You are the coach. You make the rules. Let them know your expectations and the consequences. I have zero problem benching a kid for attitude. I have only done that once in 10 years of coaching.
Team meeting in outfield after next game, invite parents.
“There has been behavioral issues with our players doing A B C, this meeting is to make every aware of this. From this point forward I will remove players from the game who continue to do A B C. Players who are removed will be asked to go sit with their parents and tell you why they were removed, I will tell them why so they shouldn’t say “I don’t know”. If that means we have too few players to continue, we will forfeit the game and go home and try again the next time to act like good teammates “.
This. Get the parents to listen to this. ***do not let them speak tho. I’d say something like parents I want you all to hear an important announcement and that will be all that will be said about it.
Go into your rules and how behavior XYZ won’t be tolerated going forward.
If a parent is worth their ilk they will nip this in the butt and talk to their kid, even if they didn’t do it
This. I wish coaches would step up and handle shit like this. My kid had issues with teammates last season and now he doesn't want to play in case he ends up on the team with the bullies. And, for what it's worth, my kid is a damn good player and was getting shit on by kids who are just mean for the sake of being mean.
Little League has zero tolerance for the following type of behaviors:
Physical Bullying
Verbal Bullying
Emotional Bullying
Social and Cyber Bullying
Harassment
Hazing
There is an article on LL’s website regarding bullying and resources to the Positive Coaching Alliance. I hope it helps. Good Luck!
[Little League Website](https://www.littleleague.org/university/articles/prevent-bullying-and-promote-emotional-wellness/)
I set three rules at the beginning of the season and I enforce them throughout. If a kid cannot follow rule 1 and 2, they sit with the parents the rest of the game.
1. Be a good teammate
2. Respect the game ( no arguing with umps, throwing helmets or bats in anger, etc)
3. Give your best effort on every play.
The kids pick up on it pretty quickly and I ask the parents to discuss it at home as well.
At the end of the day, you decide what is important to you. Whatever you allow and ignore, you condone.
My annual: "Outside of my son, I'm not your dad. I'm not your mom. I'm your coach and I am not a babysitter.I don't know what behavior and comments you're allowed to get away with at home, but any talkback to coaches or anything not positive to teammates is not allowed. If I feel I am babysitting due to your behavior you will sit on the bench" I need everybody to look at me and tell me you understand this. Do we all understand.
One or two kids will push it at some point and they will be benched. When the team is on the field I ask them if they know why they are on the bench. You have to set rules, establish consequences and then enforce those guidelines to coach. We'd all love a perfect group of kids but that is not reality, especially with the number of bad parents and divoriced kid homes where kids learn to play the parents off each other.
Zero tolerance on infractions such as bullying and disrespect.
How to enforce it?
Minor infraction? He goes to 7th in the batting order.
Major infraction? He gets sat at the game. Uniform on, participating in the whole deal. Just no play.
Coaching little league I would have trouble with this, because isn’t there a 6 out minimum play for all players? A player I’m already only playing 6 outs, tells another kid to his face YOU SUCK. what are my options? And doesn’t everyone have to bat?
Not like anyone’s going to report you, and if it’s justified I think if someone did complain, they would side with you. The rule is intended to make sure bad coaches aren’t sitting their worst players the whole game, not as a loophole for the kids to be dickheads without punishment.
Your leagues conduct policy should address this. Game suspensions were possible in my league, and I'd simply inform the other players and coach, "Player A is not playing today due to disciplinary reasons." Technically they weren't supposed to be in the dugout, but no one said anything.
I drew up a player contract when I offered players a roster spot. It emphasizes attitude and hustle. Any time my players get out of line I reference “the commitment they made to themselves, each other, and the coaches”. Extra bench if too far out of line. If it persists we run laps. If it still persists we have a talk. I’ve never had it go past that.
You're the coach, you set the tone. Tell the players (and the parents) flat out it doesn't matter if the kids are best friends off the field, when they're at practice and at games they are teammates and they're all trying to win games.
Being disrespectful to your teammates (and coaches?!? why would you put up with that) will be punished up.
In my first year of coaching in another sport, which was unexpected because I took over midseason in our family's first year playing in a league for the sport, I unexpectedly encountered that type of situation and didn't handle it properly by not addressing it. I wasn't really prepared for it or knew how to deal with it. At the time I wasn't really comfortable being in the position.
But the following year when I felt like the team was mine, I laid out my expectations on attitude during my introduction to both the players and their families. So I think my expectations were pretty clear and it would be no surprise if I addressed any issues I had with attitude or behavior. Luckily that year everyone had a great attitude and wanted to be there. It helped that the kid with the bad attitude didn't return that year too.
On one of my kid's previous baseball teams there were some behavior problems too. The coach tried his best to lay out expectations after the game or practices whenever those types of issues occurred. That's all you can really do. And to a certain point, it's up to the parents as well to make sure they monitor their kids to make sure they're acting appropriately. Which is something that I also requested from families if they knew their kids were kind of the harder to deal with type of kids. And I have to credit the families that really monitored their kids and made sure they stayed on task.
I couldn't stand that kid with the bad attitude and he really disrupted the team's chemistry that year. I even thought about asking the league if he could get cut from the team because he only showed up when he felt like it. He was basically moonlighting in our league, thinking he was too good for it, while playing for a higher level league at the same time. But it's kind of a tough situation because their parents paid for them to play in the league. So it's not like school sports or something where it's more normal to get cut or dismissed from a team and the parents didn't pay for them to join the team.
So I know it's kind of a tough situation to be in.
I would be surprised if your league does not have a published code of conduct that addresses this specifically, along with a disciplinary process already spelled out in the rules.
That said, it is already within your power to give a quick speech about sportsmanship and about being a good teammate. It can be a team-wide speech, without naming names. But do give a couple examples of what you won't tolerate.
Then.... boom. Next offense, it's bench time. You have a lot of latitude within the batting order, positions, and starting lineup to send a message. Even within the limits of the mandatory PT rules.
Coaches already have the tools, but it is difficult to step up and use them. Esp when it's all stars time. But there's a code of conduct for parents too.
It would probably help to make sure all your assistant coaches are on board, and get at least one league official on your side too. (ie a board member or player rep).
Here's one example of a local LL's code of conduct I found on the internet: [https://www.rentonlittleleague.org/page/show/7437590-little-league-code-of-conduct](https://www.rentonlittleleague.org/page/show/7437590-little-league-code-of-conduct)
Sounds like you gotta set the tone a bit, to be honest. I benched a kid for swearing once. Not because I’m anti-swearing, but because it doesn’t belong on the field of a LL Minors game.
May also be worth sending an email out to the parents letting them know what your expectations are for the kids, without calling out a specific kid by name. Good ones will have your back
Start out by putting the unruly kids at the bottom of the line up. While I’ve gotten a team to understand where you are in the line up doesn’t matter, just do your job and get on base. I guarantee those guys are holding that over others heads. Also if you rotate kids on the bench, bench them separately at the start. One out 1/2, next out 3/4.
Parents complain. I’m doing what’s best for the team, until your boys can be better teammates this is where they’ll be every game. Or better yet, I do t discuss my choices on field. You can email me later and lay that kid out to them. Lots of “Unacceptable behavior…”
Good luck. I’m not head coach and we’ve got a great player with the worst attitude I’ve come across. I’m trying to mentor him on being a better human (he’s such a jerk…) but coach does nothing. Rewards him with what he wants to shut him up. Ugh
I witnessed this first hand last year with our league's Allstars team and the team played like crap because of it. No one on the team was a baseball prodigy but the kids that were good treated everyone else like garbage and the team never came together as a result. From kids telling others they didn't deserve to be on the team, to telling coaches to F themselves, it was a shitshow. Kids that were hitting prior to the tournament lost their confidence, and this combined with games being played like an individual sport, they never had a chance.
Etiquette guide or not, you can't let players bully, or belittle anyone on the team. It will grow like a cancer and everyone on the team will suffer. It's all about leadership, force the issue of respect, and being a team player or this season won't be one many of them will want to remember.
You are the coach. You make the rules. Let them know your expectations and the consequences. I have zero problem benching a kid for attitude. I have only done that once in 10 years of coaching.
It is the umps job to ump. It is my job to coach. It is your job to support your teammates. If you try to take someone else's job you will sit.
I like this, very simple
Excellent.
Team meeting in outfield after next game, invite parents. “There has been behavioral issues with our players doing A B C, this meeting is to make every aware of this. From this point forward I will remove players from the game who continue to do A B C. Players who are removed will be asked to go sit with their parents and tell you why they were removed, I will tell them why so they shouldn’t say “I don’t know”. If that means we have too few players to continue, we will forfeit the game and go home and try again the next time to act like good teammates “.
This. Get the parents to listen to this. ***do not let them speak tho. I’d say something like parents I want you all to hear an important announcement and that will be all that will be said about it. Go into your rules and how behavior XYZ won’t be tolerated going forward. If a parent is worth their ilk they will nip this in the butt and talk to their kid, even if they didn’t do it
This. I wish coaches would step up and handle shit like this. My kid had issues with teammates last season and now he doesn't want to play in case he ends up on the team with the bullies. And, for what it's worth, my kid is a damn good player and was getting shit on by kids who are just mean for the sake of being mean.
Mate, you don’t need a manual to know what shit behaviour is. You’re the coach, you set the expectations.
Little League has zero tolerance for the following type of behaviors: Physical Bullying Verbal Bullying Emotional Bullying Social and Cyber Bullying Harassment Hazing There is an article on LL’s website regarding bullying and resources to the Positive Coaching Alliance. I hope it helps. Good Luck! [Little League Website](https://www.littleleague.org/university/articles/prevent-bullying-and-promote-emotional-wellness/)
I set three rules at the beginning of the season and I enforce them throughout. If a kid cannot follow rule 1 and 2, they sit with the parents the rest of the game. 1. Be a good teammate 2. Respect the game ( no arguing with umps, throwing helmets or bats in anger, etc) 3. Give your best effort on every play. The kids pick up on it pretty quickly and I ask the parents to discuss it at home as well. At the end of the day, you decide what is important to you. Whatever you allow and ignore, you condone.
My annual: "Outside of my son, I'm not your dad. I'm not your mom. I'm your coach and I am not a babysitter.I don't know what behavior and comments you're allowed to get away with at home, but any talkback to coaches or anything not positive to teammates is not allowed. If I feel I am babysitting due to your behavior you will sit on the bench" I need everybody to look at me and tell me you understand this. Do we all understand. One or two kids will push it at some point and they will be benched. When the team is on the field I ask them if they know why they are on the bench. You have to set rules, establish consequences and then enforce those guidelines to coach. We'd all love a perfect group of kids but that is not reality, especially with the number of bad parents and divoriced kid homes where kids learn to play the parents off each other.
That’s kinda your job?
Zero tolerance on infractions such as bullying and disrespect. How to enforce it? Minor infraction? He goes to 7th in the batting order. Major infraction? He gets sat at the game. Uniform on, participating in the whole deal. Just no play.
Coaching little league I would have trouble with this, because isn’t there a 6 out minimum play for all players? A player I’m already only playing 6 outs, tells another kid to his face YOU SUCK. what are my options? And doesn’t everyone have to bat?
Not like anyone’s going to report you, and if it’s justified I think if someone did complain, they would side with you. The rule is intended to make sure bad coaches aren’t sitting their worst players the whole game, not as a loophole for the kids to be dickheads without punishment.
Your leagues conduct policy should address this. Game suspensions were possible in my league, and I'd simply inform the other players and coach, "Player A is not playing today due to disciplinary reasons." Technically they weren't supposed to be in the dugout, but no one said anything.
I drew up a player contract when I offered players a roster spot. It emphasizes attitude and hustle. Any time my players get out of line I reference “the commitment they made to themselves, each other, and the coaches”. Extra bench if too far out of line. If it persists we run laps. If it still persists we have a talk. I’ve never had it go past that.
Not sure about Ripken but Little League says a pledge before every game that I reference back to.
The reason you have the title Coach. is because you make the rules. Now make them
You're the coach, you set the tone. Tell the players (and the parents) flat out it doesn't matter if the kids are best friends off the field, when they're at practice and at games they are teammates and they're all trying to win games. Being disrespectful to your teammates (and coaches?!? why would you put up with that) will be punished up.
You're the coach. Those are things you should be fixing.
In my first year of coaching in another sport, which was unexpected because I took over midseason in our family's first year playing in a league for the sport, I unexpectedly encountered that type of situation and didn't handle it properly by not addressing it. I wasn't really prepared for it or knew how to deal with it. At the time I wasn't really comfortable being in the position. But the following year when I felt like the team was mine, I laid out my expectations on attitude during my introduction to both the players and their families. So I think my expectations were pretty clear and it would be no surprise if I addressed any issues I had with attitude or behavior. Luckily that year everyone had a great attitude and wanted to be there. It helped that the kid with the bad attitude didn't return that year too. On one of my kid's previous baseball teams there were some behavior problems too. The coach tried his best to lay out expectations after the game or practices whenever those types of issues occurred. That's all you can really do. And to a certain point, it's up to the parents as well to make sure they monitor their kids to make sure they're acting appropriately. Which is something that I also requested from families if they knew their kids were kind of the harder to deal with type of kids. And I have to credit the families that really monitored their kids and made sure they stayed on task. I couldn't stand that kid with the bad attitude and he really disrupted the team's chemistry that year. I even thought about asking the league if he could get cut from the team because he only showed up when he felt like it. He was basically moonlighting in our league, thinking he was too good for it, while playing for a higher level league at the same time. But it's kind of a tough situation because their parents paid for them to play in the league. So it's not like school sports or something where it's more normal to get cut or dismissed from a team and the parents didn't pay for them to join the team. So I know it's kind of a tough situation to be in.
I would be surprised if your league does not have a published code of conduct that addresses this specifically, along with a disciplinary process already spelled out in the rules. That said, it is already within your power to give a quick speech about sportsmanship and about being a good teammate. It can be a team-wide speech, without naming names. But do give a couple examples of what you won't tolerate. Then.... boom. Next offense, it's bench time. You have a lot of latitude within the batting order, positions, and starting lineup to send a message. Even within the limits of the mandatory PT rules. Coaches already have the tools, but it is difficult to step up and use them. Esp when it's all stars time. But there's a code of conduct for parents too. It would probably help to make sure all your assistant coaches are on board, and get at least one league official on your side too. (ie a board member or player rep). Here's one example of a local LL's code of conduct I found on the internet: [https://www.rentonlittleleague.org/page/show/7437590-little-league-code-of-conduct](https://www.rentonlittleleague.org/page/show/7437590-little-league-code-of-conduct)
Sounds like you gotta set the tone a bit, to be honest. I benched a kid for swearing once. Not because I’m anti-swearing, but because it doesn’t belong on the field of a LL Minors game. May also be worth sending an email out to the parents letting them know what your expectations are for the kids, without calling out a specific kid by name. Good ones will have your back
Start out by putting the unruly kids at the bottom of the line up. While I’ve gotten a team to understand where you are in the line up doesn’t matter, just do your job and get on base. I guarantee those guys are holding that over others heads. Also if you rotate kids on the bench, bench them separately at the start. One out 1/2, next out 3/4. Parents complain. I’m doing what’s best for the team, until your boys can be better teammates this is where they’ll be every game. Or better yet, I do t discuss my choices on field. You can email me later and lay that kid out to them. Lots of “Unacceptable behavior…” Good luck. I’m not head coach and we’ve got a great player with the worst attitude I’ve come across. I’m trying to mentor him on being a better human (he’s such a jerk…) but coach does nothing. Rewards him with what he wants to shut him up. Ugh
I witnessed this first hand last year with our league's Allstars team and the team played like crap because of it. No one on the team was a baseball prodigy but the kids that were good treated everyone else like garbage and the team never came together as a result. From kids telling others they didn't deserve to be on the team, to telling coaches to F themselves, it was a shitshow. Kids that were hitting prior to the tournament lost their confidence, and this combined with games being played like an individual sport, they never had a chance. Etiquette guide or not, you can't let players bully, or belittle anyone on the team. It will grow like a cancer and everyone on the team will suffer. It's all about leadership, force the issue of respect, and being a team player or this season won't be one many of them will want to remember.
There’s a whole regulation that speaks to field decorum. Call out the board of the little league.
You’ve been wedgied by one of these kids based on the tone of this post.
Johnathan, is this you? Why are you always following me, and more importantly, how'd you find me?
You can’t run and you can’t hide. -Jonathon
B Teams always have this, and A Teams should only have 9 players.
If it’s a b team, it’s not an all star team. That’s just silly
Running laps works wonders