From AP via ESPN, ‘Crybaby Award’ may cost youth coach his job.
New MexiKen saw this story (a coach gives a 13-year-old a trophy with an infant on it) in this morning’s newspaper and then the story was sent to me.
Clearly this coach was insensitive and thoughtless, and the fact he had a trophy made shows me too much premeditation. But, that said, if my memory is correct, every coach I came across in high school was just as insensitive, just as ready to ridicule the athletically-challenged. That doesn’t mean it was OK then, but it didn’t become national news either. Sounds like there are a lot of crybabies.
I think this story is terrible. Yes coaches are often over the top, but they don’t usually make such a public display of their feelings towards one player. Coaches that yell and scream at their players do so in the confines of the practice field/court. They don’t purposefully and harshly insult the players in front of the team and the parents. The fact that he is a special education teacher makes this story even stranger.
Another comment on this subject is that I believe that coaches are held to different standards. I bet this coach could have called that kid a cry baby 100 times and no one would have said a word. When he went public and formal with it, he screwed up.
I once got in trouble as a high school softball coach because I told a kid that I didn’t care why she was 30 minutes late to practice. She was about to go into a song and dance about her locker and I said I didn’t care and she still had to do the extra running. I didn’t yell. I didn’t say it in front of the whole team. I just cut her off and told her to follow the team rule. Her mother went to the athletic director and wanted me fired (from my volunteer position). Luckily, the athletic director was also the football coach and realized the woman was being crazy.
My point is that I doubt anyone would have gone to the athletic director to complain about a football, basketball, or soccer coach disciplining his players.
Well said, Emily.
Another note. This kid was 13 years old. Which means he is probably in seventh grade. There’s a big difference between giving an eighteen-year-old varsity athlete a hard time and singling out a pubescent middle schooler.
Anybody ever does something like this to one of my boys….he better sleep with one eye open every night for the rest of his life.