No ‘bad faces’ in basketball eli.cranor@gmail.com October 17, 2021 Eli Cranor is a former professional quarterback and coach turned award-winning author. Please use the “Contact” page at elicranor.com to send in questions for “Athletic Support.”

Dear Athletic Support: My daughter plays high school basketball. She came home after practice yesterday pretty upset. Apparently, her coach told the team that she will sub them out if they make a “bad face” after a mistake. I’m not really sure what this means. I didn’t press the issue because I generally just try to be supportive of the coaches, but I’m having trouble understanding the philosophy behind this. To me, it’s the coaching equivalent of telling your cashier she should smile more. I just don’t see the purpose of trying to police emotional reactions. Can you think of any possible reasoning behind this?

— Emotional Police

Dear Police: I used to do something similar. I don’t think I ever benched a player over a sagging facial expression, but I definitely wanted my players to exude confidence and enthusiasm, especially when things weren’t going our way.

One way I did this was by never letting my players bend over and put their hands on their knees. Period. Not even in the heat of the summer when we were running gassers (barring some sort of medical condition, of course).

Simply put: I wanted my boys to stand tall.

My hope was that this would be a lesson that would serve them well during games. They’d never appear tired or weak to their opponent. They’d also learn the valuable lesson that the mind is stronger than the body.

I believed (and still believe) that my players response to adversity was the single biggest determiner of not only our team’s success, but also the success of their future lives.

I wanted to teach my players to respond positively when things didn’t go their way. I wanted them to take their experience in sports and use it as a training ground for overcoming obstacles.

That’s all your daughter’s coach is doing. She’s teaching those girl how to respond in the face of failure. And one way you do that is by controlling your emotions.

So what if your last spike landed out of bounds? Don’t pout about it! Go slap hands with your teammates and nail the next one!

That’s the message. That’s the hope. Learning that lesson is well worth a little time on the bench.

Dear Athletic Support: My son says he hates playing football in the cold. He even seems to think he can’t play in the cold at all. Like, it makes him a worse player or something. I just don’t get it. Back in my day, we didn’t have half the equipment kids have these days. We still played. And we sure didn’t complain!

— Hot Take

Dear Hot:From my experience, anytime you start a sentence off with, “Back in my day…” kids immediately stop listening.

Save your son the war stories. Playing football in the cold is hard. Every hit hurts more. It takes longer to limber up.

The good news? It’s harder for everybody.

Maybe try explaining that to your son. Try telling him that every other player is also cold. They’re all shivering behind their facemasks. And believe it or not, I bet you were too.


Previous columns:

• Son wants to join football team midway through season
• Housekeeper can’t make daughter’s game
• Auditions getting in the way of volleyball
• Foul language on the sideline
• Laundry Stinks
• Fit more important than price when it comes to cleats
• Facebook ads and too many practices
• Coach pushing vaccine on players
• Youth sports like a cult
• Coach’s pregame speech too crazy for kids
• Championship rings and multiple sweatbands — too much?
• Working out over the Dead Weeks?
• Summer School Blues
• Practices running late causing problems
• Softball games going past midnight
• Are athletes getting better with age?
• Are team sports a vital part of childhood?
• Summer schedule way too serious
• What if I can’t afford private speed camps?
• Quarterback lacks speed
• Should pro athletes talk politics?
• How to take a hit
• Wrestling in college, what’s the point?
• Removal of mask requirement could cost us games
• Overachieving daughter stinks at sports
• Why are we playing all the small schools?
• Freshmen don’t make varsity, usually
• Kids have changed, haven’t they?
• Esports and disc golf bigger than football?
• Little pitchers have big ears
• Pregame music offensive
• Fouls in girls basketball
• Red Shirting
• Coach makes political post
• 7th grade girls basketball woes
• Multi-million-dollar buyouts don’t make sense
• Private schools have the upper hand
• Best of 2020

Athletic Support Columns 2020


Outside of athletics, kids’ brains are also at risk. Who knows what sort of impact virtual learning will have on their cognition and critical thinking skills. In this regard, I offer one simple tool — a good book! And luckily, I know just the book for kids struggling with the shift to virtual learning:

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