Hoop Mom: Trash Talking Coach

This week, Teresa tackles the issue of coaches who talk trash to fomer players.

If you were a coach, how would you deal with another coach who talks trash to one of his or her former players who switched teams and happens to play for you now? I’ve had this happen a few times to me, and it is happening now for the second time with the same coach but with a different player.

Looking for a Bar of Soap

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Dear Looking:

Some coaches take it very personally when they lose a player to another program, but it certainly doesn’t absolve them from the responsibility of acting like an adult about it!

As the other adult in this equation, it’s your job to set the record straight. The target of the verbal abuse needs you to speak up on her behalf. Tell the offending coach that you won’t tolerate that type of language around your players and that it needs to stop. If the trash talking continues, remind him or her that malicious verbal harassment is a criminal offense in Washington – a class C felony under RCW 9A.36.080 – and that you intend to ask local police whether criminal charges apply in this case.

It may be a legal stretch, but it’s worth a try.

Hoop Mom

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Teresa Wippel is team manager of the Warriors Basketball Club, a 5th Grade girls' team from the Seattle area, and mom to Warriors post player Amanda Waldron. In her other life, she is a freelance writer and editor. To ask Teresa a question, email her at

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