Can you imagine a veteran being benched and raked over the coals for standing up for a young rookie teammate during the early part of the season? It’s not fair to share the details, but it’s clear the concept of “if it’s good for one, it’s good for all” clearly didn’t apply in this scenario or any scenario because of accountability inconsistencies and entitlement.
What message did that send to the veteran player? What message did that send to the rookie? What message did that send to the entire team? What message does the lack of accountability send to the entire team?
There’s a lot to unpack here, but I will say this, the sense of entitlement that arises when accountability is no way to be found is quite something to behold and observe. The lack of accountability spreads from top to bottom and clearly “if it’s good for one, its good for all,” doesn’t apply.
You see, accountability is accountability.
When a star player takes a bad penalty and “gets away” with it so to speak, and goes untouched everyone takes notice. When a veteran heart and soul player and leader stands up for a young rookie and gets benched because of taking what is perceived as a “bad or selfish penalty” it sends a message to everyone in the room that you don’t do things that way, that’s it’s not ok to stand up for your teammates, that everyone must fend for themselves.
At the Junior level or any level for that matter when a message is sent that everyone has to fend for themselves or that essentially, you’re “in the fight alone” that sets up a terrible precedent and one which will cause dissension in the ranks.
There’s no quicker way to create entitlement within the team dynamic than creating a rift when it comes to accountability.
A lack of accountability creates undisciplined play, because a standard wasn’t set. The veteran attempted to set the standard, but their efforts were completely dismantled by the reaction of the coach who sent the wrong message to not one player, but to all of them.
“If it’s good for one, it’s good for all.”
That’s what it should be all about when it comes to setting a standard surrounding accountability.
It’s easy to see which team has that standard and which teams don’t.
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