ELC 501 (ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING)

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON ARTICLE MY COACH THE BULLY

In the article My Coach The Bully which is shown in the New York Times:
January 29, 2014 by Jan Hoffman, the author deals with the issue on how the coach
teach the players but at the same time in the training session, the coach is actually
bully the players mentally. He argues that the coach does has the negative impact
towards players behaviour thus destroying the team and the game. The tone of
disapproval and concern has been used to convince parents to spend more time with
their children about any problems that they face in the school whether it is personal
or studies matter. The purpose of the article is parents should know that most
coaches treat their children with respect, but bullying is clearly a problem that happen
in their training session.

The authors personal view on the issue shows an example of bullying problems
of the coach. His references to the expert testimony are well-presented and personify
his very wish to convince the audience. We can see that based on the Dr. Nancy
Swigonskis observation, a pediatrician and a professor of public health at Indiana
University School of Medicine, she took an action by asking the players herself about
the players problems after she saw her local high school coach yelling at the players
and calling them using vulgar language. While she was in that gym, the coach went
on the attack. From that incident, she realized she had such a hard time and she
could not imagine what most parents go through with the negativity of the coach. We
can conclude from this example that the attitude of the coach really gives an impact
not only to the players but also to the public.

The authors apparent standpoint on the issue is not fully reflected throughout
the article. In arguing this issue, the author has included various supports to
strengthen his claim. His article which has almost a balanced combination of facts
and opinions depicts his stand on how to avoid the coachs bullying problems. He is
not only state about the behaviour of the coach as mention in the topic of the article.
His reference to distinct testament: based on the report provided from the internet
regarding Rutgers fired Mike Rice, left, the mens basketball coach, after a video
surfaced of him throwing basketballs at players and taunting them with vulgar
language. This clearly shown that the coach as a role model gives the negative
impacts to the players by yelling, speak using harsh words and it eventually makes
the players felt down.

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ELC 501 (ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING)

The authors argument is deemed to be half invalid due to the weakness of the
proven and factual evidence because of it is only some of the article related to the
topic. A few parts of the article focus on how to overcome the problem of the coach
bullying the players. Here is the authors writing regarding to the expert opinion, Dr.
Nancy Swigonski states that one of the ways to overcome this problem if the parents
are suspicious what is occuring to their childlen during the training session, they
should sit in on practices and games to observe the coach. But there is a lack of this
way because the coaches can pretend and change their behaviour in front of the
parents and it can be identified by defensive postures show by them. Another way,
parents can scrutinize the schools acknowledge code of conduct and talk to the
schools officials and if necessary, parents can contact child protective services.

Finally, although the factual references provided by the author are relevant and
consistent, it can be observed that his argument lacks validity due to references
lacking in strength to support his argument. The evidence quoted from reports, expert
opinion and expert testimony are lacks credibility since they are not presented in
depth and the personal observation are not influential enough to gain reader
conviction towards his belief on the issue. It would be substantially valid had the
author discuss any references which are linked to the behaviour of the coach that
bully the players to convince the readers. Subsequently, his argument lacks
credibility as the factual support given seems to glorify about how to avoid the bully
problem of the coach rather than the behaviour of the coach as a bully.

In a nutshell, the attempt by the author of the article My Coach The Bully is
incompatible. Nonetheless the support used in his article is insufficient to influence
readers to agree with his argument on the issue. The relevance and consistency of
his support fails to outshine the fact that his article is rather subjective and lacks both
validity and credibility. Thus, his overall standpoint on the coach as a bully in
unacceptable and unconvincing.

(797 words)

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ELC 501 (ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING)

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