Today I thought: Why do coaches punish young athletes with running?
I have family members who hate the thought of running just because they remember it being a form of punishment in their young athletic careers. To be blunt, this negative connotation has effectively taken a tool for a healthier lifestyle away from them. It’s a conditioned mental hurdle created by what some would call “lazy coaching”.
I won’t harp on the “lazy” aspect of this coaching, but I will express my sadness for the missed opportunity to position running as a tool for growth in one’s life, both mentally and physically. All this leads me down a hole of questions:
Why is it necessary to discipline athletes?
In my experience, most coaches don’t discipline their team to feed their power hungry egos; but rather to refocus them. This to me is a key point. If the goal is to refocus, then maybe discipline isn’t the only way to go about it.
This brings me to my next question:
How would you refocus a runner?
If refocusing is the goal, then you wouldn’t discipline a runner with more running for two reasons:
1. High risk of injury due to already having trained by running
2. Usually runners…like running…so what are you gaining if it can’t be viewed as discipline?
Alright, good point, so what’s the answer?
Refocus by reminding them of their duty to the team and to themselves.
As a co-captain of my cross country team in 2007, I remember a key turning point in our season. We were a confident team, boasting shirts that read: “Again”. This referred to our goal of getting our team to States for a second year in a row.
We had a day where we were particularly unfocused. Team members had skipped out on the work out and after that practice, the captains asked the coaches to leave the room. What was said in that room is lost to time, but I do remember the outcome. The runners who needed refocused, left that room shaking their teammates hands, apologizing, and proceeded to do the work out they had missed (without being told). All of that was done without the need for discipline or coaching. We had made a contract to each other to push the person in front of us, and a weak link meant a weak team. That year, we lived up to the goal we had plastered to the back of our shirts. Making it to States as a team.
In my opinion, it is a rare occurrence where disciplining an athlete through running has more value than taking the time to coach the same lesson through inspirational or thoughtful words. I would encourage coaches to think about this before their next pivotal moments with their team come.
