Exercise As Punishment: Hurting Our Youth in More Ways Than One.
We were raised on running laps for being late or burpees for making a mistake, but this approach is taking all the fun and participation out of youth sport. We must do better.
The coach made it clear.
This 16 and under team was going to run hills for every error committed.
The grass hill was about 60 yards of steady incline.
The boys had just fought hard but came up short 7-6 in 9 innings. The game on this hot Sunday lasted close to 4 hours.
They had a 6-4 lead and a couple of hits combined with 2 walks walk and an untimely error led to a 3 run top of the ninth and a heartbreaking loss.
Punishing the kids by running hills for physical errors in the field was obviously an attempt by the coach to instill….well, I guess an ability to avoid the errors ? Try harder? Be better?
It did not turn out that way. Performance did not improve on the field, players lost respect for the coach and 3 players quit.
Kayla, a 9 year-old girl, came home and told her parents over dinner than she did not like gym class. When asked why, as this was a change of heart from previous discussions, she said that she was forced to run laps today after getting to class late with 3 other girls.
When asked why she was late, she said she was slow getting out of the previous class.
Upon further investigation, this teacher had a reputation of being a disciplinarian.
The young girl mentioned it was not uncommon to run extra laps for others being late, or talking when they probably should not.
Kayla being singled out and punished for being late led to her not liking gym class, a favorite class of hers previously. Did that help her move quicker between classes?
14 year-old Tyler was not sure why he did not enjoy his most recent basketball season. Dad was surprised as he was always keen to get to practice, now had to be pushed to go. He was so excited for his games but now not so much.
Whereas he would shoot hoops for hours in the driveway, more and more video game time seemed to take its place.
It was only through a drive to the mall that the topic came up about the need for new court shoes.
They simply did not feel right when doing suicides (suicides are a conditioning drill where players line up on the end line, run to foul line and back, then to mid court line and back , then to opposite foul line & back and lastly to the opposite end line). Suicides are grueling and often used by coaches to get players prepared for the pace of the game, a conditioning drill.
The conversation continued and it was mentioned that suicides happened all the time especially when free throws were below a certain % in games.
Tyler was never a great free throw shooter for and Dad started to understand where the enthusiasm had started to go.
Running hills for making errors or laps due to punctuality and suicides for missed throws categorized as punishment within a physical activity setting.
While having good intentions and trying to modify behavior, it often does more harm than good.
In the case of gym class, it can quickly have the effect of turning the students off physical activity.
In the case of the sport setting, the coaching tactic can often backfire and does not correct performance issues.
Running hills won’t help with footwork on a ground ball, or tracking a fly ball that is tailing away from the running outfielder.
Some of the best basketball players in the world have struggled with free throws, a skill that requires just as much technical as it does ability to focus.
While not helping in skill development, these scenarios create negative consequences on enthusiasm to play and even being physically active.
According to Brad Cardinal, professor of exercise psychology at Oregon State University, many adults try to avoid regular physical activity due to their earlier unpleasant exposure to exercise as punishment, usually as students in PE class or on sports teams.
According to a position statement by The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, “Administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment and/or behavior management is an inappropriate practice” and “coaches should never use physical activity or peer pressure as a means of disciplining athlete behavior.”
Exercise when used for disciplinary purposes, they claim, is a form of corporal punishment and is illegal in 29 states.
Why Physical Punishment Is the Least Effective Way to Teach Technical Skills (From this article):
There are a variety of reasons why physical punishment is just about the least effective way to get your team to improve technically and tactically:
1. Motor skills are improved by repetition of motor skills deployed in their environment. If we waste our limited practice time doing physical punishment, it will not improve these areas of weakness.
2. Threatening physical punishment induces stress and fear, two elements that diminish physical performance. Professional sports teams employ psychologists, physios, nutritionists and a variety of experts to diminish fear, anxiety and stress in top-level athletes, as they are performance inhibitors. If we are purposely introducing these elements into training, how exactly are we helping?
3. Physical punishment causes fatigue, and fatigue inhibits learning. That’s right, the more you condition, the less able your athletes are to learn. That is why strength and conditioning are usually separate training blocks for higher level athletes.
4. Our practice time is limited. I have yet to meet a youth or high school coach who is saying “can I give some practice time back, I have too much.” Why would we waste our skill training hours doing physical work?
Physical punishment only serves the coach. It is kind of like vomit: the coach feels better and everyone else feels worse. And in the end, your athletes are no better at the activity than they were before you started running.
Physical punishment is only used because of tradition. I get it, you were coached that way. So was I.
What else have you tried? Let’s break the cycle.
Kids are not having fun. Dropout rates are at an all-time high. Kids are not healthy. Excessive physical punishment will likely lead to many kids not returning next sports season and disliking physical activity. Period.
Would you come back when there are a million other things you could do, and you are berated for your lack of skill, yet not taught to improve that skill?
Solutions ?
1. Establish standards. Discipline and performance standards need to be established.
2. Define consequences. Sample consequences for disciplinary infractions are removing playing time.
3. Communicate standards.
4. Be consistent in enforcing them.
Let’s face it, using physical activity as punishment most often is used to addressing discipline and/or performance issues. There are other ways to address both these areas. Yes, this requires a little planning and some work.
In a sports setting, to address discipline issues, establish the above 4 points from the beginning of the season through a written agreement and require athletes and parents to sign. This provides ammunition for its execution.
To address performance issues: coach and practice the skill!
In a school setting:
Associating physical conditioning and fitness with positive results and outcomes should be the goal for every youth coach and school teacher.
We can shape healthy lifestyle habits from a young age.
Why would we want to take that away?
We can do better.
I agree totally. Using movement as punishment is mean and counterproductive.