Milton Bradley: It's no game

It never ceases to amaze me that professional teams continue to take chances on proven bad apples. This week's case in point, the Cubs' Milton Bradley, baseball's "quintessential recidivist" (apologies to Billy Martin). Here is a guy who has proven time and again that, despite tremendous talent, he just cannot keep his act together for an entire season. Bradley's latest antics have now led a frustrated Cubs management to suspend him for the remainder of this lost season. The real problem though, is that the Cubs and Bradley are only one third of the way through a 3-year, $30 million deal, so what to do now. This one was a head-scratcher from the beginning: why would anyone sign this boob to a 3-year contract?

Let's put Bradley into a youth sports context for a minute. We can all probably make an educated guess as to what this guy was like as a kid and how he became enabled. My hunch is that he was a kid with other-worldly talent who probably was given repeated free-passes for his bad behavior because he was just that good. We've all seen those kids, right? They know they are great and they've been told as much for their entire lives. Usually, these kids meet their match at some level and either become team players or wash out. But, occasionally a Milton Bradley, Carl Everett or Ryan Leaf makes it all the way through to The Show.

As a coach, you just have to nip this thing in the bud early. I've got a 10-year old kid on one of my own teams who I had to deal with this weekend. While he's not an "other-worldly" talent, he is better than the average bear, but he's a crybaby. I like the kid, but I am just not going to let my team break down because he feels the right to melt down, storm off the field, refuse to go in the game, or sulk when things don't go his way. So, in our first soccer game of the season on Saturday, it didn't take long for that 1st quarter snit to rear its ugly head. So, I subbed for him, he came to the sideline and flopped down like he's been shot with a Magnum. I calmly walked over to him, stood over him and asked if he was (physically) hurt. He began to go off about something tactical from the game, so I cut him off. I told him that his antics were unacceptable and that if he was going to do that he could leave now. I then told him that he had all the talent in the world and that if he didn't get control of the emotions he would never be picked for any of the "elite" teams he thought he should be playing on. I guess it got his attention, because he thought about it for a bit and then went back in the game and played his heart out. I have the feeling, though, that my position will likely need to be reinforced periodically until we can shake him out of this permanently.

I know on many elite teams, there just isn't the time to make one kid a project at the expense of everyone else. But, this is a rec team and I think it's worth working with him because for me it is the "right" laboratory. I am a volunteer coach and part of the satisfaction comes from helping these kids get something positive out of sport, aside from just winning a league. Don't get me wrong; I love to win as much as the next guy and I know it's no fun for anyone involved to have your team get crushed week after week. But working with a kid where his talent is the least of his problems is a challenge that can be very rewarding in the right context.

I wonder if Milton Bradley ever had a mentor who tried to rein him in during youth sports. Or, was he just one of those kids where they said, "I can't stand this kid but he really can crush the ball...."

Helping out the Coaches

In our town's AYSO rec soccer league, we rely on the parent volunteers to coach the kids' teams. While everyone is grateful for the time and effort these busy folks put in during a season, this league model comes with its own set of challenges. In particular, the demand for volunteers usually exceeds the supply of experienced soccer people. At some of the very young age groups, this is ok, as the session seems to be more about photo opps, snack time, and parent interaction than it is about 2 v 1's and 3 v 2's. Nothing an extended game of "Sharks and Minnows" can't handle! But as the kids get older, inexperienced coaches present a real challenge. Many of the kids also play on more advanced travel teams, and the thought of spending an hour on Saturday at practice with a coach who may be a great person but hasn't much of a clue about the game is a big negative. In my web travels, I found a product that seemed to fit the bill and we are now "beta-testing" (sounds official, eh?) it during our current season. It is called "Coach Deck" and we've given it to every one of our parent coaches to start the season. it is a deck of 52 playing cards, each with a soccer drill broken down on it. The drills are broken down by skill category: dribbling, passing, defense and shooting. Think of it as a "Cliff Notes" version of soccer practice for the coach. Understanding that every coach has a busy day job, the cards should go a ways toward helping to quickly plan and implement a productive practice. The deck fits in a pocket and the drills are pretty easy to understand. So, as we go through the season, it will be interesting to see how the coaches find the product. I was encouraged to see one coach using them at a indoor session this weekend. My goal here is to go through a season without having my soccer-loving British neighbor tell me his kid doesn't want to go to 8:30 am practice because the coach runs a "dodgy"practice. Time will tell.