I've seen it happen before, and I saw it again last night: a team was adversely effected when a technical foul was assessed on one of its players. One minute the game was going their way and they owned the momentum, and the next minute the tide had changed and things were flowing back out to sea.
If I live to be 100, it will never cease to make me wonder how and why human beings can be so fragile, because this has happened on the high school, college and pro levels. Sure the game was stopped and technical free throws were taken. But disruption of the game and/or play suggests that the team that committed the foul took the technical assessment personally. Whatever the case, the coach has got to step up and say something - especially on the high school level where players haven't yet learned to cope as adults. It's easy as grown folks to underestimate the impact situations like this have on young people; I've done it myself.
Just a simple, "OK, so we got a tech, but don't let that stop us from what we're about to do" could save a game from going down the drain. So coaches: say something! Don't assume players are going to be able to blow off adverse events like you can. Guide them - show them how to do it. Tell them that one mistake doesn't define them, and encourage them to keep going.
It's true not only with kids but everyone else: it's amazing how much the simple things aren't said or done. And so much pain and trouble could be saved if more people said and did those simple things.
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2 comments:
Very nice point.
I think sometimes as adults is easy to get caught up in all the posturing that teenagers try to do to "act grown" - far too often, we say, "Ok, I'll treat you like an adult then and expect you to behave accordingly."
This is a perfect example of a time where we need to remember they're just kids...even if they roll their eyes at you or look away as you're making such a simple point on the bench. :)
That's useful for sports, teaching, or (I suppose) parenting.
You make some good points yourself. Parenting, teaching, coaching.....it all seems like the same job to me.........
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