How would this go over in your town. My home town recently hired a new baseball coach. He is hard nose literally 5:30am practice and again at 3:30. This started in Sept. with no fall baseball season in AR. 6 am a player may not get low enough on a lunge. Coach stops everyone to say that this 14yr old kid is a f...in p...y. He said it several times to several 14 - 15 yr old students. When they lose a game it is 4 hr practice after the game or 4 am practice to punish the team cause they shouldnt lose.I had a player leave this coaches program and he told the team in a meeting "dont be like this kid, he will never make it, he does not have talent and has no work ethic". The kid is a 14 yr old lefthanded pitcher that throws 80mph and knows why he throws a pitch when and where he throws it.The whole town is scared to death to say anything so they literally have to kiss his butt and the coach loves it. If you dont kiss his butt your kid is an f-ing p-word. So I ask how would your town deal with this situation

Sounds like this guy is a fool! Odd that he is still coaching.

Let the players deal with it----here we go again with "how would the town deal with itn aspect"""

Lets get it right folks --many of the kids today are too soft

TRhit I only say comm. cause these kids are minors and have no choice where they go to high school. I played for a guy like this and didnt see the abuse and shame I carried till they fired him.It was at La. Tech and I chose to go there.I think it is different. Kids are kids and dont deserve this treatment.

quote:

...many of the kids today are too soft

Yes they are. But some of the behavior described is inappropriate.

I do NOT think that parents have to stay in the background 100% of the time. Old school, hard-nosed teacher/coach? I'm most likely to 'coach' my kid to get through it, maybe even embrace it.

But abusive teacher? I'm calling him/her first, and if I don't like what I hear I'm going to his/her boss. Same goes with a coach.

I don't really like how this sounds either, but if it was on a football field would you feel any different? Lots of football coaches are exactly like that and it is considered good as long as the team is winning. bhick, was it your kid who left the program?

TR, here is one case that I don't think I'll agree with you. We've got a new member who spells out in great detail what's going on, and with one big stroke of your old brush you come up with the broadest of generalizations.

How exactly would you have 14 yr olds "deal with it?"

Different thing all together, but I really like Iowa's football coach Kurt Ferenz.

When Iowa played Michigan their phenom young freshman QB threw a couple interceptions. He was taken out of the game, lambasted by the coach to the point it had to be a little embarrassing.

Last week Iowa's QB threw 5 interceptions including 4 in the third quarter. On the sidelines you could see nothing out of the ordinary except the coaches talking calmly to the QB. That same QB threw for something like 180 yards and led the team to a 4th quarter comeback.

I've noticed similiar actions out of Pete Carroll at USC.

To each his own!

Send the coach this link from UCI...

http://www.ucirvinesports.com/view.gal?id=56939

There are many differnet ways to win ball games.

No he is a student of mine and we exhausted all avenues to resolve this. My original thought was do your talking on the field and they will fall in love with you as a player.He threw 2 no-nos 7 inn. with 1 walk in each and barely made all-stars. The culture here is win no matter how cheap or whos arm you wear out for it. High School and Legion have always been an end to the cheap politics and brow beating of our youth program and now its worse. I love the game and want it to be better here than when I played and I think its going backwords. The kid is very low key parents are too. He did help the guys pitching during all-stars. They would come in and ask him if he saw anything and he would tell them what we work on and two guys threw the ball well. He was by far most dom. pitcher on team. They threw him 3 days in a row 2 seperate games on the 2nd day.

Sounds like the coach has no regard for the safety of the players either. Although I like the Ferenz example PG gave more than the Michigan coach example, discipline and training are a separate issue than the one you just mentioned bhick. If the coach is disregarding the safety and health of his players, the kid should address the issue first. If no resolution, parents talk to the coach. If no resolution, go over his head. When it comes to the health of your child, every parent has a right to have a say so.

If the problem is severe enough that the "town" has to deal with it, then simply have adults observe the practices. Use different observers for different practices. Keep a hand written log of the times and the number of players. If the adult can accurately (don't guess or take a kid's account of it) hear abusive comments, write down the comment and log the time. Each adult should provide his signature for each section he/she records.

Within a few weeks, you'll know whether there is really a problem, and if there is, the school administration will deal it. They'll have no choice. (I don't know the athletic rules in Arkansas, but pretty much everywhere, two practices per day during the off-season aren't allowed.)

If you can't get a few people to do the observations, then maybe the problem isn't as bad as you think.

i played 2 sports for a guy like this........best coach i ever had. i learned a ton from him, maybe through a little fear? i ended up playing ball with him years later, still coaching me on things.

i think from knowing my coach ,thats how he was taught. tough city streets, marine corp. we all liked him too, though not all the time. kids/times are different today..........not all for the better.

my son had a coach just like him in jc, he loved the guy. had a coach just like him in the minors, the coach asked him if thought he was the biggest a@# hole coach he ever had. he said. nope......that would be my dad, but i wouldn't be here today if he wasn't. if it don't kill ya, it can only make you stronger. but that's just my 2 cents.

Thats good stuff I hope the parents are brave enough. thanks and yes 2 a day since sept 24.

Also several kids hurt already and no changes to program. One kid had screws put in his elbow (throwing). This is not a joke.

quote:

Also several kids hurt already and no changes to program. One kid had screws put in his elbow (throwing). This is not a joke.

What does the varsity coach have to say about this guy?

It is the varsity coach I just wanted to know what thoughts were. I cant control any of it. Just wanted people to know this stuff is happening.

quote:

It is the varsity coach I just wanted to know what thoughts were. I cant control any of it. Just wanted people to know this stuff is happening.

OK, as usual, I'm confused.

This is a varsity team where a 14 year old LHP who throws 80 is tossing no-hitters but barely makes all-stars where he is then over used so he quits the team because of verbal abuse....Are you mixing the HS and Legion teams? Is this guy the coach of both? Why is everyone 'scared to death' of this guy?

Our coach is mean and nasty to the kids too. But they love him...

I'll only comment on the guy calling a player a f-in p--y... If he truly said that on school grounds and said it more than once it is ridiculous that he still works at a school.

There are baseball coaches who can do a fine job and not use this type of out of bounds tactic.

What are the Ark. Dept of Education/Sports participation rules?
Doesn't Ark. have an athletice governing body? Aren't there "rules of conduct" for coaches, as well as students? Language is part of that.

In Texas, UIL oversees all extracurricular activities, whether academic or sports, band, etc. Baseball has specific practice rules for off season & during season, regarding amount of time each week, times of day (to not interfere with the students academic day, etc)

I'd be surprised if Ark. doesn't have something similar...5:30 am on school days is a little much. Do classes start at 7:am?