Enabling Questionable and Poor Behaviour

One of the books that I read and did not recommend was the book by Michael Phelps written with (most probably by) Allan Abrahamsom called “No Limits- The Will to Succeed.” I am not trying to pile on Phelps, but his current situation is simply a culmination of enabling questionable behavior along the way. If you read between the lines in the book you will see that. If I hear one more time that he is only 23 and still learning I will barf. He was mature enough to sign that huge endorsement deal with Speedo when he was a teenager. At 23 I had been working at a real job for two years as most of us have done. But this is bigger than Phelps, it is societal issue where the star high school athlete gets away with cheating in the classroom or drinking or smoking dope as long as they produce on Friday night. The star pro linebacker literally gets away with murder and then is lionized in the press for his charitable foundation. Let’s get real, adult authority figures enable this poor and questionable behavior by not dealing with at the youngest ages. I was taught and still teach that with rights there is responsibility. Responsibility to yourself, your family and your teammates. It is not comfortable sometimes to have standards and to hold to them, but it is necessary. Coaches are teachers and teaching good life skills is one of our first responsibilities.
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Vern Gambetta

Director at Gambetta Sports Training Systems

Vern is the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. He has been the a conditioning coach for several MLS teams as well as the conditioning consultant to the US Men's World Cup Soccer team. Vern is the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets. He has lectured and conducted clinics in Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe and has authored six books and over one hundred articles related to coaching and sport performance in a variety of sports. He has a BA in teaching with a coaching minor and an MA in Education with an emphasis in physical education from Stanford University.