Hurt Feelings

No coach in America usually sets out to hurt their players’ feelings, but a good one will understand that bruising a young ego can sometimes be the most efficient way to spur a promising athlete to implement needed changes in play or character. Coaches are afraid of telling the truth because we are all just one Twitter rant, email forward or bad review on niche away from being fired. We’re worried about whether or not that one parent who seems cool all year suddenly turns into a nightmare threatening the school district with legal action because of something you did that was taken out of context. It’s never pleasant to hurt feelings. I don’t like doing it. I never got sadistic coaches who relished it. And, while hurting feelings is never pleasant, there are ways to perhaps time it better. It is almost always better to hurt feelings earlier while a player has room to grow and change rather than later when they have less time. Hurt feelings hurt but that doesn’t mean it was done with bad intent.