Kick him off the team, no questions asked. Maybe he can run next season if he's good.
Kick him off the team, no questions asked. Maybe he can run next season if he's good.
You are not being a very good coach if you allow this type of behavior merely because he is a talented runner. You do him no favors at all. If you allow this to continue, by the end of this season he will be playing you like a fiddle. Everyone on the team should have to follow the rules regardless of how fast they run. What do you think you are saying to the other runners? If this kid is not following the rules, do not let him run. And good luck with the parents...where do you think some of the attitude is coming from?
Please remember that being a high school coach is not always about winning, there are other things to learn on the team and you are failing the rest of the team by putting up with crap from this kid.
Give him a kick in the ass
CBAnj wrote:
The rule on my highschool XC team was if you miss practice without a pre-approved excuse, you were of the team, period, no exceptions.
But out team had great depth, so it was true that no one person was THAT important. No one ever missed practice.
Can you talk to the kids parents? If you can't get through to him, let him go. You are the adult and are in charge. Lay down the law!
Any kid who belittles his teamates doesn't deserve to be on the team.
Yeah, there's no "skipping" practice. What the hell? Either practice or don't run the meets. If you are for real, then you need to get a backbone brother. NO teacher or coach should allow a kid to walk over them. He either is respectful to his teammates or he's off the team. Scoring points for the team is not as important as you setting a good example for all the kids on that team.
cut him - he is a cancer, doesn't matter how good he is - it builds character.
get som clue wrote:
Do whatever you would do if he was a 11:30 2 miler
This is the answer.
You've already had a lot of responses here, many of them good. But I'll offer this advice as a guy who used to closely resemble your arrogant athlete...
You're not really doing him any favors by treating him like the rules don't apply to him. I was the same way in high school. I was the best guy on the team and it went to my head. I skipped practices and slacked off because I didn't think I needed to train hard like the other scrubs. I even quit the team in the middle of the season once because one of the assistant coaches gave me shit for slacking off. And you know what? The head coach took my side and asked me to come back on the team, with no consequences. I learned NOTHING.
So why am I telling you this? I tell you this because, as a result of my coach babying me and letting me do whatever the hell I wanted, I carried this attitude to college with me. Only, on my college team I was certainly not the best runner. But I still thought I deserved to be treated like I was. When my college coach didn't shower me with his undivided attention and enforced consequences when I missed practices, I got all pissy about it. I ended up quitting my college team after my sophomore year and it was only after I got a little older that I realized what a total jackass I was. I would give anything to have those years back.
If I were you I wouldn't just kick him off or ignore him to make a point, but your approach does need to change. You need to sit this kid down and explain to him that he is a valuable member of the team, and has the talent to possibly earn a scholarship if he works hard, but you will not continue to tolerate his arrogant bullshit.
Oh, and if he still continues to act like an ass and skip practices after you talk to him, suspend him from meets. If he still keeps up the attitude, he's a gonner.
Who are your captains?? As a senior and a captain, I was the 5th man on our team. We handled problems internaly. If anyone got out of line, it resulted in stuff like de-pants-ing in front of the cheerleaders, dragging them through a muddy ballfield, or Ben-Gay in the jock. Have the team handle it. He's a f!cking Freshman.
It sounds like he has no respect for his own progress. Why is he even on the team?
10/10 times I would rather have an 11:30 two miler who busted his ass every day, than a 9:30 two miler who showed up two days a week to jog around and piss off his teammates. Screw that kid, he would be gone in an instant.
You'll find in the long run that you don't really care what happened to him because you know it wouldn't have been worth the trouble.
I just kicked the most talented kid off my team last week because he skipped 2 practices (monday and wednesday). I was a little forgiving with him (giving him an extra day) because he claimed not to know practice times after school. He's gone now, and I've already had two athletes come up to me and thank me.
The kids don't want him there, and you don't want him there if he's going to act like this. If you still want him to be on the team, tell him he's gone until he straightens out his attitude and proves himself to you. Until he does that, enjoy the good kids on the team that you have still around.
You can fight the battle once (and create the climate that hard work, good attendance, and team spirit is important) or fight it every year (with other kids such as him). Show him the door.
Go read the article on the home page on the York High School coach, Joe Newton and ask yourself - What would Joe do?
It doesn't sound like your kid is dedicated to excellence which is one of Joe's 3 requirements to be on his team. Being dedicated means showing up for practice and working it, not just showing up. Tell the kid what your expectations are and if he doesn't meet them, kick him to the curb.
Tell him to loose some weight.
So coach.. what did you do?
People always come on here asking questions but it's not often we hear of the results.
So what is it coach? Di you man up or were you just trolling?