How would you handle this one?

[Ryan Hale]

While in the weightroom this morning I had one of the youngers kids come up and tell me this. "So and so said I was deadlifting too much during my workouts." It was a upper classman that told the younger kid this.First thing I did was ask this younger kid if the deadlifts bother him,he told me they never have.This younger kid has been lifting about 6 months now,and does a very good job.
So we have the classic case of a younger kid looking up to a older kid,and thinking what he says in more important than what a coach/coaching staff wants him to do.
I contacted the varsity football coach after this happened and he was not happy.
How would you guys handle this?
I really like this older kid and don't want to come down on him in the fear of losing him in the weightroom.
Thoughts?

Ryan Hale

[Jeff Garvin]

Tell the upper classman to stop being jealous that a younger kid can deadlift more than him! Chalk up and pull!!

[Hazerboy]

I'm assuming the varsity FB coach was not happy for the same reasons you were? (in other words, he wasn't mad at your for bringing it up or something right?)

I would be interested in finding out why this older kid was telling him this, there could be a semi-legitimate reason; more than likely he was just trying to help. Maybe he thought his form wasn't good enough to be deadlifting that much, or perhaps he was just giving him a hard time and the younger guy misunderstood him ("Look at all that weight little dude! Thats too much for you!" <-- something like that). He could also still be carrying around the myth that young kids shouldn't be lifting weights or something, or --hell, maybe he was just jealous that he didn't lift that much weight at his age!

I would at least ask him about it and find out what was going on before doing anything drastic.

Plus, while you will know this better than we do, there's always the possibility that he's just a dick XD

[Sensei]

I don't think I'm saying anything that hasn't been said, but here's my $.02.

I would at least have a conversation with the upperclassman, maybe talk about your program rationale a little, and ask (in a non-confrontation way) why he said what he said to the underclassman. Undermining trust in the program is not a good thing and maybe you could mention to the upperclassman that you wish they would have come to you first...

In the end, I think you need to be able to justify (to yourself, not the senior) why what you're doing with the underclassman is the most appropriate thing for him/her. If you can do that, then great. If not, maybe the senior has a point.

[tnathletics2b]

I would ask the upper classman what happened. Get the full side of the story. I agree with several points hazerboy made. Could have been a misunderstanding, or it could have been a legitimate concern on the part of the upper classman. I would get his side first in order to full assess the situation. Hope it works out ok!

And if you lose him in the weightroom because you disciplined him, how much of an asset is he really to begin with? I am a coach myself, and I come down on a kid and he takes it too hard or personally, then I tell him he has some toughening up to do!

[rbtrout]

Yeah, the best bet is to find out why the upper classman said what he did, then you'll be better informed and be able to make a decision on what to do.