Over the next few weeks, Weplay.com will be running adapted excerpts from Until It Hurts. First up, a short piece on what kids observe - and what they'd like to change - about the adults who show up to coach their teams and root them on.
Showing posts with label bad behavior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bad behavior. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Until It Hurts on Weplay.com
Over the next few weeks, Weplay.com will be running adapted excerpts from Until It Hurts. First up, a short piece on what kids observe - and what they'd like to change - about the adults who show up to coach their teams and root them on.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Soccer parents make headlines for wrong reasons
What could be worse than being banished from a kids' soccer game for ref baiting? Here's something: Being banished from a kids' soccer game for ref baiting, then having your suspect behavior chronicled in the Washington Post.
This happened today to parents of the Legacy travel team in Bethesda, Maryland.
Post reporter Annie Gowen has the interesting story of a bunch of parents punished for berating an official during a heated game at the end of last season. To its credit, the Washington Area Girls Soccer League took aggressive action, calling the behavior "nothing less than egregious" and banning the adults from the sidelines for two games. A referee stood sentry to make certain that the parents complied.
Gowen writes: "The soccer league, home to many of the area's best soccer players with 600 teams and more than 15,000 participants, has a strict disciplinary system, in which players and coaches receive yellow or red cards for rough or unsportsmanlike conduct. Some have to explain themselves at disciplinary hearings. There are also sportsmanship liaisons on each team, who are supposed to keep fellow parents in check.
"Kathie Diapoulis, league president, said the parents had gone too far. The league's disciplinary board has had better luck barring individual parents from attending games in the past three years rather than fining them, because the parents would pay the money and continue the bad behavior.
"We have taken a strong stance," Diapoulis said. "It's important. This isn't the World Cup. . . . And for the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines and belittling people goes against everything we're trying to do. . . . It's not acceptable behavior."
Gowen doesn't speak with the Legacy players, 13-year-olds, for their views - under the best of circumstances kids that age are mortified by their parents. But she spoke with several of the moms and dads who, in an encouraging note, seemed genuinely sorry about the incident and the fallout.
She quotes one anonymous parent saying, "It's embarrassing. This is seventh-grade soccer."
Another, who hadn't attended the game in which the bad behavior occurred, told the Post: "We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it. One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."
A multi-generational teaching moment, you might say.
This happened today to parents of the Legacy travel team in Bethesda, Maryland.
Post reporter Annie Gowen has the interesting story of a bunch of parents punished for berating an official during a heated game at the end of last season. To its credit, the Washington Area Girls Soccer League took aggressive action, calling the behavior "nothing less than egregious" and banning the adults from the sidelines for two games. A referee stood sentry to make certain that the parents complied.
Gowen writes: "The soccer league, home to many of the area's best soccer players with 600 teams and more than 15,000 participants, has a strict disciplinary system, in which players and coaches receive yellow or red cards for rough or unsportsmanlike conduct. Some have to explain themselves at disciplinary hearings. There are also sportsmanship liaisons on each team, who are supposed to keep fellow parents in check.
"Kathie Diapoulis, league president, said the parents had gone too far. The league's disciplinary board has had better luck barring individual parents from attending games in the past three years rather than fining them, because the parents would pay the money and continue the bad behavior.
"We have taken a strong stance," Diapoulis said. "It's important. This isn't the World Cup. . . . And for the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines and belittling people goes against everything we're trying to do. . . . It's not acceptable behavior."
Gowen doesn't speak with the Legacy players, 13-year-olds, for their views - under the best of circumstances kids that age are mortified by their parents. But she spoke with several of the moms and dads who, in an encouraging note, seemed genuinely sorry about the incident and the fallout.
She quotes one anonymous parent saying, "It's embarrassing. This is seventh-grade soccer."
Another, who hadn't attended the game in which the bad behavior occurred, told the Post: "We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it. One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."
A multi-generational teaching moment, you might say.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Shout at your youth soccer player - it'll cost you $45
I'm collecting examples of rules that adults make to shield kids in organized sports from....adults. I am not disparaging these policies. For the most part, they're wise and needed. But there is something unsettling about having to protect them (children) from us.
In a soccer league in Duval County, Florida, parents, players and coaches are required to sign a "sportsmanship contract” before the season begins.
In youth soccer leagues in Naples, Florida, calling out to a player during a game can cost a parent $45.
In Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Soccer Association instituted “Silent Weekends.” Parents and coaches are barred from speaking during games.
The Central Pennsylvania Youth Soccer League has a "Silent Soccer" weekend each year. To keep parents quiet - and their mouths occupied - the Pennsylvania league hands out lollipops.
Of course, Little League Baseball has an elaborate system for limiting pitches. An 11- and 12-year-old pitcher is limited to 85 pitches a day. The amount of rest between pitching assignment varies depending on the number of pitches thrown, i.e., pitcher throwing more than 61 in a game must rest for three days of rest and a pitcher throwing 41 to 60 pitches has to stay off the pitching mound for two.
Please send additions from your local league, rec council, etc. I'll post, give credit and, if you'd like, will record the message on your home answering machine.
In a soccer league in Duval County, Florida, parents, players and coaches are required to sign a "sportsmanship contract” before the season begins.
In youth soccer leagues in Naples, Florida, calling out to a player during a game can cost a parent $45.
In Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Soccer Association instituted “Silent Weekends.” Parents and coaches are barred from speaking during games.
The Central Pennsylvania Youth Soccer League has a "Silent Soccer" weekend each year. To keep parents quiet - and their mouths occupied - the Pennsylvania league hands out lollipops.
Of course, Little League Baseball has an elaborate system for limiting pitches. An 11- and 12-year-old pitcher is limited to 85 pitches a day. The amount of rest between pitching assignment varies depending on the number of pitches thrown, i.e., pitcher throwing more than 61 in a game must rest for three days of rest and a pitcher throwing 41 to 60 pitches has to stay off the pitching mound for two.
Please send additions from your local league, rec council, etc. I'll post, give credit and, if you'd like, will record the message on your home answering machine.
Friday, February 20, 2009
"You can't arrest me, you're a referee"
Among the many reasons not to attack a high school referee: He may be an off-duty state trooper. The Munster (Ind.) Times reports on a fan who picked a fight with the wrong guy.
From the article:
"The referee who was attacked -- Indiana State Police Trooper Glen Fifield -- said Rempala rushed out of the stands after the game and confronted the referees, screaming "you suck."
"Fifield said Rempala pointed at his chest and bumped him, but Fifield tried to walk away. A school official stepped in between the two, but he said Rempala went around the official and came after him again. Fifield said Rempala pushed him, at which time he identified himself as a police officer and told him he was under arrest.
"Rempala said, "You can't arrest me, you're a referee," and he pushed the trooper again, Fifield said. After a struggle and with assistance from spectators, Fifield gained control of Rempala and arrested him. Fifield said during the struggle, Rempala tried to choke him with his referee's whistle lanyard. Fifield said he suffered knee and shoulder pain after the struggle.
"Rempala, once he realized the referee he attacked really was a trooper, reportedly said, "That's not fair."
Thanks to Stephanie Compton for the tip.
From the article:
"The referee who was attacked -- Indiana State Police Trooper Glen Fifield -- said Rempala rushed out of the stands after the game and confronted the referees, screaming "you suck."
"Fifield said Rempala pointed at his chest and bumped him, but Fifield tried to walk away. A school official stepped in between the two, but he said Rempala went around the official and came after him again. Fifield said Rempala pushed him, at which time he identified himself as a police officer and told him he was under arrest.
"Rempala said, "You can't arrest me, you're a referee," and he pushed the trooper again, Fifield said. After a struggle and with assistance from spectators, Fifield gained control of Rempala and arrested him. Fifield said during the struggle, Rempala tried to choke him with his referee's whistle lanyard. Fifield said he suffered knee and shoulder pain after the struggle.
"Rempala, once he realized the referee he attacked really was a trooper, reportedly said, "That's not fair."
Thanks to Stephanie Compton for the tip.
Friday, January 30, 2009
"That call stinks! You stink!"
Little League Baseball's "You Make Me Sick" campaign still rates as the most effective, but this "That Call Stinks" ad brought to you by the Canadian Hockey Association is pretty good at turning the tables on abusive parents. Idea: Could we raise $3 million and air it during the Super Bowl?
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The dangerous lives of sports officials
I'm not a pessimist - not that there's anything wrong with being one. But I admit to being fascinated by a youth sports list that others might find utterly depressing. It's an accounting - in eye-opening detail - of assaults committed by parents, coaches and players against sports officials.
If you think adult behavior in your neighborhood league is out of hand, skim this police blotter compiled by the National Association of Sports Officials. You'll feel better. Or perhaps a lot worse.
Some memorable incidents from the NASO list:
A parent body-slammed a high school referee after he ordered the man’s wife out of the gym for allegedly yelling obscenities during a basketball game.
A police sergeant and youth coach, angry after being ejected from his son's game, goes home and puts on his police uniform, waits in the parking lot following the game and then issues a traffic ticket to the game's umpire when he leaves the facility.
A high school wrestling official is headbutted by the losing contestant during a fit of anger that knocks out the official for more than 20 seconds.
What NASO doesn't do - I don't know of a resource that does - is track the number of assaults each year at youth sports contests. Until that information is available, it is impossible to say whether such incidents are widespread or simply well-publicized. Same thing regarding whether youth sports violence is on the rise or decline.
If you think adult behavior in your neighborhood league is out of hand, skim this police blotter compiled by the National Association of Sports Officials. You'll feel better. Or perhaps a lot worse.
Some memorable incidents from the NASO list:
A parent body-slammed a high school referee after he ordered the man’s wife out of the gym for allegedly yelling obscenities during a basketball game.
A police sergeant and youth coach, angry after being ejected from his son's game, goes home and puts on his police uniform, waits in the parking lot following the game and then issues a traffic ticket to the game's umpire when he leaves the facility.
A high school wrestling official is headbutted by the losing contestant during a fit of anger that knocks out the official for more than 20 seconds.
What NASO doesn't do - I don't know of a resource that does - is track the number of assaults each year at youth sports contests. Until that information is available, it is impossible to say whether such incidents are widespread or simply well-publicized. Same thing regarding whether youth sports violence is on the rise or decline.
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