Quote:
Originally Posted by jBirch 
*sigh* Sometimes I wish coaching were simply about teaching the kids how to move and how to use the blade instead of how to be decent human beings.
James.
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This was brought up in another thread, and my response wasn't really on subject, so I made a new thread. First off I am not a fencing coach, but I do coach gymnastics and have been involved in gymnastics for 9 or so years.
As a gymnast who worked out ~20 hours a week, usually with just one coach, my coaches throughout my gymnastics career had a huge ethical and moral impact on my views. I would not be the same person today if I had not had the tutoring and guidance of my coaches. Besides just coaching me on gymnastics, they also became friends and trusted advisors, I went to them with problems of personal nature, especially during a time in my life right after high school and I had to make major life decisions about college and other things which I will not go into here.
My point here is that if you spend any number of hours with an individual you have an impact on them, whether you wish to or not. I realize fencing is not as hour-intensive as gymnastics, but as a coach, how responsible do you feel for the character development of your fencers, specifically your more advanced fencers who are in the club many hours per week?
Personally as a gymnastics coach I am not coaching at a level where I work with any individual more than two hours a week, and as such I do not have much influence, but during my classes I strictly enforce (especially with my boys, who like to get a little rough sometimes) rules about respect for other coaches and the many, many other girls in the gym. First warning is 100 push ups and second warning is they sit out for the rest of the class. This includes disrespectful behavior and downright bullying. If it happens again either myself or the gym owner will have a serious talk with the parents about their child continuing in the class.
As frustrating as it is, I think it is one of the more fulfilling aspects of my job as a gym coach.
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