Positive Discipline Enhances Lives

The topic of positive discipline is one of great importance especially so in the world of athletics. Often time the term discipline is misconstrued by parents, player and unfortunately some coaches. Parents may associate the term as their player being subject to harsh treatment; while athletes my see it as restrictive and punishing, sadly to say some coaches validate both the parents and the athletes view of discipline. Many older or seasoned coaches hold to the concept that discipline simply apply to the performance of all play properly, the athlete focusing solely on the sport they are participating and striving to win every game. Failure to live up to the coaches expectations could result in extreme practices or the like and be falsely labeled as discipline. However, athletes receive positive discipline it spans well beyond the practice or playing field. Positive discipline affects an athlete’s entire life sometimes for their entire life. Undisciplined athletes have the potential to reflect negatively on the entire organization and can be like an infectious disease that spreads rapidly to the whole team. The term “One bad apple will the spoil the bunch” holds especially true in team athletics. In athletics players spend a large amount of their time with fellow teammates making it easy to pick up one another’s habits both good and bad. Coaches and player of sports such as; Baseball, Basketball and Football spend anywhere from two to three hours a day, three to five times a week with one another. Quite naturally do to the many hour’s coaches and players spend together players learn some of their behavior from the coach. Often times coaches have more face time with players than parents; therefore, making positive discipline vit...

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...yssa Keehan, author of Managing Risk in College Athletic, many coaches allow or even encourage players to straddle the fine line between “tough and stupid” in an effort to obtain an competitive edge . When coaches allow athletes to straddle the fence on things like their health it may give them a feeling that they can do the same on other important issues in life. As a coach I will value my athletes more than I value winning, because winning is temporary and the impact I can make on the their life is everlasting.

Works Cited

Keehan, A. S. (2009). Managing risk in college athletics. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview

Martens, R. (2004). Successful coaching. (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.