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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 9:21:04 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 20, 2010 9:21:04 GMT -6
I've got a fun situation on my hands. I have one freshman on my squad and he's the only freshman. However, he's a very good OL and DL for us, at least when he decides to play hard.
He practices slow and lazy but once he gets into a game, he's an entirely different animal. He was really bad about it last week; I told him that he wasn't going to see much playing time if he kept practicing the way he had been. The rest of the kids have been really after him during practice; getting on him about being lazy pushing him hard in drills, trying to get him to compete. They get after each other as well, but it's like blood in the water with this kid; he starts getting sloth-like and they take out after him. It sets them off and they're after him, especially given the fact that they see him fly around come game time and compete.
But, bear in mind, that there's been NO VERBAL or physical abuse with this kid; there's been no cheap shots and the worst thing that comes out of the kids' mouths involves telling him to stop being lazy. I've been paying close attention to the situation.
My principle came and talked to me this morning and stated that there were rumors of hazing going on and that it had come down straight from the director of schools. Now, this is complete and total crap and I know the only reason it came up was because I didn't play the kid this last game. I told him that if he wanted to play, he'd better start practicing harder.
I don't quite know what to do right now. What the team has been doing isn't hazing; they're pushing him hard and trying to get him better. Any suggestions.
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dania
Junior Member
Posts: 365
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 9:52:23 GMT -6
Post by dania on Sept 20, 2010 9:52:23 GMT -6
invite the principle out to practice and have him watch for himself.
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 9:57:23 GMT -6
Post by amikell on Sept 20, 2010 9:57:23 GMT -6
What goes on in the locker room before and after practice? Do you have a coach in there or floating around to make himself known?
That may be where the accusations of hazing are coming from. We have a coach who hangs out in the coaches' office when the kids are in there to make sure that they're not doing anything stooopid, but even then, stuff still happens.
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 9:58:05 GMT -6
Post by spos21ram on Sept 20, 2010 9:58:05 GMT -6
From what you described there definitly isn't any hazing going on. Is there a chance the hazing is taking place when you're not around and outside of football?
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 10:02:11 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 20, 2010 10:02:11 GMT -6
invite the principle out to practice and have him watch for himself. The principle isn't upset about it; I told him what was going on. HOWEVER, my major concern is the nepotism that goes on around here; it's a very, small, isolated community. This crap came all the way down from the director of schools (3 private schools in the area) and that's because the kid is from a prominent family in the area. If I continue to allow the upper classmen to push him, I know it's going to get worse. Here's my thought; when he starts slacking off at practice, I'm just going to reiterate the fact that if doesn't pick it up, he's not going to play. If it keeps up, I'll tell him to pop his pads off and go take a seat. IMO, this can't be construed as hazing, at all. It's coming from me, he's not being verbally or physically abused, he's just being removed from practice for being lazy. Goo idea? Bad idea?
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 10:03:16 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 20, 2010 10:03:16 GMT -6
What goes on in the locker room before and after practice? Do you have a coach in there or floating around to make himself known? That may be where the accusations of hazing are coming from. We have a coach who hangs out in the coaches' office when the kids are in there to make sure that they're not doing anything stooopid, but even then, stuff still happens. Nope, I'm either in the locker room or my assistant is. They're never left alone.
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 10:05:34 GMT -6
Post by spos21ram on Sept 20, 2010 10:05:34 GMT -6
What about outside of football practice? might not hurt to ask the kid if the upper classman are saying anything to him outside of football just to cover yourself.
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 10:08:07 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 20, 2010 10:08:07 GMT -6
If there's anything going on behind my back, it's just the kids calling him lazy and telling him to pick it up. I overheard one of the captains talking to him last week and it went something like this:
"Pick it up, you're playing lazy."
"I'm getting sick of you guys hitting me; it's getting old."
"EVERYONE gets hit; it's football, get over it."
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 10:11:41 GMT -6
Post by phantom on Sept 20, 2010 10:11:41 GMT -6
invite the principle out to practice and have him watch for himself. The principle isn't upset about it; I told him what was going on. HOWEVER, my major concern is the nepotism that goes on around here; it's a very, small, isolated community. This crap came all the way down from the director of schools (3 private schools in the area) and that's because the kid is from a prominent family in the area. If I continue to allow the upper classmen to push him, I know it's going to get worse. Here's my thought; when he starts slacking off at practice, I'm just going to reiterate the fact that if doesn't pick it up, he's not going to play. If it keeps up, I'll tell him to pop his pads off and go take a seat. IMO, this can't be construed as hazing, at all. It's coming from me, he's not being verbally or physically abused, he's just being removed from practice for being lazy. Goo idea? Bad idea? Talk to Mom or Dad and tell them what you told us. If what you told us really what's happening then it means that you and the seniors are just pushing the kid to make him better. Most parents want their kids to get bettered and don't want their kids babied. They probably know that the kid is lazy but they're not at practice and are only hearing his side of the story. Make sure that your ducks are in a row then head this off. You may well end up with allies instead of adversaries.
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dania
Junior Member
Posts: 365
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 10:19:41 GMT -6
Post by dania on Sept 20, 2010 10:19:41 GMT -6
invite the principle out to practice and have him watch for himself. The principle isn't upset about it; I told him what was going on. HOWEVER, my major concern is the nepotism that goes on around here; it's a very, small, isolated community. This crap came all the way down from the director of schools (3 private schools in the area) and that's because the kid is from a prominent family in the area. If I continue to allow the upper classmen to push him, I know it's going to get worse. Here's my thought; when he starts slacking off at practice, I'm just going to reiterate the fact that if doesn't pick it up, he's not going to play. If it keeps up, I'll tell him to pop his pads off and go take a seat. IMO, this can't be construed as hazing, at all. It's coming from me, he's not being verbally or physically abused, he's just being removed from practice for being lazy. Goo idea? Bad idea? Bad idea. You are no longer a coach.You are just a baby sitter if that becomes the standard. He thinks he is being hazed collect his stuff and come what may.
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Hazing
Sept 20, 2010 11:58:01 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 20, 2010 11:58:01 GMT -6
Phantom;
That is something to consider. However, I do need to do some digging to make sure that there's nothing else going on behind my back. However, I not going directly to the freshman because I don't trust him. And, it's not just because he's lazy; there's been some 'honesty issues' with him in school (other teachers' classes) and on the football field. He was on his third tardy to his gym class last week and his gym class takes place over my prep period. I saw him dinking around behind the school and I told him to get inside or he was going to be late. The cross country coach/gym teacher shot me an email telling me that the kid would've had his third tardy that day and that if he had one more he'd have detention after school and miss part of practice. She said he was late that day but that he told her had had 'locker problems'. I shot her back an email and told her that he was screwing around behind the school and that he was lying to her; needless to say, he received detention. I will get a better picture of what is going on by asking my captains and then going to the freshman and comparing stories.
Plus, none of this came up until I basically benched him this last weekend. I've been cutting his playing time back more and more over the past few weeks because he's a sloth at practice. And, he knows all of that.
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Hazing
Sept 21, 2010 13:36:36 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 21, 2010 13:36:36 GMT -6
Well, it turns out that the whole thing is total b.s. It didn't even have to do with the kid in question.
We had a freshman come out during two-a-days who quit as soon as school started. He didn't show up for a practice, so I hunted him down and asked him what was going on. He said that he had gone to study hall at the dorms (yes, were are THAT isolated) because he was getting behind on school work. I told him that was alright but that he needed to talk to me before that kind of stuff; he said that he'd be back out the next day. He just stopped showing up altogether; I talked to him one more time and he said he'd be back at practice. That didn't happen, so I just dropped it. His uncle dragged him to practice three days and later and told him to 'man-up' and tell me face-face that he quit. He did so; end of story, at least I thought so..
Apparently his family really wanted him out for football and was harping on him about it, so he came up with this crap about being hazed. And, this truly is crap because the opposite was going on. The kid is tiny; he's built more like a 7th grader than a freshman and the kids did a good job of looking out for him at practice. They knew that there are only two guys on the team that he can match up against without risking getting hurt and made sure he was lining up against them in drills. They were basically doing my job for me. In fact, he got popped pretty hard one day during a drill and had the wind knocked out of him; the kids freaked out. I figured the reason the kid quit was because he felt like he was being babied. But, when you've only got 12-13 guys out for football and he's half the size of most, you've got to look out for him.
I found out for my AD that this was the kid in question yesterday morning and I marched into my principle's office, laid it all out for him and told him that it there was no validity to it. In fact, I mentioned the situation where he had the wind knocked out of him and he said that he had heard about it and that the kid's dad had said '"that's football". Plus, the kid quit football the day he was elected the president of his class and 75% of his class are girls; I imagine he figured out he was popular with the ladies and decided he had something better to do. LOL. So, it's done and over with.
But, the moral of the story is cut and dry. Make sure your stuff is in a row because anything can come screaming down the pipe.
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Hazing
Sept 21, 2010 18:52:26 GMT -6
Post by mitch on Sept 21, 2010 18:52:26 GMT -6
Don't you love drama?
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Hazing
Sept 21, 2010 19:31:19 GMT -6
Post by blb on Sept 21, 2010 19:31:19 GMT -6
We tell our kids to be good teammates, never talk a teammate down - always be positive. They need each other.
And that includes all players, 9-12th grades.
Corrections - loud or otherwise - are the coaches' job.
Don't abdicate your responsibility as the adult-coach.
Hazing is illegal in our state, could get kids suspended not just from team but school, and coaches' azz in a sling.
In 2006 I kicked our starting MLBer off team for assaulting a freshman player in locker room after practice the week before last regular season game.
If he hadn't been such an idiot we could've made a play off run.
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Hazing
Sept 22, 2010 5:50:14 GMT -6
Post by coachcb on Sept 22, 2010 5:50:14 GMT -6
We tell our kids to be good teammates, never talk a teammate down - always be positive. They need each other. And that includes all players, 9-12th grades. Corrections - loud or otherwise - are the coaches' job. [glow=red,2,300]Don't abdicate your responsibility as the adult-coach.[/glow] Hazing is illegal in our state, could get kids suspended not just from team but school, and coaches' azz in a sling. In 2006 I kicked our starting MLBer off team for assaulting a freshman player in locker room after practice the week before last regular season game. If he hadn't been such an idiot we could've made a play off run. In no way did I do so. The kids followed my lead by switching spots in various drill lines to make sure that he was matched up evenly; after I had done so. As far as the kids getting on their teammate; I have NO ISSUES with this, whatsoever. And, I imagine that there are more than a few coaches out there that wish their players were hard on each other for being lazy. I told the freshman lineman we have out that he needed to pick it up if he wanted to play and continually push him during practice. The fact that the rest of the team pushes him is nothing but positive; they want to better him and the team. It's all pretty simple; there's no hazing going on.
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