--- title: The coach who shouts and parents on the touchline — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The coach who shouts and parents on the touchline», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?», her brain's alarm, the amygdala, fires: fight, flight or freeze, blood rushes to the big muscles, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / The coach who shouts and parents on th… # The coach who shouts and parents on the touchline Lesson 68 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/1/) — WHAT ARE YOU DOING?», her brain's alarm, the amygdala, fires: fight, flight or freeze, blood rushes to the big muscles, and thinking and fine footwork get worse, so she freezes with the ball at her feet. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/2/) — Ethan in Chicago hears «Shoot!» from his mom, «Pass!» from his coach and «Here!» from three teammates all at once; the brain can only follow one instruction at a time, it hesitates for a split second, and the chance is gone. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/3/) — Loud isn't the same as nasty: Dylan's coach in Manchester shouts «Man on!» and «Turn!» all match and helps his players, but Maddie's coach in Glasgow calls her «a useless wee numpty» («numpty» is Scottish for an idiot) every week, and that is bullying. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/5/) — Some leagues try «silent touchline» weekends where adults may only clap, and many kids say they play more freely; parents cheer, the coach coaches, and the best words after a game are «I love watching you play». - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/6/) — Fear sets off the brain's alarm system, the amygdala, which prepares the body to fight, run or freeze. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/7/) — In a fear response blood goes to the big muscles, and careful thinking and fine skills such as close ball control get worse. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/8/) — Being screamed at usually makes children's skills and decisions worse, not better. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/9/) — The brain struggles to follow several shouted instructions at once in the middle of a move. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/10/) — Short, loud information calls such as «Man on!» or «Time!» help players; insults and anger hurt them. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/11/) — Many grassroots referees are teenagers, and abuse from the touchline is a big reason referees quit. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/12/) — At grassroots level one referee watches the whole pitch with no video help, so some calls will be wrong, for both teams, over a season. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/13/) — Some grassroots leagues hold silent-support weekends where adults may only clap. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/14/) — Straight after a match children are tired and emotional, so a list of mistakes in the car lands much harder. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/15/) — Being put down by a coach week after week is bullying; clubs have a welfare officer to tell, and a parent can help. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/16/) — Dreading something can make the body release the stress hormone cortisol beforehand, and a sore tummy is a common sign of that worry. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/68-the-coach-who-shouts-and-parents-on-the-touchline/18/) — Children copy the adults around them, so a coach who shouts insults can turn players into shouters too. - ← previous: [Losing well and winning well](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/67-losing-well-and-winning-well/) - next →: [Girls' and boys' teams](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/69-girls-and-boys-teams/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)