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Coach: “10 pushups”.
Me: “Who, me?”
Coach: “Yes, 10 pushups. You just yawned while I was speaking.”
Me (thinking): What did I do? 10 push-ups. I didn’t even think anything of it....
The year? 1993. The venue? Nova Scotia Provincial U-18 select level soccer team. The coach? Pretty incredible tactician. He went on to coach the Canadian National Team...not bad, eh?
Okay - now, your turn. Think about it. What are the first few memories you have of a coach punishing you (and/or your team) with exercise (I have way too many to list but the yawning one makes me laugh more than the others - it’s better than rolling my eyes)? I heard some doozies from my partner at supper the other night. Apparently, many of our former coaches didn’t get the memo. [What memo?] You know, the one that all coaches get about youth and university sport - and, their purpose being solely about development, life skills, and health-related & skill-related physical fitness. Don’t get me wrong! We had many awesome coaches whom we think very fondly of - we just aren’t sure that all our teammates would say the same about each of them. Moreover, when I hear of punishment with exercise in 2013, I am honestly confused. Have we not evolved more than this?
We (my partner and I) are among the lucky ones. We kept at it - exercise. We love working out. In fact, it becomes punishment when we can’t work out after taking a few days off (and yes, we love our days off too).
Let’s face it, a lot of youth sport coaches aren’t exactly getting paid millions for volunteering (get it?). But, if they are going to be out there volunteering their time, I sure hope they’ll find this post in their inbox somehow. You see, these folks are well intended. They are likely only mimicking what they experienced as youth sport participants. But, that does not make it right.
We seem to think old school is so great. Well everyone, there are reasons (um, statistics) as to why some of these unsafe or illogical practices have changed. Older generations can laugh at us - but if you are an evidence based person, you may want to read on.
What is the research telling us now? Using exercise as a punishment does not motivate people to grow into physically active individuals (SHOCKING, I know).
Why it is wrong to punish with exercise?
It sends a clear message that exercise is a bad thing. That health related physical fitness is associated with negative experiences, thoughts and actions.
It sends a clear message to kids that you don’t have time to get to the real problem, nor time to show them how much we care about their growth as people.
Stop. Ask “Why?”
Why are you late? Did something happen beyond your control?
Why are you not trying? Perhaps you are ill, frustrated, going through a tough time...
Why are yawning? Maybe you have a part-time job that kept you up late and then had to study for a test after that…
I talked to a great friend and former colleague about this. I coached varsity girls soccer at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia with Coach Bill Rider. Bill is head of the math department and was a D1 soccer player at University of Richmond. He’s brilliant. I loved coaching with Bill because of the community he established with our team was always so warm and fuzzy (my partner Jim calls this ‘Amandaville’). Yes, the team was compiled of excellent soccer players - but, more importantly, there were a LOT of smiles and laughter each day at practice and games- during fitness and during skill development and when both were combined (as they most often were). Bill recently retired after 21-years at the helm of this dynasty program. Coach Rider’s thoughts on punishing in sport with exercise...
“Punishment via fitness/exercise shows both a lack of understanding about the efficacy of punishment and a lack of creativity regarding dissuasion. If you make the losing team do sprints, you can only justify it if their fitness kept them from success, and even then, once losing, they probably unconsciously started saving their energy for the sprints. If a kid is being disruptive in practice and you make them run, you haven’t solved the problem, but rather you’ve just avoided dealing with it. That pretty much ensures that it will happen again.”
Look around coaches - we can do better.
Many people are reluctantly spending big money on personal trainers, health coaches, fitness programs that they buy to play in their DVD players (but unfortunately too often gather dust) because they need/crave motivation to exercise. Why? Partly because we have normalized exercise as a negative and as a punishment. This is not a good thing. We have glorified movie scenes (Miracle on Ice, anyone?) that promote this type of behavior. I don’t think exercise alone keeps one healthy. And, I’m not sure the USA would have lost to Russia in the miracle on ice had they not had to do repeat sprints on their skates while their coached yelled “again.”
Fitness aids athletes’ success - undoubtedly. I’m certainly not going to argue with that nor am I suggesting we coaches back off on the fitness. Fitness also promotes healthy body sizes, increases positive self-esteem, and positively impacts mental resiliency. Fitness activities should be woven throughout practices and physical education lessons to help teach student athletes about the importance of being physically fit and to help increase their chances of success in physical activity and in health. But, we can facilitate fitness activities in a much better way than the old school mentality of fitness in sport and physical education (for more on how ‘physical education ain’t what it used to be’, click here.).
Let’s do better!
Let’s plan our practices in a way that aren’t boring (hence, less yawning).
Let’s plan them in a way that weaves fitness into activities that are fun, individualizes (when necessary), and involve friendly competition among collaboration.
Let’s talk to our students and athletes if/when they are late to determine what is really going on with them.
Let’s build a community that does not pit the team against the one player who might need that team more on that day more than ever before.
Let’s stop normalizing these old-school tactics that we seem to think prepared us so well for life. I’m one of the lucky ones to love exercising so much. I’m not going to lose sight that my love for working out is normal in society - people look at me like I’m nuts every day.
We can do better.
We must do better.
Youth deserve better.
Want some fun ideas on how to make fitness enjoyable for youth? Follow Dave Kitter (AKA: @youthfitnessguy) on Facebook and Twitter. He likes to rant (in a good way) and has some great videos on his website to get you started. Ted Temertzoglou (aka: @LifeisAthletic) is brilliant at fostering fun physical fitness experiences in quality physical education, too. Kelly Thompson (at St. Francis Xavier University) is among the best of the best in terms of having kids moving, smiling, and developing an incredible amount of physical fitness. Me? I love planning a fun, fast-paced, logical practice any chance I get!
What if more is needed?
If an athlete needs to compose herself/himself, then maybe some time away from the practice is needed. See the difference? Acknowledge something is up. Give the person space. Find time to follow up. Don’t let emotions get the best of you. Don’t ‘kick’ a kid when he/she is down.
Thanks for reading and thanks for caring and thanks for coaching youth sport!
How do you plan practices in ways that inspire participants to work hard and to show up on time?
How did being punished with exercise as a youth impact your physical activity behaviors as an adult?
