Disciplining a kid on team (A week before Penn) HELP

If he didn't know about Friday practice, he should have asked you or his teammates. If he had no ride, he should have called his teammates for one. You are doing the right thing, don't feel like you're the devil for doing this because you're not.

I think it would be cool to take him (if you can). Maybe he can make up for his mistakes by cheering on his teammates and helping out in any way, shape, or form? But glad to hear you were the bigger man and stuck to your guns.

Wow, what I am seeing here is that for many coaches this is all about punishing the runner. So what if he missed a practice, you would destroy his season/life for that?

I see the role as a coach as being a facilitator for the athlete, not a stumbling block or a wall.

Some of you have no conception of what the role of a good coach should be. In the meantime you have no business being coaches.

J.R. wrote:

Wow, what I am seeing here is that for many coaches this is all about punishing the runner. So what if he missed a practice, you would destroy his season/life for that?

I see the role as a coach as being a facilitator for the athlete, not a stumbling block or a wall.

Some of you have no conception of what the role of a good coach should be. In the meantime you have no business being coaches.

Or one could argue that YOU have no business being a coach. Not running at Penn is going to "destroy his life"? Please. High school is the time to learn life lessons. Sports are a great facilitator for that. The kid's life will be more damaged if he continues to have reinforced the idea that talent trumps commitment. In the future, he would be more likely to walk away from jobs, his marriage, or his children. How's that for destroying a life... in fact, for destroying several.

With that said, some kids come from a family situation in which they learn that it's safer to half-ass things. For example, their parents made a commitment except one parent didn't honor it and now there's a single parent raising two kids. That sort of thing happens a couple of times and the kid learns that if you make a commitment, you get hurt. Unfortunately, that might be this guy's thinking. There will need to be a lot of trust built up for you to overcome that crap. And I think that trust comes from you keeping your word, like here.

Take him to Penn as a spectator. Call him an alternate and have him bring his gear, but make sure he understands that he'll only run if something happens to one of the others. Have him warm up with the others, and whatever else you can do to make him part of the team.

Good luck with this situation, and good luck at Penn.

No, don't tell him he's an alternate or anything like that because then it will build his hopes up for nothing. If there is an injury or something than you can allow him to race but keep that to yourself. No need to get his hopes up just to dissapoint him again.

So since I told him he could not run he has not been at ONE practice! I'm very happy with my decision.

I'll let you guys know how it goes

Good luck to everyone competing

Ask Harry Groves what he would have done. There's your answer.

firstyearcoach wrote:

So since I told him he could not run he has not been at ONE practice! I'm very happy with my decision.

Congratulations on destroying his high school track season, dumbass.

stupidfirstyearcoach wrote:

firstyearcoach wrote:

So since I told him he could not run he has not been at ONE practice! I'm very happy with my decision.

Congratulations on destroying his high school track season, dumbass.

Well someone else who deserves it more will get to compete

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink

ukathleticscoach wrote:

stupidfirstyearcoach wrote:

Congratulations on destroying his high school track season, dumbass.

Well someone else who deserves it more will get to compete

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink

I'm pretty sure you only deserve to race Penn if you qualified. Not if you qualified and fit some HS wannabe coach's arbitrary standard.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

stupidfirstyearcoach wrote:

Congratulations on destroying his high school track season, dumbass.

Well someone else who deserves it more will get to compete

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink

I'm pretty sure you only deserve to race Penn if you qualified. Not if you did not qualify but fit some HS wannabe coach's arbitrary standard.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

stupidfirstyearcoach wrote:

Congratulations on destroying his high school track season, dumbass.

Well someone else who deserves it more will get to compete

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink

I'm pretty sure you only deserve to race Penn if you qualified. Not if you did not qualify but fit some HS wannabe coach's arbitrary standard.

Sorry about that triple post. The elves were having problems.

so is your school abington or cheltanham?

"...and the kids who are doing the right things deserve to have your attention, too"

Agreed. You can influence the troubled child and should attempt to do so, but if they are not willing to meet you halfway, you can spend half the energy on other kids and help them quite a bit b/c they listen, are at practice, and want to improve.

You made the right decision.

blimpo wrote:

Ask Harry Groves what he would have done. There's your answer.

So what would he have done? I'd like to know but it's not likely I'm going to run into him.