Who has class?

[as the world turns]

I am the VERY PROUD mother of TEAM MIZUNO '97 #23, the wife of one of the coaches and a very good friend of this coach in question as my daughter has played with him for a few years now and we have come to know him well. Therefore I feel if anyone can speak on this post... I can.

We have a very good group of girls AND COACHES! This instance with the trophy was not what it has been turned into being... it was simply a coach getting his girls fired up for the weeks to come and to let them know that each tournament is a brand new opportunity. Anyone who knows this coach knows that he could honestly care less about "trophies" as he usually gives them to one of the players or to his younger daughter(since he doesn't have a player on the team), he isn’t much for tangible glorification for himself. This was the team trophy, he didn’t take one of the players' trophies and smash it, it was his trophy to do what he wanted to with it and he chose to use it to motivate our players. This was nothing against the other team (especially since a few players on the other team had played with us in years past so we have friendships built with them win or lose!) OR against the tournament director(s)... it was a coach being passionate enough about his team to get his girls fired up. It worked; our girls let that game go and were immediately fired up for what is next.

We don't mind marching to the beat of a different drum as far as our techniques for our team go, as long as it works for us that is all that should matter.

-Amber Earls

Kool-aid drinking parents no doubt! Sad way of motivating 12 year old girls. I can think of a thousand ways of motivation, smashing a trophy is not one of them. When smashing trophies doesn't work anymore, what will you smash next?

[hit4thecycle]

I am the VERY PROUD mother of TEAM MIZUNO '97 #23, the wife of one of the coaches and a very good friend of this coach in question as my daughter has played with him for a few years now and we have come to know him well. Therefore I feel if anyone can speak on this post... I can.

We have a very good group of girls AND COACHES! This instance with the trophy was not what it has been turned into being... it was simply a coach getting his girls fired up for the weeks to come and to let them know that each tournament is a brand new opportunity. Anyone who knows this coach knows that he could honestly care less about "trophies" as he usually gives them to one of the players or to his younger daughter(since he doesn't have a player on the team), he isn’t much for tangible glorification for himself. This was the team trophy, he didn’t take one of the players' trophies and smash it, it was his trophy to do what he wanted to with it and he chose to use it to motivate our players. This was nothing against the other team (especially since a few players on the other team had played with us in years past so we have friendships built with them win or lose!) OR against the tournament director(s)... it was a coach being passionate enough about his team to get his girls fired up. It worked; our girls let that game go and were immediately fired up for what is next.

We don't mind marching to the beat of a different drum as far as our techniques for our team go, as long as it works for us that is all that should matter.

-Amber Earls

Kool-aid drinking parents no doubt! Sad way of motivating 12 year old girls. I can think of a thousand ways of motivation, smashing a trophy is not one of them. When smashing trophies doesn't work anymore, what will you smash next?

My thoughts exactly, As the world turns

[neverhere]

Most likely that bat was some 12 yr old kids bat he grabbed.....now she has the memories of him smashing the trophy she and her team mates earned imprinted on her $300.00 bat. How can you build and motivate impressionable minds by destroying something they worked all season for?

What a wad!

[dcoach52]

I guess their motto is championship trophy or bust........it

[ontheblack]

We have lost 3 sports icons in recent weeks - John Wooden, Don Coryell and George Steinbrenner.

The Boss, where winning was foremost and players were commodities, would smash a 2nd place trophy. Wooden and Coryell would be horrified at the thought.

Who would you want your DD to play for?

[jonnypar]

John Wooden! I would love to sit and listen his tales.

[Skarp]

I've seen and heard of a lot worse. This guy didn't abuse his players (as far as we know). He didn't abuse players from another team. He didn't try to steal another team's equipment, or text naughty love. He just broke a trophy. It's not a motivational technique that I expect my dd would respond to, but hey...different strokes for different folks. If the kids/families on the team think they are getting good value from their time with him, then who are we to say otherwise? Hell, they took 2nd at state, so he must be doing something right.

He shouldn't be "allowed" to coach?? Sorry Art (and others), but that's crazy talk.

[MarkJMillsap]

[quote="Skarp"] This guy didn't abuse his players (as far as we know).

Ever hear of mental & emotional abuse?

[anonlooker]

Hell, they took 2nd at state, so he must be doing something right.

While this might be true in CA or TX, are you sure it applies in Tennessee?

[Skarp]

This guy didn't abuse his players (as far as we know).

Ever hear of mental & emotional abuse?

Is that a rhetorical question? Oh wait, the eye roll...I get it.

Sure. I see mental and emotional abuse all the time. From a wide array of coaches, at all levels, in all sports. If we made a list of all of the softball coaches who are arguably abusive, not many would be spared--and those that would probably aren't very successful. Good coaches understand that if failure, lack of effort, lack of improvement, etc., aren't painful, then you won't ever get success, effort, improvement, etc. You need the carrot and the stick.

Here's a newsflash for you: some abuse is absolutely necessary in coaching--and teaching, and parenting, and supervising, and leading, etc. And different people draw the line in different places regarding what environment is most beneficial for themselves and their children. In softball, what's abusive to the average rec ball kid might be mother's milk to the high-achieving travel kid. Some people prefer environments where nothing less than 100% will be tolerated. Some people believe that such environments, while unforgiving, build character. Some people send their kids off to military boarding schools. Others wouldn't dream of it....

We don't know what factored into his decision to break his trophy. We also don't know whether he broke it in anger, for motivational purposes, or simply to make a point. And we don't know what he said to the girls about it. So we don't even have enough information to determine whether the act was "abusive" according to our own personal standards, let alone the standards of the people actually affected by it.

I'm with Amber on this one. If it's good enough for them, that's all that matters.