Hiroki Kuroda's story comes back to mind:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/sports/baseball/in-japan-yankees-hiroki-kuroda-was-molded-by-pain.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Is this actually a debate? WTF think corporal punishment in sports is appropriate?

WTF think corporal punishment in sports is appropriate?

Well, if corporal punishment is appropriate, I'm not sure why it shouldn't be appropriate in sports. I don't really have a strong opinion on the matter in general but to me if it's appropriate in other areas, it's appropriate in sports.

As for the specifics of this case there wasn't much to the article but when a young person takes his own life that's undeniably awful. My guess is that the basketball coach in question was almost certainly crossing several lines. Either because the physical nature of it was beyond what any rational person would consider acceptable or because he simply failed to recognize that he had a young person in distress.

WTF think corporal punishment in sports is appropriate?

If you think the Pirates whole "Hoka Hey" business is suspect, they got nuthin' on the Japanese. Seriously, go read the article on Kuroda that I linked above.

WTF think corporal punishment in sports is appropriate?

Bobby Knight, Mike Leach, Mark Mangino, Jim Leavitt....

Mike Leach engaged in corporal punishment? GMAB

Totally read the headline as "capital punishment" and was totally confused.

So, so sad. And just because I haven't had the opportunity to say it in a while, "F-U Bobby Knight". That guy is an ass of epic proportions. I had thankfully forgotten he existed.

Well, if corporal punishment is appropriate, I'm not sure why it shouldn't be appropriate in sports. I don't really have a strong opinion on the matter in general but to me if it's appropriate in other areas, it's appropriate in sports.

No. One can believe corporal punishment is acceptable for parents, or even that a competent legal system can dispense corporal punishment, without granting that right to the whim of a coach.

If a coach raises his hands to a player, the player should feel free to beat the crap out of him, using weapons if necessary.

One can believe corporal punishment is acceptable for parents, or even that a competent legal system can dispense corporal punishment, without granting that right to the whim of a coach.

Sure but one can believe that a coach is acting in loco parentis if one chooses to, particularly if the coach has parental authorization.

In a brief, deplorable period as a high school basketball coach, one of my players--a student from Japan--told me that I should feel free to slap him if I thought it would help him learn. He was frustrated that he kept making the same basic mistake. I told him no we didn't do that, and he responded that he could get his dad to write a letter of permission if that would help. I was speechless.

Japanese society operates with a different morality than we do here in the US, in case that wasn't apparent by this article. Keep that in mind when meting out your shock.

Sure but one can believe that a coach is acting in loco parentis if one chooses to

Well, no, one really can't. There is no loco parentis in this case because PARENTS DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO PUNISH THEIR CHILD FOR BEING BAD AT SPORTS.

Parents may have a right to physically punish a child "for the child's own good" but anybody who believes parents have the right to punish a child for making an error at 3B is a troglodyte. And, yes, any parent that does so should have their children taken away.

This is yet another moral no-brainer.

This is yet another moral no-brainer.

Well clearly it isn't, if the majority of a country disagrees with you.