Two Styles of Discipline
 
Oh, I remember it as if it were yesterday. Five minutes before practice was to start, one of my UCLA teammates (better to leave this anonymous) came onto the floor at Pauley Pavilion in his street clothes. He walked up to Coach Wooden and the two began talking privately.

Kenny Booker and I were warming up on a side basket. I asked him, “Kenny, why is he late?”
He said, “You didn’t hear?” I shook my head.
He continued, “He has 15 campus parking tickets he didn’t pay for and the campus police finally caught up with him about one hour ago. We knew he was going to be late.”
I asked, “Does Coach know?”
“Are you kidding?” he said. “Coach knows everything before we do.”

Coach Wooden didn’t have a “black or white” tardiness policy. His rule for being late was,

“If you know you are going to be late for practice, don’t change into practice gear. Instead, come down to the floor in your street clothes and give me your excuse. If I buy it, you’ll be able to practice. If I don’t, I have the option of dismissing you for the day. Practice is a privilege.”

In any group, where reaching the group’s ultimate goal is dependent on each member fulfilling a role, the self-discipline of those members is central to success. In other words, if our team’s goal was to reach a level of performance close to our potential (and it was), players being late would ensure we would never get there because tardiness causes disruption and disruption, reduced productivity.

No teams are more dependent on the self-discipline of its members to reach their potential than the armed forces of the United States. According to Wikipedia, the Marines’ definition of discipline is:

“Discipline is the instant willingness and obedience to all orders, respect for authority, self reliance and teamwork. The ability to do the right thing even when no one is watching or suffer the consequences of guilt which produces pain in our bodies, through pain comes discipline.”

Discipline to Correct
In sports, an often-used method of discipline for tardiness is physical punishment. For example, the tardiness rule created by one coach is: “If you are late, you owe me five wind sprints, twenty pushups, and sixty situps.” Another coach has the player stay after practice to run. Still another may make the player clean the gym or pick up trash around the campus the next day.

However, there is a better way of discipline and it is consistent with child psychology. For example, in www.allaboutparenting.org, it is recommended, punishment, such as spanking, should only be administered when a child demonstrates willful disobedience. For all age levels, the method recommended most is taking away something that is dear to the child. This method has proven to correct undesired behavior much better than making a child do chores, for example.

When we compare correction through physical punishment to Coach Wooden’s method of dismissal, what the psychologists say makes sense. Like Coach Wooden told us, “Practice is a privilege.” I think I can speak for all of my teammates. There was nothing going on in our lives that was more enjoyable than basketball practice. Coach Wooden had few drills. Most of practice was competitive.  For me, not once did I hate it, even when Walton was sending my shots to the third row. Missing a practice would have been much more painful than running. Consequently, besides the incident described above, in my three years at UCLA, I cannot remember anyone ever being late. 

Conclusion
Both Kenny Booker and I continued warming up with one eye on the basket while our other eye was trained on Coach and our teammate, face to face. No one had ever been late before so this was very interesting to watch. (It reminded me of middle school, when I saw this guy being led to the principal’s office. I was glad it wasn’t me.) Our teammate did all the talking as Coach just stood there, looking him in the eye, and listened. After about three minutes, Coach motioned for the player to leave the court. In Coach Wooden’s pre-practice talk, he said nothing about the incident. However, ten minutes later, our teammate joined practice. He was never late again.

Wow! The time has passed so quickly. Gotta go. I’m at a downtown cyber cafe and I think the parking meter has run out. 

“Discipline must come through liberty. We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.” Maria Montessori