Just dismissed an athlete for back-sassing, get call from parent, situation explodes.

If what an athlete is doing is damaging to the other kids on the team, then sure, get rid of him. But if it's just annoying the coach or violating some kind of arbitrary rule, then suck it up. The kids are making all kinds of sacrifices and suffering in order to succeed. Why should the coach be the only one who's life is a bowl of cherries? Don't quit (the kid): hang in there and actually teach him something!

Isn't back-sassing illegal in most states?

The kid deserved to be kicked off the team if he did what you say that he did. But you have to look into the mirror as well. Would anyone have dared to do that to Vince Lombardi? Would Coach K get that kind of treatment? You create an atmosphere as coach in which there is complete respect for you and if a situation starts to get out of control, you act quickly to control it. Once you resort to punishment, you have already lost that authority. Of course, I sympathize with having a kid like that on your team, but you have power to choose your team in the first place and power to make yourself respected.

rsbones wrote:

If what an athlete is doing is damaging to the other kids on the team, then sure, get rid of him. But if it\'s just annoying the coach or violating some kind of arbitrary rule, then suck it up. The kids are making all kinds of sacrifices and suffering in order to succeed. Why should the coach be the only one who\'s life is a bowl of cherries? Don\'t quit (the kid): hang in there and actually teach him something!

Whose life, not who's life

Indeed.

poiu wrote:

I absolutely cannot IMAGINE dumping a soda and sub on the track, looking my COACH in the eyes, SMEARING IT WITH MY FOOT, and telling him to go f--k himself. Wow. Honestly, think about doing that for a minute.

Thats like straight out of one of those movies about the substitute teacher (Steven Segal I believe) who knows karate and goes to teach in the hood.

Any coaches out there had something like this actually happen? I'm not so sure I even believe it.

I too think this is an apocryphal account, if I have used that word correctly. But if it's made up it's still funny and if it's true it's even better.

The way to properly punish such a kid would be to ring SUBWAY's catering service and have them prepare one of those three-foot-long monster sandwiches. Add extra meats, extra cheese, extra everything. Then put it in the freezer for twelve hours and bring it to practice in a guitar case. Soon as the kid saunters into the gym, whip the sub out, yell "OBJECT LESSON!" and bring it crashing down on the unsuspecting kid's head. You may knock him unconscious, or you may shatter his skull and kill him outright, but it doesn't matter because no one will challenge your authority in such an immature way after you do this. It's all about meeting kids on terms they understand.

Noticed you did not reply to my question.

Do you think you failed this kid in any way?

So here is another question :

Are you going to show this letsrun thread to your AD?

I bet they have allready seen it.Something to think about late at night

With all due respect, the two examples that you have chosen are not fair for comparison. You have chosen a coach of professional adults in one sport and a coach of proven committed athletes at an elite university. These two coaches have to deal with the cream of the crop athletes who have proven their desire to excel at the highest levels of their sport. Getting these two groups to do the bare minimum is rarely a problem.

Public High school track is the polar opposite. Rarely are there cuts of athletes in HS track. One of the goals of the coach is to get as many kids out as possible. Kids or their parents often use track as an alternative to doing nothing after school. I am not a coach, but I have high praise for coaches that make an effort to work with the crap that are given. I was once one of those pieces of crap. The coach should be applauded for his patience if he made an effort to reach a kid, but if the kid is disruptive and is poisoning the environment, he should be removed.

On the other hand, if what “witness to the sub” says actually is the true version, the team might be better off if BOTH the coach and the kid were gone.

jjjjjjj wrote:

But you have to look into the mirror as well. Would anyone have dared to do that to Vince Lombardi? Would Coach K get that kind of treatment? You create an atmosphere as coach in which there is complete respect for you and if a situation starts to get out of control, you act quickly to control it. Once you resort to punishment, you have already lost that authority. Of course, I sympathize with having a kid like that on your team, but you have power to choose your team in the first place and power to make yourself respected.

Nice advice Denzel. -- comparing a high school coach to Vince Lombardi. Maybe he can memorize that inspiring speech from Remember the Titans and stun them all with it at the next practice and they will miraculously stop being little sh*theads. I would have loved to see how you would have handled the Subway kid.

Well I do appreciate all the positive and negative feedback that this thread had garnered. It is interesting to see the conclusions that some people can derive from the recesses of their minds, given the staightforward situation that occurred on the track that day. I find it strange that so many posters (trolls?), even though they frequent this website,and must have a longterm interest and dedication to our sport, could come to such outlandish conclusions based on the facts. Oh well, such is life in Letsrun Land!

For what it is worth, the father came in to our meeting and apologized for his son's behavior. He discovered that his son dumped his food on the tack, and basically completely changed his position. He told us that we did not have to remove his son from the team, because he has now pulled him from all extra-curricular activities until further notice. It appears the boy has some behavioral problems stemming from family issues and the parents' divorce, and he may very well be using alcohol and drugs to deal with his problems.

I told his father that, given these circumstances, I would rather try to help the boy work through this in a positive manner via sport, and would welcome him back given an apology and newfound commitment to the team. I told him that I had no animosity toward his son, and bygones be bygones if he acts according to the contract we have the athletes sign, and let's get on with training and racing. We'll see what develops.

Well done!

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

Isn't back-sassing illegal in most states?

If you mean back talking, then no its not illegal.

If you mean Jerry Sanduskying, then yes it is illegal in all states.