RULES WITHOUT RELATIONSHIPS, EQUALS REBELLION!
Posted: 1/8/2008 12:00:00 AM
RULES WITHOUT RELATIONSHIPS, EQUALS REBELLION!
COACHING, TEACHING AND PARENTING THE INTERNET GENERATION
By Harry Mahood
I received a text message the other day at 7 a.m. from a player that read:
“JFYI (Just For Your Interest)… DICMI2P2D (Dude I can’t make it to practice today)….BLGLT (boyz look good lately tho) JM2C (Just My 2 Cents) C4N (Ciao For Now)!”
My text reply: DYFM (Dude You Fascinate Me) F EYE O (figure it out)
And so it begins, another day in coaching the internet generation is
upon me.
I put my phone down and I hear an unbelievable celebration going on in the gaming room of our home from one of our sons. “Scrappy that’s quite a celebration dance you got going on at 7:05 a.m.” I say, still shaken from the text at 7:00 a.m.
“Dude, I just scored my 4000th goal this season in NHL ’08,” cheered and danced Sraps.
“I swear, if one more person refers to me as Dude before 7:15 a.m. today and I’m going to “Donkey Kong” someone,” I think to myself.
“Scrappy what happened to that talk we had about “Mini Celes” (mini-celebrations) and when you score, acting like you have done that before?” I investigate. “Not to mention, those are virtual goals. They don’t really count.”
“But Dude! that was 4000,” Scrappy countered.
And so it begins another day in parenting the internet generation.
Next text at 7:10 a.m. from my daughter in college: ILY ?(I Love You) URMH (You Are My Hero) I text reply to my daughter: VBS (Very Big Smile)
And so it begins, another day knowing, I have at least one fan from the internet generation. lol
The average internet generation teenager, double thumbs their way through about 3500 to 5000 text messages monthly. They can manage hundreds of virtual face book relationships while instant messaging about 100 virtual friends simultaneously. They find time to master guitar hero. If they need a break from it all, well it’s time for the iPod and L’il Wayne’s poetry.
A few season ago, I instituted a “turn your cell phone and laptops into the Coach policy,” after pre game meals and after games on the road. The phones and lap tops were nothing but distractions 24/7. My biggest dilemma occurred one trip when my captain brought two phones on the road. One dummy phone he turned in, on the other he double thumbed “love texts” all weekend to the girl he promised all to marry.
But where do we begin? How do we reach them? How do we bring out the principles that are inherent in hockey and team sports? How do we make them care? How do we instill a work ethic that seems to have been replaced with a sense of entitlement? How do we help those we lead reach the next level and fulfill their potential?
Where the rubber meets the pavement in teaching, leadership and coaching is when one’s personal philosophy or generation bias meets today’s internet generation psyche. In a sense, one’s philosophy is like nitro-glycerin. In one person’s hands nitro-glycerin has the amazing ability to prevent and treat angina or a heart attack. In another person’s hands nitro-glycerin becomes an explosive blasting entity to destroy.
The great news is that despite our generational differences, the one thing that remains constant in hockey, is a player’s requirement to be a responsible teammate, to work hard, apply personal discipline, play with integrity, builds one’s fitness, learn to work with others and above all else to learn the value of giving your best effort and sometimes failing. Which is really a definition of success? Never let these values slide on your watch. The Internet Generation is starving to be fed.
One positive lifestyle alternative for our internet generation is to keep encouraging them to come to the hockey rink. The sport and environment has an inherent set of values that are ever constant and that every generation needs. The answer for the non internet generation is maybe to learn to send a text or two “lol” and take a crack at building your own Face Book Player social network. Because, “Rules without Relationships, Equals Rebellion,” and kids really don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. You will be amazed how far a text or face book message will go in developing a relationship with a player.
Lastly, send a hockey friend a text message today and let them know what Coach Bob Johnson told all: “Hey Dude ..IAGDFH” (it’s a great day for hockey). Coach Bob never said the “Hey Dude” part , but I am sure Coach would jump on board as long as it encouraged one more yungster to enjoy our great game.