Attitude of player who improved fast

D K Asked 2 years ago

Greetings,

I would like to ask....how do you deal with the situation when a particular player improves really fast and starts thinking too much about himself?

One player, who regularly trains in our club, has started playing less than two years ago.
Though even though he trains only 2 times a week he improved so much that he already rivals Regional level players which are players who play at least 6 years 5 times a week.

However I think that he started thinking too much about himself, verbally belittling his opponents and teammates calling them too weak etc.

Sometimes he also openly laughs at opponents especially when they make error during some easy stroke.  He is especially in great joy when he plays a younger opponent or a girl and causes him/her to cry or psychologically depress him/her in other way.  I once have heard him even complaining that although he defeated his opponent much younger 3:0 (11:4,11:0,11:2),he cannot fully enjoy the victory because the younger boy did not start to cry or become mentally down in any way.

What do you think about attitude of such a player?  Have you as a coach ran into such behavior traits of a player? :O

Thanks
Dan

Alois Rosario Answered 2 years ago

Hi Dan,

This is obviously a bad attitude to have on and off the table however, I don't think there is much you can do about it.

As a coach, if I see one of the players I am working with start to display any of these traits it is a matter of putting them back in their place.  However, that is after developing a rapport with the player over a long time.