In a 1982 article, social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling introduced their “broken windows” theory. The “broken windows” theory of police work goes something like this: Criminals see untended broken windows in a neighborhood, assume neglect, and further assume that they can get away with more in a run-down locale than in one in which they see no signs of neglect. Blight breeds crime. A corollary to that theory is that by enforcing petty crimes, you prevent people from making a career of crime and progressing up the ladder to more serious and harmful crimes.
Instances of broken windows situations can be found all around us, even in our Judo clubs. In Judo, these instances aren’t necessarily criminal, but they are behavioral patterns that need to be controlled before they get out of hand and create a domino effect.
For example, it’s strictly forbidden in my club for parents to coach their child from the spectator area. From past experience, if you allow one parent to coach, then others will chime in. Pretty soon, kids are paying attention to mom or dad, or trying to pay attention to the coach and mom and dad at the same time. The result is that differing commands are given, and the child is confused and frustrated. So, I have zero tolerance for spectator coaching. To reinforce this, it’s one of our cardinal rules in our student handbook and registration form. Ignore the broken windows and you lose control over your class.
From a technical standpoint, instances of broken windows are plentiful. Players feed off one another. If you allow one player to do flop and drop Judo, pretty soon everyone is flopping and dropping. When you don’t say anything about the broken driving leg from the very beginning, how difficult is it to modify the bad biomechanics later on? And how many other players will think that a broken driver is OK, because Johnny, Paul and Megan do it, and coach says nothing about it? If your senior players are allowed to do bad Judo, juniors may soon develop the same traits. How cool would that be?
If you allow a player to pick and choose what activities he will or won’t do in your class, how soon will it be before others ask for the same privilege? Not too concerned about bullying within your class, watch how fast that gets out of hand as soon as you allow players to abuse others.
Throughout the years that I’ve been a mentor to other coaches, one of the biggest issues these coaches face is things getting out of control and their not knowing how to handle the problem. The solution is that from the very beginning, they needed to set policies vis-à-vis parents, players, attendance, tournaments, and promotions before things spiraled out of control. Of course, it’s never too late to implement such policies, but it’s far easier and less traumatic to the membership if said policies were in effect from day one.
Be aware of your broken windows before it’s too late.
Good article. Parents coaching from the sidelines has been strictly forbidden in my club ever since I was a young coach. Another aspect of this is when some of the older judo students show up early for their practice (immediatley after the kids’ class) and try to “coach” from the sidelines. That is also not allowed at my club. If I, as the coach, designate some of the advacned judoka or black belts to help out with the coaching duties and they are on the mat actually helping, then it’s okay for them to help me coach. But they always know that they never talk when the head coach is instructing and to always follow the head coach’s lead. Coaching on the mat isn’t a democracy. No one elected the head coach, but since he or she most likely purchased the mat, pays the rent and is the one who cleans the toilets when no one is there, the head coach has earned the right to call the shots. As my friend John Saylor once said so well; “Every dog has his own porch to guard and my mat is the porch I’m guarding.” There’s only room for one dog on a porch and only room for one coach on a mat.
As an aside, I have witnessed a lot of kids’ wrestling over the years and have observed how both fathers and mothers who never wrestled a day in their lives are often the most obnoxious people on the sidelines during practices and especially tournaments. In some cases, we have seen this creep into judo and it is important to not let this “little league” attitude get entrenched in kids’ judo as it has in kids’ wrestling.
Your point about students or athletes choosing what activities they want to do on the mat is right on. We all drill together and work as a team. Judo is a group activity and we need everyone in the group to be involved in the same activity at the same time. The coach, by doing this, tells everyone on the mat that there are no “superstars” and everyone is expected to do his or her best and do all the drills or activities. A couple of years ago, a young woman who had been training with us for about a year announced that she no longer would do any newaza drills since the IJF rules no longer allowed for much groundfighting. I informed her that if she wanted to train on my mat then she would, indeed, do all the drills that the rest of the team was doing. I also informed her that she had a lot of judo to learn and was not in any position to tell me how to run a workout. That was her last practice with me as she never came back to our club. Maybe she’s some other coach’s problem, but she’s not mine.
Your point about adressing a problem when it initially crops up is an excellent point Gerry. Small problems fester into large ones and over some of the dumbest reasons.
Keep up your great work!