Last week, I tweeted “This isn’t a coaching style” over a video of a popular college coach yelling at a player in a close, late-game situation titled, “Can this coaching style work in the modern era?”.
Youth sports is one of the spaces where the coach maintains complete control and power— and it’s a huge power differential between an adult and a child to begin with, let alone adding control over starting positions and playing time. While I believe there is a fair amount of exaggeration about how prevalent this kind of behavior is, it’s really difficult to overstate how disturbing it is to see a adult berating a 4th or 5th grade child for something that happened on a basketball court.
The irony is that the impulse to berate a kid over a mistake, in my opinion, is born of the coach’s fear that he or she will be judged based on a child’s play. It’s as if they’re trying to communicate to the crowd “See? I know he made a mistake! I’ve told him a thousand times! This happened because he’s being a bad player, not me being a bad coach!!!”
If you’ve ever seen a kid on the receiving end of something like that, it’s ridiculous and completely heartbreaking.
I yell sometimes: usually when players are talking to each other or distracting another player when I am explaining a point. Not always on the first offence, but definitely after the third or fourth attempt.
I also yell when I see a potential accident/ safety issue 'STOP'.
Otherwise, I have learnt that yelling was often a sign of my fatigue/frustration rather than the players doing anything wrong.
I asked one athlete, who was struggling at a National Championships, 'Would it help if I gave you a massive kick up the backside?' she said, 'no.' But it broke the tension a little.
Yes, "yelling" in and of itself is really just a raised voice, which is appropriate in situations, especially in loud, distracting spaces where a soft voice may not carry. This would be neutral, generally. "Yelling at" players is the ranting and raving, spittle flying, close proximity behaviors where volume is unnecessary, but used for effect. This is negative. Probably a middle ground too where voices raise due to the excitement or situation, but is not necessary practically, nor at others in their face. This can be positive or negative: People yell when celebrating...
Youth sports is one of the spaces where the coach maintains complete control and power— and it’s a huge power differential between an adult and a child to begin with, let alone adding control over starting positions and playing time. While I believe there is a fair amount of exaggeration about how prevalent this kind of behavior is, it’s really difficult to overstate how disturbing it is to see a adult berating a 4th or 5th grade child for something that happened on a basketball court.
The irony is that the impulse to berate a kid over a mistake, in my opinion, is born of the coach’s fear that he or she will be judged based on a child’s play. It’s as if they’re trying to communicate to the crowd “See? I know he made a mistake! I’ve told him a thousand times! This happened because he’s being a bad player, not me being a bad coach!!!”
If you’ve ever seen a kid on the receiving end of something like that, it’s ridiculous and completely heartbreaking.
I’ve heard high school coaches scream that statement almost verbatim loud enough to hear in the stands on the opposite side of the court.
I yell sometimes: usually when players are talking to each other or distracting another player when I am explaining a point. Not always on the first offence, but definitely after the third or fourth attempt.
I also yell when I see a potential accident/ safety issue 'STOP'.
Otherwise, I have learnt that yelling was often a sign of my fatigue/frustration rather than the players doing anything wrong.
I asked one athlete, who was struggling at a National Championships, 'Would it help if I gave you a massive kick up the backside?' she said, 'no.' But it broke the tension a little.
Yes, "yelling" in and of itself is really just a raised voice, which is appropriate in situations, especially in loud, distracting spaces where a soft voice may not carry. This would be neutral, generally. "Yelling at" players is the ranting and raving, spittle flying, close proximity behaviors where volume is unnecessary, but used for effect. This is negative. Probably a middle ground too where voices raise due to the excitement or situation, but is not necessary practically, nor at others in their face. This can be positive or negative: People yell when celebrating...