Hockey outburst at the Olympics: Just shut up, Valentin!

Opinion

Well, did you flinch when you read the title of this comment? Great, because then you have already understood the core of the problem! Is this title inappropriate? Absolutely!

A video has gone viral on social media showing a violent outburst by German national hockey coach Valentin Altenburg at the Olympic Games. On Wednesday, during a break in play during the match against France, Altenburg shouted in front of the cameras, “Shut up and come here, your body language is annoying me.” He was referring to 29-year-old national player Anne Schröder, who had turned away from the team meeting.

An act of misogyny?

There was a prompt online debate about whether this was misogynistic. Yes, says X user Catherine Lysistrata, arguing: “Do we know a female coach who has whistled at a man like that?” Others disagree. “I’ve seen dozens of coaches of both sexes who freak out much more violently,” writes one user with the X pseudonym Simon. And he continues: “It’s probably never pretty from the outside, but it’s anything but unusual and certainly not a gender issue.”

Sport is not throwing cotton balls

Of course, sport in general and competitive sport in particular is not about throwing cotton balls. Especially when the most important titles in the world are at stake, as is the case at the Olympic Games, a team must be extremely disciplined and follow the coach’s instructions. Failure to do so is not only disrespectful, but also endangers the performance of the entire team. Whether male or female.

However, it’s the tone that counts. Telling an adult to “just shut up” is vulgar, derogatory and therefore completely wrong. In this case, the gender difference – here the male coach, there the women’s team – also brings an unpleasantly sexist note into play, even if this was certainly not intended.

What you don’t want done to you

There are a thousand other ways to harshly reprimand someone that don’t carry these risks. “Pull yourself together, damn it” would have been just as clear, but far less derogatory.

The fact that Altenburg made his comment knowing that he was being filmed shows that he thinks his behavior is completely acceptable. Maybe he should ask himself how he would feel if another man spoke to his daughter, wife or mother like that. Or how he would feel if someone said to him: “Just shut up, Valentin!”

His behavior reminded me of a Taekwondo coach from my youth. He was an excellent man in terms of his expertise, but a real bullshit artist. He regularly put down the athletes, both for what he saw as poor performance and because one of the participants yawned during training (she worked shifts as a nurse).

The sergeant method has had its day

I have never been more motivated to perform under any other coach. The fear of being humiliated in front of everyone else was a big motivator. But many others left the club because of his attitude and never did Taekwondo again.

In addition, there are plenty of examples of trainers The sergeant method may have been common in earlier times, but today it is no longer appropriate.

Altenburg is a repeat hooligan

“Wait a minute,” you might object, “that’s another typical German debate. Other countries just laugh at it.”

Let’s take a quick look at India, to the year 2015. On February 12, the disciplinary committee of the Hero Hockey India League, the professional field hockey league, banned the head coach of “Dabang Mumbai” from one game. They found that he had behaved in an impossible and disrespectful manner during a referee’s decision the day before.

His name: Valentin Altenburg.

stern colleague Laura Rodrigues disagrees. She thinks: “Shut up!” At the Olympics there is a different tone