I did it to my son when he wrestled and played football.
Eat or be eaten in combat sports.
Just about all coaches in the old days did not coddle weakness. Same with the elite military forces.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
He mentions the "black lightning". I've experienced that quite a few times.
Our coaches in High School were very aggressive and abusive. We had a 350 pound Def Line coach who used to throw kids around on the field. It was like military training, screaming, cussing, physical abuse, mental abuse, etc.
They would refuse to let us drink water until we reached a certain point in practice. Coaches would slap kids around, it was nuts.
A bunch of them ended up getting fired in the late 90's. But we did win State like 7 times in 10 years.
My dad never did anything like that, he was a calm guy. But most of the coaches were like that and a lot of other dads were too.
I remember doing line drills and we had to line up against a random person, then run full speed and try to tackle each other head on. Our RB was a stud and used to knock people senseless all the time. I do remember that feeling a little too well.
At the end of my sophomore year i quit football and played baseball. It was a much better experience.
