Frank Martin - We Teach and Educate

What do you do when your students or athletes don’t act or respond how you want them to? What do you do when they aren’t living up to your expectations?

What do you do when you need to discipline them or redirect them?

In our school district, we are learning about Restorative Practices and the power of community building and relationship restoring circles.

Restorative practices are a process designed to build and sustain meaningful relationships, and to restore the relationship when it is harmed or damaged.

Frank Martin is an old-school basketball coach, meaning he is tough and disciplined. But even a no-nonsense, old-school coach like Coach Martin can see the importance of being what our kids need, and the importance of teaching, teaching, teaching.

When I was a kid, when you did something wrong, the coach would yell at you and make you run. They would yell at you and run you until you learned your lesson, or until he lost his voice. 

You can’t get away with that today. Today’s kids have too many options, and if you just yell and run some of them without giving them much reason, they are more likely to quit on you, quit on the team, or find another team.

So what does an old-school coach like Frank Martin do when he needs to get his point across? He teaches.

Here is what Coach Martin said he does when there is confusion:

Anytime there is confusion, you don’t help young people by making them more miserable. You help them by educating them. You help them by teaching. 

Every time there is confusion, I don’t make guys run; I teach.

Education is what clears our minds. Education is what gives us confidence. That’s how life works, so we do the same thing on the basketball court. 

It doesn’t mean that we go out there and play patty-cake and high-five each other, but we teach. We get back to what everything in life is all about with young people, which is teaching them.

When you teach somebody, regardless of their age, that person realizes that you don’t care about the score; you care about helping them.

We have more tools now to redirect as teachers and coaches than ever, and we need to use all of those tools to best reach and teach our kids.

Discipline is the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior. Training is teaching a person a particular type of behavior or skill.

Discipline means to teach or train. It doesn’t mean yell or run. Yelling and running can be an impactful part of the teaching and training process, but like Frank Martin said, “Anytime there is confusion, you don’t help young people by making them more miserable. You help them by educating them; you help them by teaching.”