Exercise as Corporal Punishment

There was a story today about a football coach in Iowa who was accused of using running laps, hills, and wind sprints to punish a player for negative comments made about the team. (I'll add the link to the original story at the end) While it was the article that got my attention, it was the responses and comments posted after the story that really made me want to write this post.

I was really disappointed and disheartened to read how many people supported the coach's position, because they felt that the kid 'had it coming' or 'it would help his conditioning,' among other reasons. It was also amazing to me to read how many adults simply write kids off as lazy because they don't want to move.

What do they expect? We are one of many countries dealing with an obesity epidemic, and aside from the poor quality of food being served in most school lunch programs - a rant for another day - the primary cause is lack of activity. Forty-eight of the fifty states have done away with a physical education requirement.

In an age when kids clearly need to be motivated and encouraged to be active, how can anyone possibly justify using exercise - running laps, doing pushups, etc - as punishment? It doesn't take an astrophysicist to know that forcing a kid to do something is not going to result in a positive response. This is a negative-reinforcement model; essentially, the coaches hope that the experience of running laps, or 'suicides'/line drills, or endless pushups, will be negative enough that the kid won't step out of line again, for fear of having to repeat it.

Personally, I think this is a cop-out; instead of opening themselves to learn how to better communicate with their athletes,it is simpler to send them off to sweat and suffer away from the team. As an aside, I think this type of abusive training is glamorized at times. Exhibit A: Jillian Michaels, of 'The Biggest Loser.' I was disgusted by her methods, not just because she was mean and abusive to her charges, but because she grossly misrepresented the experience of working with a fitness coach. If you were at home and needed to lose a significant amount of weight, and you watched that show, would you want to hire a coach?

My position is this: kids need to move. It is good for them to run, jump, climb, tumble, roll, and play. Active kids have higher self-esteem, fewer illnesses, better muscle to fat ratios, and they are statistically better students than their sedentary counterparts. The coach's job, beyond the obvious teaching of individual sport skills, is to motivate and encourage long-term compliance to an activity program...one that the athlete enjoys participating in.

Those of you who know me know that this is my philosophy. Teach the body to move. Make it fun and challenging. Encourage life-long activity. Laugh.

Yes, that pretty much covers it.

If you know of any young athletes who want to take their performance and conditioning to the next level, please share this blog with them!


Thanks,

Andrew


Here's the link to the original article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/prep-prep-rally/iowa-coach-accused-corporal-punishment-forcing-player-run-154701889.html