Have your own kids been affected? If so, what did they do?

In the past couple years I’ve seen good athletes drop out at various HS around here for reasons other than loss of passion for their sport. It’s pernicious.

Anonymous wrote:The way the coaches handled it on DC's teams is to ignore it. They know it's happening. They know which kids are terrible kids but they just let it go.

I think that's a wimpy cop out on their part.

+1

This is what I see as well. Coaches and parents are well aware, and ignore it.

Anonymous wrote:The way the coaches handled it on DC's teams is to ignore it. They know it's happening. They know which kids are terrible kids but they just let it go.

I think that's a wimpy cop out on their part.

I think that’s part of the story. It’s a dirty open secret. I think of the extreme cases like the brooms at the school up in maryland(?) and the incidents in minor league hockey. It’s not just hazing. I do think some of it, particularly the psychological / verbal aggression is harder for coaches to notice.

The way the coaches handled it on DC's teams is to ignore it. They know it's happening. They know which kids are terrible kids but they just let it go.

I think that's a wimpy cop out on their part.

Coaches — When do you know to intervene? How do you handle non-physical bullying / aggressive behaviors within the team? Are you ever made aware of players accused of / caught bullying at school or elsewhere? How do you handle it if it is your top players? Have you ever investigated why a current or potential recruit has suddenly dropped the sport?

Parents — how aware do you think coaches are aware of bullying or aggressive behavior on their team? That is, do they know when there’s a problem? Do they tend to nip it in the bud with player(s) regardless of whether it’s a star or not?