Playing attitude
Discussion
D K Asked 2 years ago
Greetings Team,
Yesterday I was leading our young boys as a substitute playing coach into battle against other team.
My team consisted from me and boys at age 9-10. Opponent team sent four boys aged 13-15.
I would like to know what do you think about the attitude they displayed:
The opponent boys had loud comments to themselves/each other like "Oh come on, this underdog can never harm you", "He plays nothing", or even against me "It is a shame to lose against a defender", so easy ball" (against my full power loop) etc. Even the coach and parents of the opponent boys were verbally degrading me and my boys during play.
For example the strongest from the boys was called after first set by his coach and he told the boy "How can you play so badly with stupid defender? He has no right to win! You are far better than he is why do you do so stupid things. Your topspin is much stronger than defenders can handle. And this loser is a particularly weak defender"
And this was throughout the entire teammatch. (I won 11:2,11:1,11:0)
To make things clear this was the lowest local League so I was there only to ensure 4 points (the team match is played 4x4 players each to each +2 doubles.) I was completely no match for opponent boys despite them being very well trained compared to rest of the League. They were much stronger than our boys though. I did not have serious problems but my boys were mostly beaten into submission. One of my boys told me in tears during pause between sets "I do not know what to do he smashes my smashes back."
From observations I saw it is basically true opponent boys had much better loops in terms of raw power and raw spin than our boys.
Though I was irritated by the psychological offensive from the opponents. One of them even set up a situation where he had a matchball against our best boy forced out high ball and yelled "I will kill you loser" before he smashed the ball directly into the boy who attempted to move backwards but only ended up falling on knees due to balance loss in the fast movement.
Even when the opponent boy was going to shake hands with my boy during the handshake he dominantly forced the boy's palm up placing his own hand on the to like Donald Trump and forcing the boy to remain kneeling and squirm in pain. I even took a sort of medical break in order to comfort him afterwards.
Throughout the matches I have seen similar behavior from all the opponent boys trying to humiliate my boys.
Also,their coach clearly supported this behavior the SAME PERSON though insisted that during the beginning lineup all players have to stand at very strict attention (even reprimanding one of my boys that he stands slightly behind the line) and during introduction required all players to perform a step forth on calling their name and say " HERE!!" as if they were soldiers.
Is this normal in your opinion? Even at world level nothing like this occurs. Also the contrast-the coach on one side requires soldier-like behavior and obedience(even from opponents) but on the other side he verbally teases opponents and has the boys do the same.
What do you think about this behavior?
Thanks
Dan
Alois Rosario Answered 2 years ago
Hi Dan,
This behaviour sounds terrible. I think it is something that you need to take to someone higher in authority such as the organisers of the event or league. There should be a process that you can undertake to get some action.
Thoughts on this question
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D K Posted 2 years ago
Hm,seems like I would be late. The opponent team coach sent an official complaint to the Association,complaining that our boys are unsportsmanlike because they did not use that soldier-like lineup with yelling their names aloud etc,that they did not loudly say "FORGIVE ME,PLEASE" when playing a net ball etc. He said that the line-up behavior of his boys should serve as an example to others and even said that the higher level players lack sportsmanship and discipline if they have less strict lineup and other behavior.
No rule defines we should behave like that.
Though,I hope I have at least returned their behavior in some sort.
Normally when playing against incomparably weaker players,I play so that we both can enjoy the game,even slightly cheering up younger kids or helping them understand the game,going even so far that I tell them what service I will use when I see that the kid has no idea how to reach to which spin.
This day,after I saw how they behave,I decided to go all-out against them. In the first match, I was still holding back,as I was not aware of thei behavior too much yet. Though,in the third set he failed to receive my initial serve and said to himself "Sh*t,how can yo ufail to receive a child serve from such an as*hole".
That changed my mind and I started to play on full,defeating him 11:0 with no mercy. I think his behavior was worse than me not letting him the mercypoint.
I played equally mercilessly against other boys too,clearly showing them what I think about them.
The last bit was then I was about to play with thestrongest (and also most rude) of opponent boys (who did not lose in this league for two years),his presumably grandfather and his coach were telling him things like "You can beat him,he is just a lucky as*hole","just make him cry like the other boys,good job with them" etc.
I played with a blood-thirsty style,with powerful services etc. H started to cry a bit when he realised I am much stronger than any other opponent he has ever encountered. I was easily able to dominate the first set 11:0. The difference was just too big. During second set he even started to insult me directly. he lost 11:0 again. In the last set,I played violently,with clear intention to psychologically and physically destroy the opponent completely in tha range of rules. I havent said a word during the match,I was acting as a sort of "silent god of vengeance". Many times I have forced a high ball from him,but I did not play for placement,I just kept smashing with full force directly into him,to the point that in the ending of the set,he even hid under the table when he saw I am going to smash (after that he yelled "you B*tch son!" at me,supported byhis team). I responded by placing the next smash so that the ball bounced from the table right into his face. at state of 10:0,I again force a high ball from him by faking a chop,so he tried tu push fast-but against a topspin ball. I ran against him,the high backspin ball bounced up and back above his table,and I went for another brutal force smash. The boy was so afraid that he tried to run away from the table and cover his head at the same time. When I smashed with my maximum force and weight into him,he tripped over his own foot and banged his head into the wall,as the space was too short for this. I did not have the heart to let him be,so I reluctantly helped him to partially get up,but I returned him th Trump handshake gesture,imprisoning him on his knees and forcing him to squirm and bend over in pain....
I am not happy with this,but I tried to respond with similar behavior in the rules' range (he behaved outside rules' range ) :(
Nigel C Posted 2 years ago
DK,
I dont think the behavior of your opponents coach is normal or acceptable. Not only is he being rude, abusive and disrespectful towards you but also the children he is coaching. I agree with Alois you should take this to a higher authority. This behavior has no place in any sport let alone when coaching children.
D K Posted 2 years ago
Yea,I know Nigel. We are now in sort of war because the opponent's coach took OUR behavior to higher authority first,saying that when our kids did not line up in perfect attention and did not yell out "<name> HERE!!",when they did not loudly say "FORGIVE ME,PLEASE" for playing a net ball etc,that they have behaved disrespectfully and impolitely towards HIS boys.