Coaches must be generous in praise and always upbeat

When I bumped into an old friend last Friday evening, he recounted a story which will be depressingly familiar to many readers.

A father of three children, my friend was updating me on his offspring. The last time I was talking to him one of his sons was starting to show an aptitude for football and hurling.

But sadly the boy’s interest in the games has ceased to exist. The father explained to me that his son is a sensitive soul and that he can’t hack criticism. When the boy was ridiculed for making mistakes at training or in games, it would send him into an immediate funk. In fact, the criticism had such an effect on him that he quit.