Coach's tough decision

Dear Good Sports,

I was out with some parents the other day and heard something that I wanted to share with you.

At one of the children's recent games, one of the players really had an attitude. He was acting out a lot and wouldn't listen to Coach Mary. He was really disrupting the game. He even started walking off the field when he was annoyed. Coach told him if he left the field, he was out of the game.

I'm sure you know what came next: with that ultimatum, the boy turned and walked off.

The Coach called in a sub and the game continued.

I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that about 5 minutes later the boy returned to the game and fully expected to be allowed back into the game. But Coach Mary remained firm: "You disobeyed me. I told you what would happen if you left the field. You chose to leave so you can't play anymore today."

Now -- this boy is a star player. When he left the game, his team started losing. By keeping him out of the game, the team lost. Of course, some of the other parents and kids were mad that she wouldn't let the boy back into the game.

Coach Mary stood firm with her decision. The player needed to respect and listen to his coach and behave in a way that helped his team, not hurt it.

I'm sure you can see Coach Mary made a tough decision -- and understand why she did it, even if, in your heart of hearts, you might not have wanted the team to lose and think you might have been a little more lenient. She surely didn't want the team to lose, either.

But by showing the boy that his actions had consequences by enforcing the consequences, Coach Mary made the hard choice to potentially sacrifice this game for, hopefully, a better, stronger, happier season and team going forward. (A lesson that can extend into behaviour off the ball field, too.)

Maybe not a popular choice, but certainly the right one.

Blog you again, soon, with some more Good Sport Bad Sport topics.

Leslie

P.S. Our book on Good Sportsmanship is being published by Good Manners Kids Stuff Press and will be available on Amazon soon. Watch our posts for more information or visit www.goodmannerskidsstuffpress.blogspot.com to read all the behind the scenes activity behind the publication.