5 Ways to Punish Properly

Punishment is a difficult topic of conversation when it comes to athletes, particularly young athletes. The information in this article is based on my own personal coaching experience, as well as the performance psychology literature I have read. It goes without saying that I do not condone any form of physical hitting or smacking of another parent’s children in order to discipline them. There are several different ways in which discipline can be fostered in young athletes without needing to hurt them physically. Here are five tips which you can use to ensure that you punish your athletes effectively and ethically. They are in no particular order.

#1 Respect dignity

This may seem obvious, but it is not always obvious to all coaches. There are coaches who may see that embarrassing athletes in front of their peers as “just a bit of fun” or “character building”. This may be the case for some athletes, especially those who are mature enough to laugh at themselves and see the “jokes” as nothing more than that, but being ridiculed can cause long term emotional scars due to him/her being ill-equipped to deal with the interaction. Public ridicule may not only be psychologically damaging, but it can cause other problems such as the athlete losing confidence as well as lower levels of team cohesion. An environment in which athletes are ridiculed regularly could also be a contributing factor in the athlete quitting the sport altogether. If you do need to punish an athlete for poor behaviour, try to punish them privately, or at least in a way that preserves their dignity.

#2 Have a Code of Conduct

On my first day of work as a high school basketball coach back in 2011, I wrote down all the rules that I expected my players to follow at training and game days. I remember it being a list of about 20 rules which I read out like a strict authoritarian. Naturally these rules were broken on a regular basis, and it was not because I had a poorly disciplined team, but because a group of 13- and 14-year-old brains can’t be expected to easily remember a list of 20 things in one go. My list of rules was always too long and complicated to follow, so what I should have done was compile a code of conduct of fewer things to remember, but which encompass all acceptable behaviour in and around the basketball court. An example of this code would be:

1. Treat everyone on and around the court, including yourself, with respect

2. Respect your uniform

3. Those who work hard achieve the best results, so always be willing to push yourself

4. Speak up if you don’t understand

Having a code of conduct gives athletes a simple standard with which to measure their behaviour, so that they can hopefully misbehave less often. Simple but effective.

#3 Stop using fitness as punishment

This was a difficult thing to read while studying at university some years ago. At the time, I would often use intense fitness exercises to punish the poor behaviour of the players I coached. It seemed to work as well, especially since I knew that unpleasant experiences discouraged undesired behaviour. It was basic behavioural psychology.

Fitness is an essential part of athletic development though. Using it as punishment reinforces a message in athletes that it is to be avoided, and that it’s a bad thing. I encourage coaches to reframe fitness as a tool for success, rather than punishment. Speak about how exciting it is to run and not be as tired as you were last time, and that it’s a necessary steppingstone to reaching athletic goals. If fitness training is framed in that way, I believe that young athletes will be more likely to do extra fitness in their own time, stay fitter over the holidays, and have a healthier relationship with fitness.

#4 Remove the enjoyable

I’ve spoken a lot about how not to punish, but here’s an effective and ethical way to punish athletes. If there’s a fun activity during the training session that most players enjoy, try punishing misbehaviour by making the offenders sit out for those activities until they correct their behaviour. It could also be effective to remove or replace the equipment of a player if he/she has misbehaved- For example, in the case of a hockey team, confiscate the player’s hockey stick and replace it with an extra small stick or baseball bat. This will likely make the training experience unpleasant for the player and therefore serve as a punishment for his/her behaviour. Make sure that you never apply this method by removing safety equipment such as helmets or padding though. Compromising a player’s safety is not an ethical form of punishment.

#5 Punish poor behaviour, not poor performance

Mistakes and failure are part of learning. The feeling of disappointment a player gets after a loss or poor performance is often enough to make them want to play better next time. Coaches don’t need to further add to the players’ pain by punishing them for losing, especially if those players gave their all and followed the coach’s game plan. The opposition already punished them. Punishing players for a loss also sends a message to the players that they were solely responsible for the loss and that the coach wasn’t the one at fault. This is an unhealthy and hypocritical message which will discourage players and likely tempt them to stop playing for the coach altogether.

If a player willingly does something which hurts the team or goes against the team’s code of conduct, that is definitely cause for disciplinary action. Correct poor behaviour through disciplinary action. Correct poor performances through reflection and problem solving.

What did you think about these guidelines? Do you have any more coaching suggestions for the coaching community? If you do, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to learn from you.

Your support means a lot to me. If you'd like to keep seeing content like this (and you want access to some awesome benefits), consider becoming a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/evosportssa

Keep Growing

Dave Roebuck