Life Lesson #25: No Complaining!

No Complaining!

Recently, at the American Baseball Coaches Association National Convention, I had the opportunity to hear Cal State Fullerton Coach George Horton speak about creating a championship mindset. While he described many impressive ways that the Titans work to simulate game pressures, generate confidence and visualize success, one specific team rule hit home as consistent with the Lifeletics philosophy. The rule states:

While on the field of play or in the locker room area, there will be no player-to-player complaining of any kind.

In my experience as a High School coach, this is one rule that we’ve stood behind for years. In an effort to create a positive environment of teamwork, players are simply not allowed to complain for any reason to another player. They are welcome, however, to voice those complaints to the coach each and every day. While coaches may not enjoy dealing with complaints, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that the athletes have an avenue to voice their concerns… especially if they are not allowed to do so with another player.

There is nothing more powerfully destructive than festering underlying negativity. When players get together to complain or talk trash, it affects the entire team. The negative energy breaks the trust between player and coach, affects day to day effort levels and takes focus away from the true team goal: Winning a championship. A championship mindset is difficult to break down, let alone teach… and player-to-player complaining is a sure way to bring about unnecessary distraction.

This rule assists a great deal with issues of playing time. Rather than complain to a teammate creating a wave of negative energy, athletes learn to voice their desires to play more directly to a coach. This teaches a young man to stand tall and address an issue directly. In turn, coaches have the opportunity to describe ways in which the athlete may earn more playing time – areas to improve or attitude changes to be made – as well as explain the current realities. This helps to maintain a high level of respect for a coach. Even though a player may not agree with the final decision, that athlete has had the opportunity to voice his opinions, hear an explanation, and can now direct that desire to play towards hard work on the practice field.