Personal Narrative: My Coach, The Bully

Ashton Schultz
Mrs. Schmidt
EN 102
25 January 2018
My Coach, the Bully
Playing volleyball had been my passion and a source of joy for me. I began playing in third grade, honed in my talent playing with friends and teammates in year-round competitive leagues. I had dreams of earning a spot on the varsity team as a high school freshman. Going into high school, I was an athlete with high confidence but after my freshman year I started to lose interest and began to dread practice. The sport I once loved, was not fun anymore. I hated practice because I felt targeted and was always worrying about being embarrassed by my coach. In games or practice I worried about what she would say or do if I made a mistake. When I thought I did something right she

I continued to push myself to do better, but my coach relentlessly would call me out and embarrasses me in front of the team. When my teammates questioned why I was not a part of their varsity team, my coach would call an organized team meeting, one I was not invited to attend. She was cruel and her words were demeaning, insulting and she seemed to be on a mission to have my teammates shun me on and off the court. She told the girls that I was not “physically or mentally ready for varsity”. She continued to belittle me to support her reasons as to why she had left me off the varsity roster. It was hard for me to comprehend her behavior because I would practice with the varsity team, fill in for injured players during practice, and I was included in all varsity group chats and I received all the varsity text messages. When my parents would ask what my role was on the team, my coach made it clear by saying, “she is not on varsity!”. I did not understand why my coach took such pleasure at chipping away at my self-esteem. I began to have doubts about my ability to perform and lost focus on what my role should be on the team. I

I realized I was a victim of bullying. Bullying is defined as, intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, that is marked by an imbalance of power. They helped me understand that my coaches’ actions were unacceptable and plain wrong. My parents requested a meeting with the principle and the superintendent of schools to lay out their concerns. This experience with a bullying coach has encouraged me to bring awareness that bullying is a growing problem in sport and performance settings. A recent study done by the United Kingdom suggests that 75% of young people experience psychological harmful treatment in a sport (Amaechi). Athletes who are being bullied need to be proactive and speak out and take a stand. Talk to a parent or a trusted adult and report what is going on during practices or games. Such behavior is unacceptable, and coaches should face consequences for verbal misconduct including demeaning, name calling, and insulting young athletes. We must collectively take a stand against the bullies that have no place in any sport, and no right to call themselves coach. Coaches need to stop