Team Consequences

We all know the metaphor, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” No matter how strong most of the chain is, if there’s one weak part, it could break the entire chain.

This is similar to how a sports team operates. The success of the team depends on its weakest member.

In order to make the team stronger, some coaches will punish the team for making mistakes, sometimes even if it was only one person’s mistake.

Seiler Grubb, a freshman on South’s Volleyball team, said that the team gets consequences if the team is “collectively making a mistake.” For the volleyball team, consequences can include running up and down the gym, and other conditioning exercises.

Grubb said they also can get consequences for a lack of teamwork, or for a bad loss.

“If a team is running 15-in-1s’ (15 down-and-backs in one minute) and one person doesn’t make it, the whole team has to start over,” Grubb said.

South’s football team also does something similar to this. Jay Romelus, one of South’s football players, said that the football team does “man-makers and up-downs.”

“A fumble is terrible for our team. It causes us, like, 15 up-downs for one person’s mistake,” Romelus said.

South’s soccer team also does consequences.

“It’s a consequence of our actions and not giving 100 percent of energy,” said Jose Mendieta, a player on South’s soccer team.

Players may have different opinions on whether this method of coaching is effective. Grubb does not think that making the team do consequences helps their team.

“It’s not teaching the kids what they did wrong, it’s telling them what they did wrong. Kids are afraid to make mistakes because there are always consequences. That should not be how a team is run,” Grubb said.

However, Romelus and Mendieta have a different view.

“Little things that aren’t really a big deal, coaches take really seriously, because they dont want us to fail on game day,” Romelus said.

Although consequences may be difficult, they believe that consequences are beneficial to their teams.

“It kinda motivates us because we don’t want to run hills. Then you’re scared of, like, messing up, and then you won’t mess up,” Mendieta said.

They believe that consequences are effective because they get players to work hard, get players in shape, and decrease the amount of mistakes that players make.

“It gets people to do stuff right, instead of being a non-disciplined team,” Romelus said. “If you don’t do the stuff that you need to do, and they don’t yell, there’s no point of playing, because you don’t get any work done.”