I met a lacrosse player yesterday who was aching to be released from physical therapy and get back on the field. This is his senior year in high school and college coaches have shown an interest in him.

I ask him how he likes his coach.

“He’s okay,” the kid says, but his frown tells me otherwise.

I know the former lacrosse coach at this school. His teams won state championships and his players loved him. “He’s not like the last coach, huh?” I asked.

Coaches who speak individually to kids on the sidelines get high marks from male and female athletes.

“No. Freshman year was great.” Now the kid is smiling.

“What makes a great coach?” I asked.

The kid didn’t miss a beat: “He doesn’t yell.”

***

So it isn’t just girls that don’t like to be yelled at.  Boys, even the best players of the toughest sports, don’t like it either.