Wednesday, October 23rd - 4 hours

I again joined Julio at one of his trainings after working at the main office for a while. The night before he had a parent report about possible bullying going on within the team. We discussed the email he sent out and how he planned to address the problem to the team. In the email, he said he focused on discussing the expectations to respect each other on the team and when disagreements do arise, that as teammates (and decent people) it is important to be able to remain respectful at these times. The team that this occurred on is the 07 girls which means that they are mostly sixth graders which is a challenging age as it is with all the new emotions and the skills gap starting to be more apparent. It was interesting listening to Julio explain how the term "bully" has to be used carefully especially when it's addressed as a director. There are forms to fill out, steps to go through, and possible expulsion from the club. His message and how he handles it also sends a wider message as to how this sort of situations is handled from the top within the club rather than a specific coach. As I coach, I've had concerns like this come up and never thought of it on a larger level before. I'm not sure why though. As a teacher bullying is something that we take very seriously from both ends to decide if bullying is actually occurring or if it was an isolated incident. Sometimes I forget the connection between coaching and teaching.