demoinesregister – The well-worn practice of coaches ordering extra running as punishment for bad behavior or poor performance may soon fade from Iowa’s high school athletic fields and courts. The disciplinary practice may face new scrutiny after an investigative report made public Thursday stated that the Des Moines school district believes that a coach who makes an athlete run at practice could be guilty of inflicting corporal punishment on the student. The report examined actions by suspended Des Moines Lincoln High School football coach Tom Mihalovich, who is accused of violating school bullying and corporal punishment policies. Among Mihalovich’s offenses, according to the report: requiring a sophomore player to run sprints and laps as punishment for making derogatory comments about the school’s varsity squad. “Good common sense would indicate we’re past using conditioning and running in a punitive manner,” said Mike Dick, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union executive director. To use conditioning as punishment is “almost vindictive in nature.”
Let me tell you a little story. There once was a kid with tremendous natural physical abilities who, for whatever reason, could never push himself to maximize his talents. Instead of practicing his basketball post dropstep or in-the-pocket QB footwork, he played video games and joked around with his friends. Fast forward through the years and much of his mentality remained the same.
In high school he tried out and made both the basketball and football teams, and even though he was seen as an asset to both, he eventually quit all sports because he was sick of “all the running”. When the school’s starting quarterback broke his arm and his friends turned to him to see if he would again try out, he refused and stuck with his games, jokes, and sarcasm. A huge reservoir of athletic talent tossed down the drain. Sure, he played half-hearted mediocre basketball his senior year and was recruited locally, but never would he come close to reaping the fruits of his natural talents. He has carried this guilt in his heart ever since.
Now, as an “adult”, he writes crude jokes on the internet and makes irrational snap judgements about strangers for cheap laughs, all the while regretting not putting his full effort into what could possibly have turned him into a self-fulfilled millionaire.
In other words: make the fucking kids run and say whatever’s necessary to keep them motivated. If not they’ll regret it forever and ever.
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