a punishment. when we use fitness as a punishment, it attaches a negative stigma to it. Kids all of a sudden dont want to run because running is thought of as a punishment. Your not going to win many games if you dont want to run! So, I would like this thread to be about presenting scenarios and brainstorming proper punishments for them.
so I will start with an ego scenario to get the ball rolling. Lets say youve got a big ego kid pitching. He doesnt have the best stuff in the world, but no matter what you say or practice, when game time comes he works too fast, throws for all he is worth, tires himself out fast, and virtually every batter is either a strikeout or a walk. he loses a close game due to a couple errors made on easy grounders with bases loaded from 3 walked batters. as your packing up in the dugout, you hear him make a comment, something like "Maybe if you guys could field the damn ball we could have won this game." What is a fitting punishment?
some ideas ive come up with:
-simply set a rule with him: "Next outing on the mound, if i notice you abandoning the things we have been working on and goal setting for (slowing the pace, breathing, throwing strikes) i will take you out imeediately."
- at practice, have the entire team watch as you hit hot fungo grounders with the intention of him not being able to field them. have him shagg them all. after he misses about 10 have him apologize to the team for his comment.
-after the next game, have him run a lap for every walk that his teammate pitcher issues. afterwards have a talk with him about what he said, its effect on him, his team, blaming them for his walks, controling his emotions and etc.
a couple of these still include running, but its relative to the issue your addressing, and it has a greater point to it that is discussed after. its not just "take a lap!"
looking forward to learning some good discipline techniques, as well as hearing some interesting scenarios and how we handled/should have handled them. thanks in advance!
-CoachZ