With a 16 point lead and 58 seconds left in the game, the winning coach yelled out across the floor to her best defender (by name) "don't do anything stupid!" She yelled this not once, but twice in a span of 10 seconds.
What I witnessed after that comment was the body language of her player... the girl that had worked her butt off for the entire game by covering the opposing teams best player which was also much bigger than she was, completely droop as if defeated. Everything she accomplished in that game was immediately forgotten the moment her coach yelled out across the gym for all to hear, that she was likely to do something stupid.
After the game (and win), the girl was still visibly disappointed by the stinging words of her coach. Although I don't think the coach intended it to come across the way it did, the damage had been done. There is a big difference between yelling out "no fouls" and yelling out something that can (and was) be taken personally.
Coaches we need to be careful not only in what we say... but the manner and tone in which we say it. Don't get so emotionally caught up in the game that you forget who is standing beside you in the battle.
4:13
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