My DS competes at a county level and recently has had a series of competitions. He hasn’t been on his best form due to revising for exams and not giving the sport as much priority as he previously did.
When he got home he was quite subdued, eventually we found out that there had been an incident where the coach had not been happy with DS’s attitude (fair enough) DS was shouted at and berated in front of other team members and basically spoken to like a naughty child. He is really upset about this especially because as the coach makes a big deal of saying they are treated like adults when they’re 18.
DS and a few others that witnessed it were quite shocked by the level and personal tone of criticism. It had been building during the event apparently and then seemed to explode. I can imagine DS doing some things that may have irritated the coach or the coach being annoyed because they felt DS wasn’t prioritising the sport and so they may have had very valid reasons to ‘tell him off.’ I think an older player would never have been spoken to like that though. It could have been dealt with by a firm but private word rather than a public, personal attack. Also if it is relevant DS is no longer one of the ‘favourites’ in the team.
He doesn’t know what to do now:
a -suck it up because that what coaches can be like.
b - address the issue politely with the coach which may risk his chances of being selected again
c- let me or his dad speak to the coach on his behalf (he is 18 but only a month ago)
He loves playing the sport and can avoid this particular coach in day to day coaching but will have to be on his ‘good side’ if he wants to be selected for this particular event again.