You see and hear about it all the time in sports. Kids and even adults getting called out and humiliated in front of others for making mistakes. Yeah if it’s an adult making millions it’s not as big a deal but when it comes to the youth of the athletic world it strikes a rough cord at a very young age. And sometimes some of the verbal assaults on the kids can be considered abuse.
Covering sports for as many years as I have you think I’d have seen and heard it all but no, it still happens more than ever and it still is wrong. When you see a little girl in middle school crying because her field hockey coach screams at her for making a mistake in a game she’s still trying to learn. When you see a 7th-grade football player called out in front of his friends for not knowing how to block correctly in his first year ever of organized football. And then his teammates make fun of him and demean him for it even though they’re doing the same thing. When a young boy who has never played football gets pulled out of the game and the coach tells him to pull his head out of his ass and calls him stupid. And that sticks with the kids. Sometimes forever.
Many will quit playing sports because of this. Many end up hurting themselves in bad ways because you might not know their backgrounds at home and the abuse they might be going through. Some will grow up to resent all figures of authority including parents because of this. Some kids can handle it. But many can’t. And sometimes they will take out the aggression they are having directed at them onto others. Bullying breeds bullying.
That’s why coaches need to be leaders. Build the kids up, help them, direct them, and don’t hold them back. Don’t criticize. Build them up. If they are making mistakes explain to them what they are doing wrong and help correct them in a positive way. Teach them. Help them!
Too many times you will find coaches of young kids who are not fit to be leading them. Many are power-hungry people trying to live through others trying to relive the past where they never succeeded. Ask yourself this, if they were outstanding coaches why are they pushing around little kids and not coaching at the senior school levels or at the college or pro levels?
There are many great coaches and leaders out there but it only takes one to break down a youth. And then you will hear some parents sticking up for bad coaches, saying it’s okay, toughen up, stop being a baby. Every kid is different, some might be able to take it, yet others can’t and it encourages negativity and bullying. And that’s not good at any level.
We need leaders in sports, not bullies. Just like in the real world. Teach and help. And kudos to all the great coaches that do these things and care.