Strange Punishments after losing badly

working with you or reading one of your posts?

Redbird....I swear I scrolled down as I was taking a sip of my orange juice and laughed so hard the stuff came out my nose!

I know Dibble is being stupid, but No. 2 actually happened in South Florida a couple of years ago.

The coaches lost a high school game and made two of their players fight in the locker room and one of the star pitchers got hurt. he idea was that they had argued during the game in the dugout, so why not fight after. The coach had the entire team cheering the fighters.

The coach who allowed that to happen is clearly mentally unbalanced and should not be coaching anymore.

#2 happened at Middle Georgia JC in 2004

apparently it worked they won 20 straight games after that and made it to the jUCO world series

If loosing a game isnt motivation enough to go out and try to win the next one you are in a whole lot of trouble. We run after wins not after a loss. I spend more time talking about what we could have done better after a win than a loss. Kids at the HS level work very hard and are very upset when they loose. No one wants to win anymore than the players that have invested so much into the game. The last thing they need is to get berated and put down after they have suffered a loss. Pick them back up point out what they need to work on and get back at it the next day. We are 2-2 and have played very well against some very tough competition. We lost 3-2 yesterday in a very well played game. We faced a really tough LHP that was a sidearm guy with four pitches that he could locate. We had 8 hits they have 5. They got theres with runners in scoring posistion and we didnt enough times. We didnt make a single error and our guys played well. Could we have gotten a bunt down in the 5th with runners at 1 and 2nd and no outs (yes). But that kid knows he should have gotten it down and not popped it up for a dp. Come on they dont need to be crushed by the coach they need to picked up by the coach. As long as the effort and the focus is there lets keep it in perspective folks. We will have a great year when we start conference play next week. We always play a very demanding non conf schedule to prepare us for the season. I am proud of our guys win or loose as long as they bring it everyday. Now if they are not putting out in practice or are not focused on game day we will deal with that after a practice. But I can never see it after a game when you loose.

Drivel

I ask you this---do you consider "punishment" to be a motivational tool?

For us losing badly is enough motivation to do better the next time, perhaps get to the field an hour earlier the next day and work on things needed to be rectified

After losing to a school at a lower classification in college, we were made to run 100 60 yard sprints.

You hear of people saying this, but I mean we literally ran all night. Had parents/girlfrieds/friends come back to park 5 hours after the game wondering why we were still there.

Swore that day, I would never exercise again. I exercise now that I am old, but I still won't run.

the stranges punishment, when i coached in the little league, 18 under team i told the team i give up on them, and i was quiting.after about 50 calls from parents and other coachs and the district. i came back to win with a record of 23-2, lost in the championship. the punishment here was that the team was going to get a new coach or none, the frist game of the season we lost 19-6 after that it was history. TR-HIT how about them METropolitian today.

I don't know why coaches do not punished them self after losing games because bad decisions. It is easy to blame the players. The reality is that players win games, and coaches lose them.

RACAB sorry, i have to disagree with that.

Punishment after a loss? Do we have degrees of losses. So many runs etc. etc. ! run losses as opposed to 10 run losses. Does having kids run after a bad performance really increases their fielding and throwing and hitting skills? Gee maybe I did it wrong. I used to have the kids take more grounders or flies work on situations take extra hitting. If I only knew,

Will

Trust me --you knew and still know--- I just love the fact that they "punish" the kids because they lost.

Coaches do punish themselves after a loss. They stay up all night thinking about what they could have done differently. Should we have bunted in the fifth? Should we have worked more on bunting in practice last week? Should we have changed the batting order? Should we have pulled Jim in the fourth? ETC ETC ETC. Every good coach I have ever known critiques himself over and over and over after a loss. And after wins as well. The punishment for players and coaches is the loss itself. Coaches that punish players for a loss are missing something somewhere in my opinion. Now not being focused to play or not hustling in practice or a game missing signals etc they can be addressed after practice with some extra conditioning etc. But loosing a game is punishment in itself for everyone including the coaches. Coaches hurt after a loss not only for themselves but for their players as well. And players hurt because they really want to win everytime they take the field.

Coach May,

I agree that you don't punish for a loss. I personally like to run poles after every game, but many times in tournaments it is not possible. We try to run whether we win or lose, so that it is not a punishment.

You get into players when their effort or attitude is not right. As a hockey coach, I have skated a team for a lack of effort.

But baseball, because of its nature, is different. Usually the best way to do that in baseball is to change the lineup. Sit a kid for a couple of games and you'll usually have his attention.

One time several years ago, after a particularly bad loss with bad attitudes on an away trip, when the bus pulled in the parking lot, the coach was already back at the field with the lights on (the bus was usually slower than the coach driving his truck). The coach worked those guys on infield practice and hills and foul poles till 4 in the morning.

Believe it or not, the guys actually said they loved it. It was the first decent extended infield practice they had that year. The weather before the season started kept them off the field, then 3 weeks of hosting tournaments didn't leave much field time, so it was the right thing for those guys at the time. Fortunately it was a Saturday night, so the guys just crashed in the indoor hitting facility, and came home Sunday morning.

Had minor league team have 11pm BP after a blow out and had to face a rather pissed off coach not pleased with having to throw at 11pm to the whole team, who proceeded to shatter 15 bats in BP. The players were also upset the late night BP was hurting their social life.

Wow, drivel...you have soooo many stories. You must be reeeeally connected.

force the pee wee parents to watch Barney the Dino

I have only been coaching for 8 years and believe that running as a punishment is sometimes a good thing. I don't mean if we lose a game 3-2 or 5-3 but if we get blown out and embarrassed because of the kids attitudes during the game or lack of effort, then I think running helps a great deal. I used to have to do it when I played, and now I coach with the coach who coached me and usually once a year the kids will get around 45 miunutes worth of sprints after a game because of their effort. We put a lot of time in to developing skills and learning the game and we preach for them to go out and leave it all on the field. If we lose with that effort, no problem. If we show up to the park and play like it's our first time on a field then we have a problem. I have seen what happens after these "learning" sessions and 99% of the time the team bonds and we put in a great effort the next day, win or lose. I agree though that some coaches take it to far and run to punish for any old loss. There is a difference in the way we do it, to that way.

We played in Tucson this weekend for a TripleCrown event. 2 games of pool play, then single elimination. The boys did well in the first game, winning 11-6 (or something like that), but the second game, they committed 12+ errors, and lost 20-0 (only 2 innings of play).
The coaches were furious. They took them into left field away from parents and had a stern talking. They then left them out in left field, and told them not to come off the field until they had the proper motivation to play. 10 minutes later, they walked off.

They won the tournament, defeating the 3, 2, and 1 seed respectively in the playoffs.

I thought the topic was really good. I can see why Redbird and TRHIT are such good moderators with their sarcastic comments. I also read how we are supposed to be kind to each other on this board. Sounds like a double standard for some.

I don't believe in punishments in baseball after a loss. Running, extra batting, fielding, can not be associated to punishment, it is part of practice and players have to do it voluntarely, getting fun as part of their development. If a kid think that running is a punishment never in his life will develop a working habit. Losing is part of the ball game and kids need to understand that some times the other team performs better. If a loss is caused for lazy players or because somebody didn't try hard, you take that player out for the next couple games, and that will work better. Don't take out of the game a player inmidiately after a material error, because you will take out from that kid all self confidence and will be too hard for him to overcome the situation.

Racab, You are dead on correct.

Racab,

Your english may not be the greatest (it's plenty good enough and perfectly clear)... you speak volumes when it comes to baseball.

As a former coach who loved the running game, the last thing we would ever do is use running as punishment. I believe coaches need to use running for conditioning and preparation, but if you want good runners, try as much as possible to find a way for them to enjoy running. Yes, it is possible to have fun while your working on running!

Why not punish players by making them swing a bat until their hands are bloody and raw? Of course you might end up with some kids who dislike hitting.

Very good post Racab. I feel that running as a punishment is a very poor way to coach. Maybe the coaches should run for a half hour after a loss!!!

PGStaff
Thanks, your comments are an honor to me.
Thanks God, baseball has an universal language that allow me to profane this webside with my poor grammar, but with friends so kind like you self, I feel free to post when my little knowledge about baseball may help somebody.

Racab,

Thank you, I've learned a lot from you over the past few years on these pages. I read most everything you have to say. Think most would agree, you're very modest and understand the game with the best of them. How is your son doing?

Great post. Hey dont punish the team for one players inability to be motivated to play for whatever reason. The best punishment is to put them on the pine. What good does it do to punish a kid that has poured his heart out on the field and come up short? Loosing for that kid is punishment. Spend your time working on the things that can help you win instead of taking out your frustrations of loosing on the ones that are trying to win.

I had a good coach of mine who always said " if we lose a 1 run ball game it's my fault,I made mistakes coaching! If we win a 1 run ball game its the teams SUCCESS". I don't believe we ever punished for a loss,although I do remember a 45 minute full blown tirade about the effort we put out- we had it coming!.

guys,
i am willing to bet that on 90% of the teams in high school the coaches want to win more than the players do. I have been coaching for 14 years and i have only run across a handful of players that wanted to win worse than our coaches. dont get me wrong, winning is not our only motivation. If i ever get a team that wants to win more and takes losses harder than i do then i will assure you of a winning season.

A majority of high school games are lost not won.If you are a good motivator then you have the secret to winning high school baseball games.


The reality of it is that coaches want to win more that the players, and in some instances the players just want to get on with their evening instead of hearing the ol coach rant and rave at them.


Sometimes a good lashing and some intense sprints after a poorly played game will do the trick.

I will give you a good story; one year we were very good i believe we were ranked 8th in the nation. We played a school that had no business being on the same field as us and we won 8-2 or something like that. We played very sloppy and were not very focused.

We took the kids back to the field and they were loud and joking on the bus all the way back, as we pulled up to the field we passed the field and continued about another 200 yards and all of a sudden it got real quiet. we pulled over to the football field and got out and proceeded to run 60 yd sprints.
After we ran i explained to them winning and losing is not the issue to me its about playing your best every night and i will not tolerate a half-_ _ _ effort. We reeled off 14 straight. I think it was a turning point in our season and most of the players that graduated said the same.

With the chance I might sound sarcastic, RE BLACKHEART, we dont run kids-- we may keep them for a 30/45 minute lecture-- hey they are teens and sometimes they don't "show up" and need a verbal awakening--- to me running after game as punishment is a sign of a coach who who doesn't know how to get his team motivated

I think everybody should lighten up. I think the best motivator for poor play is to show a couple of players the view from the bench. Just a tought. Now how do you deal with tough losses. I did this once. We had just lost a tough 1 run extra inning game. The kids were down. the next day at practice I had to lighten it up. At the end of practice we always did infield and outfield. I told everybody to put their gloves on the opposite hand and throw opposite. They looked at me like I was nuts. It was a riot. Everybody was in stitches laughing. We won 10 in a row after that. have fun.

Losing should have been their punishment. If not, there ain't much to say about them.