Coach injures a kid during football practice...should he be allowed to live?

macaroni tony · #1 11-08-2011, 08:41 AM

I came across this article yesterday, and figured, "there's got to be a thread about this." But there wasn't one.

Coach breaks 13-year-old

I'm pretty sure this coach will (and should) lose his job over this. I'm sure there's some agreement in place that reads "No coach shall initiate physical contact with a player," or the like. But read the article, then watch the video. My reaction was a big old bowl of grow-a-pair for the writer and, to some extent, the parents. In reading the article, I would have thought the coach picked up and body slammed a kid in a fit of rage.

I feel bad for the coach, as I could easily see myself in the same situation. Especially if I acted without think things through.

Your thoughts?

Relic · #2 11-08-2011, 08:50 AM

I've got mixed feelings about this... I can remember baseball practice when I was a kid and one of my teammates got his nose AND collarbone broken during one Saturday morning practice, no lie. The coach was hitting balls to us, this kid misses, takes it in the nose then goes down hard and *snap* there goes the collarbone. The coach was horrified to the extent where the parents of this kid had to calm him down. There was no talk of sueing, no lawsuits, it was just an accepted risk.
Now, flash forward a few years to another baseball league I was in.. my manager was a sadistic a-hole who would throw fast balls at your face to "toughen you up", he'd make you go up to bat and would try to come as close as he could to you without hitting you so you'd "lose your fear of the ball" If he hit you, he'd laugh and call you a "pussy". I'd come home with welts, bruises and a HATRED for playing that game. SO if this coach is a psychopath like my old baseball coach, I hope they hang him.

bradjonesbass · #3 11-08-2011, 08:54 AM

Our society is getting really soft and Yahoo is known for sensationalist headlines. This is a traditional last practice ritual in football - kids get a shot at the coach - and he was clearly not intending to hurt anybody. Any parent who thinks this coach should be sued or fired needs to sign their kid up for tennis or soccer instead of football.

Dr. Cheese · #4 11-08-2011, 08:58 AM

If the kid did not want to risk that sort of injury, he should play golf or some other non-collision sport. I know he got hurt by the coach, but it was a legitimate drill, not abuse.

macaroni tony · #5 11-08-2011, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

I've got mixed feelings about this... I can remember baseball practice when I was a kid and one of my teammates got his nose AND collarbone broken during one Saturday morning practice, no lie. The coach was hitting balls to us, this kid misses, takes it in the nose then goes down hard and *snap* there goes the collarbone. The coach was horrified to the extent where the parents of this kid had to calm him down. There was no talk of sueing, no lawsuits, it was just an accepted risk.
Now, flash forward a few years to another baseball league I was in.. my manager was a sadistic a-hole who would throw fast balls at your face to "toughen you up", he'd make you go up to bat and would try to come as close as he could to you without hitting you so you'd "lose your fear of the ball" If he hit you, he'd laugh and call you a "pussy". I'd come home with welts, bruises and a HATRED for playing that game. SO if this coach is a psychopath like my old baseball coach, I hope they hang him.

Your second manager scares me

Did you seent da video? Does this guy give you the same vibe as your old manager?

macaroni tony · #6 11-08-2011, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradjonesbass

Our society is getting really soft and Yahoo is known for sensationalist headlines. This is a traditional last practice ritual in football - kids get a shot at the coach - and he was clearly not intending to hurt anybody. Any parent who thinks this coach should be sued or fired needs to sign their kid up for tennis or soccer instead of football.

Yeah - I was thinking that this article was a bit much, even by Yahoo standards!

turbo chicken · #7 11-08-2011, 09:10 AM

It looks like coach did go in a little hardcore to me ... he didn't need to put his whole shoulder into it but that's just MY opnion

that being said ...

yeah I don't know... if it was my kid i'd ask for him to cover my medical bill copay or something but man to man... why take it to court that's just a waste of money for both sides. I wouldn't ask for the man to be fired either.

Funky Ghost · #8 11-08-2011, 09:15 AM

Anybody bother to ask the kid what he wants?

macaroni tony · #9 11-08-2011, 09:19 AM

Coach did get a little hardcore at the end. The saddest part to me is the end of the video, when all the other kids are shouting and cheering and exorcising their demons on the coach, while the big kid is down in agonizing pain

fhm555 · #10 11-08-2011, 09:25 AM

When I played football in high school our line coach preached to us that on the first play, forget the ball and try to kill the guy directly in front of you. he also was a firm believer that if we didn't draw blood we were not trying hard enough.

I've seen him open handed slap players on the helmet so hard they went down, grab them by the face guard and twist them off their feet, and if you were really slacking he would line up against you in a one on one blocking drill, no helmet, no pads, just a seething ball of attitude. needless to say, we rarely slacked enough to draw that one.

Back then the guy was considered a local hero who had a rep for building men from boys. He was also the assistant principle and was always even handed with students who were not on the football team. God help you though if you were on the team and you got sent to the office.

He constantly reminded us we were held to a higher standard and it was our duty and obligation to live up to that standard as an example for the rest of the student body.

Oddly enough he allowed no haughty jock persona among his charges. We were taught to be grateful for the gifts we were were given, and to always make the most of those gifts.

I would use myself as an example of how people treated that way turned out, but I'm afraid that would put me at cross purposes with my feelings on the subject...

Football is a contact sport. People get injured in contact sports. Any questions??

aborgman · #11 11-08-2011, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

If the kid did not want to risk that sort of injury, he should play golf or some other non-collision sport. I know he got hurt by the coach, but it was a legitimate drill, not abuse.

That is my take on it. It was something could just as easily happened were one of the other kids running the ball.

Relic · #12 11-08-2011, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macaroni tony

Your second manager scares me

Did you seent da video? Does this guy give you the same vibe as your old manager?

Hard to tell. Football is a sport that tends to require physical contact, so that has to be part of the training I'd say. The coach didn't seem to be psychotic and it could have just been a simple accident. If however this guy had a history of hurting kids, I'd say that he deserves to have his arse laid out by the dad

j/k

macaroni tony · #13 11-08-2011, 09:43 AM

Nah, you ain't kidding. I'm with you there

Relic · #14 11-08-2011, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macaroni tony

Nah, you ain't kidding. I'm with you there

burk48237 · #15 11-08-2011, 10:08 AM

While the coach will undoubtedly never do this again, I suspect it's a drill he's probably done dozens of times without injury. And while I think there's a measure of stupidity involved, I'm not sure it calls for capital punishment. Football coaches aren't always the smartest swords in the academic quiver.

I also suspect that any one playing sports whose 13-15 with the older kids risks the same kinds of injuries and yet it happens all of the time on a non-organized level. I look back now at some of the places and conditions (unpadded) that I played football and Basketball in pick-up games growing up and it's a miracle every kid in the neighborhood isn't dead.

But then we were kids, and we somehow survived without safety seats, bike helmets, airbags, and lawsuits.

macaroni tony · #16 11-08-2011, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burk48237

While the coach will undoubtedly never do this again, I suspect it's a drill he's probably done dozens of times without injury. And while I think there's a measure of stupidity involved, I'm not sure it calls for capital punishment. Football coaches aren't always the smartest swords in the academic quiver.

I also suspect that any one playing sports whose 13-15 with the older kids risks the same kinds of injuries and yet it happens all of the time on a non-organized level. I look back now at some of the places and conditions (unpadded) that I played football and Basketball in pick-up games growing up and it's a miracle every kid in the neighborhood isn't dead.

But then we were kids, and we somehow survived without safety seats, bike helmets, airbags, and lawsuits.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Man, ain't that the truth

macaroni tony · #17 11-08-2011, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Funky Ghost

Anybody bother to ask the kid what he wants?

The most we've heard from the kid is, from the article:

Quote:

"It hurt real bad. It was hard to breathe,"

I've got quite a hunch that the rest of what he had to say would have taken away from the shock and outrage angle

PSPookie · #18 11-08-2011, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradjonesbass

...This is a traditional last practice ritual in football - kids get a shot at the coach - and he was clearly not intending to hurt anybody...

This was my take after watching the video. He lined up without pads and let several players take a shot at him. I'll bet that the kids involved were ecstatic about the chance to get to lay a lick on their coach. The results are just unfortunate.

It may not have been the brightest idea this guy ever had, but it certainly didn't appear malicious.

EricF · #19 11-08-2011, 10:54 AM

The writing of that article was one-sided sensationalist crap.

In today's world, however, the coach will lose his job and probably be sued by the parents.

In 6 weeks, the kid will be back on the field taking hits from high school kids that are bigger and stronger than his (former) coach.

NOAH_FX · #20 11-08-2011, 10:54 AM

I don't like the response "Football is a contact sport, people get hurt" as an excuse. If the players were doing drills and someone got hurt, that happens. But the coach needs to be held accountable, should he lose his job? The one he's at ya, i don't think he should coach them again, but at another school, with the agreement the players do the drills, and the coach run's the drills.. Maybe.

I played rep hockey growing up, people get hurt in hockey, contact sport.

But our coach showing up drunk to games and flipping on kids for mistakes, not ok. One time his son missed a shootout goal to win a game. After the game he proceeded to flip out on his kid infront of the whole team, and than hung him on coat hook in full gear (We were 12).

It's the age that bothers me, you want to be a little togher on 16-17 year olds? I can understand, but at 13 it's about having fun. Having some grown adult, smash into you so he can prove how tough he thinks he is, isn't fun, weither you have a broken collarbone or not. Bet that kid never plays football again.

EDIT
But F.Y.I I can't watch the video, so all i have is Yahoo's awesome story