Anybody here a coach of a sports team? Here in Blue Springs, MO a high school soccer coach was attacked because he would not allow 2 girls who had quit the team return. One of the girl's fathers confronted the coach and when the coach said they could not return he slugged the coach and left him with 12 stitches in his mouth.

What is the worst sport for abuse--football, hockey or ??

How does a coach handle this situation?

It upsets me that a person can get that angry because he cannot get his own way. Just happy he was carrying a gun at the time.

He is being charged with a felony because it was on school property.

Am I being over-sensitive or should he lose his manhood,if you get my drift, over this?

NEWLY

 

I've been coaching soccer for over 10 years, with over 5 years of it at the high school level.

What you described is pure assault and the parent should be fined and/or incarcerated, and barred from all future sporting events.

Theres no place for that kind of thing in athletics...period.

As far as how to handle the situation, well, there are a number of alternatives, although I believe the coaching staff should always reserve the right to remove players from the team for just cause.

Probably the easiest way to handle that situation is ask that the parent, child and athletic director meet in a private, closed door meeting to discuss the situation. I would want the player to tell honestly why they left the team to begin with, and why they want to return. Kids do make mistakes, so its possible that the player could have been reinstated if it was in the best interest of the team and the player involved.

But if there was good reason for the player to not return (IE: multiple code violations, attitude, bad chemistry, laziness, etc.). Then the player should be told that clearly that returning is not an option, and the parent should respect the coaches decision.

For a parent to strike a coach, no matter what the reason though...is wrong. Parents often live their life vicariously through their child, and forget that sports are games, and games are supposed to teach lessons of life...and most importantly, be enjoyable. Unfortunately this parent has chosen to demonstrate that the only solution when you don't get your way is to use violence.

In my area there is another interesting dilemma that is brewing and it has to do with a few parents who are suing a district and the soccer coach because their child was cut from the program. How pathetic!

These types of stories have slowly been getting more and more common in todays world of sports. We have a real problem with cry baby athletes, problem parents, and coaches who will do whatever it takes to win.

I can only hope that the smart, honest and dedicated coaches won't be discouraged into quitting and will continue to teach our youth the importance of fair play, sportsmanship, competition, and team work. etc.

Sorry for the soap box chat, but it just struck a nerve with me....

 

It is a sign of the times - and HORRIBLE that parents are SO frustrated with THEIR life that they think the world owes them a favor...

Yes, some in "power" can be jerks (with a capital A) but still it's just like with anything nowdays - some people are rebels with ANYTHING !!!

I used to umpire little league baseball to help out and notblowing my own horn, I WAS GOOD - had even been invited to call World level tourneys so had an idea of what I was doing...
Some of those parents were OUT OF CONTROL --- even to the point of the kids apologizing for the parents !!!

You know you've gone too far when your kid apologizes for you :-)

 

don't mean to hijack your thread but did you hear about the NJ coach who gave out a crybaby award...he specifically called the kid, 13 years old, and told him to go to the awards ceremony...that is one time the father should have decked the coach.

 

I am in no way condoning what the parent did, but I think sometimes people get very protective of their child and that leads to the above incident. Maybe that guy had a bad day at the office, got caught in rush hour traffic, etc.. or maybe he just couldn't stand the thought of hearing his little girl cry herself to sleep at night, it's hard to say. Regardless of reasoning, I agree it was assult and he should be punished accordingly.

Longneck

 

Ever wonder what happend to the "ME" generation? They're raising kids now.

 

:-x24 :-x24 :-x24

 

I coached Girls (11-14) Softball for 5 years.

In and at the end of the 5th year, one of girls (the best player) decided that she didn't
want to practice with the other girls.
Well after 8 weeks of missing practices and missing a few weekly games, the playoffs arrive.Well all of a sudden she wants to play in the playoffs.

What I did was ask all the other girls to vote on it ; whether she should be able to play or not.
They chose NO, we instructed her that because she appeared to not care about the team during the season,why should she be able to be a part of the team at playoff time?
Once her parents found out, the next day her Dad (a well known person in the community) came storming to the field and Demanded that his daughter get to play.We let him know that he will not have any say as it was decided by the girls themselves.I had kept records of roll call every time they were together,as well as statistics,so the community sports directors knew I was very organized,if there was any problems to sort out later.

Well, He went off in a trail of dust headed for the community president & whined to him.Both me & my assistant coach were asked to a meeting a few days later to discuss this situation & really there was nothing to discuss.
She's is out for the rest of the season,plus, this was the last age group organized for the girls in this community.
We did made sure that she was invited to the awards night though & would receive something for her little contributions.
What did she do...she brought a girl friend with her.
This was a team player only event ...no outsiders allowed.
Well... Another session came upon us the next day,this time with the Mother.

This family seemed to not have any idea about commitment,just whining.

A few years later I had found out this girl (their perfect daughter) had a baby at 17 and while living at home.

 

In Lynnfield MA they even had one father kill another in front of his kid's (hockey?) team. Plus, he outweighed the other guy by almost 100 pounds.

 

I think parents should spend more time instilling values (like what we got when we were kids). Man I sound old now. Hard work and consequences of ones actions does not seem to be instilled anymore. Kids expect everything to be just given to them and their parents tend to agree.

When I joined the Army where they sent me I went. If I had a reason to ask for another assignment I would say something but if they did not change their orders I would go. I am amazed by all the new 2nd LTs crying about their first assignment and trying to weasel their way into another. I have even heard of high ranking fathers try to squeeze the system.

 

this is my first year coaching little league baseball. i havent experieanced any of these problems yet thank god. i think every one is right though these people need to pay the piper. all the kids see this and then think it's ok to deal with their problems the same way. onemillion i think the way you dealt with that problem was perfect. it teaches the kids that it's the team that matters not the individual player. as for the parents they need to understand (i can be way over protective at times) that if their child's short comings bother them that bad they should take the responsibility to practice further with their child out side of the team practices. the other thing i try my hardest to teach the kids is that no matter how long you do some thing you never know it all.

 

My back yard borders about 5 acres of a elementary school playground. I went to school there 35 years ago.

Then, it was an ongoing battle between us kids and the janitor over lawn maintenance, (he mowed the lawn and we tore it up playing baseball and football - after school and on weekends.) It was not unusual to go there anytime before dark, and sometimes after, and not have a group of kids playing some form of unorganized sports.

I've lived in this house over 15 years now. The school ground looks about the same, except for the $40,000 worth of bright, colorful, totally safe playground equipment that replaced the steel pipe and cresote powerpole equipment that used to grace the area. Nice and quiet in the summer. Maybe 2 or 3 kids might be there sometimes, usually younger kids that are there till mom gets tired of sitting. (Hint - kids hate boring equipment - they don't care what it cost.)

As far as sports goes. They do have practice there sometimes. Lasts about a hour, very structured and never passionate. When the times up, everyone gets in their cars and goes home. Seems like the kids are just getting warmed up then it's, "Ooops, times up! Lets go home!" I haven't heard a shouting match between two kids over what the rules are in over ten years.

In my opinion, we needs less parental and adult involvement and a lot less organization. If we lose unorganized sports, it won't help the Little Leagues, Football and Basketball variety at all. Just make it more of a social gathering for the parents than it is now. We'll see more kids that don't want to be there and more parents that do. A beef between parent and coach has little to do with what happens on the field and much to do with the real competition up in the bleachers.

 

I couldn't agree with you more

 

Several of my cousins use to play a lot of baseball when they were younger. I would go to many of their games and it would be amazing how parents would react to things that happened on the field. Like if the ump called a strike against their precious little Johnny they would almost storm the field arguing with the ump. Or if the coach did not put him in they would get all mad.

It just seems nowadays that parents are not allowing their children to just go out and have fun anymore. They want the child to get the biggest trophy or be the best player on the team. They think that the team could not do without their child. Yes their child may be a good player, but no matter how good they are, there is always someone to replace them.

Another thing along that lines is the parents that force their kids to play sports when they don't want to. I've know several people who would play but it always seemed like they were uninterested, like they would rather be somewhere else and not playing sports. But they were playing because their parents were making them. Parents forcing their children to do things at young ages often has a negative effect on that child. A little off topic, but remember the Jon Benet Ramsey case? I heard her mom was making her do these beauty pagents and that the little girl didn't want to do them, and look where she's at, dead.

There is a difference between encouraging their child to play and to do the best that they can and forcing them to play. When you force a child to do something it takes the fun out of it and then that will turn into problems later on.

 

Having coached Little League Baseball for 4 years, I found the older the kids were, the worse the parents acted. It was as if they were grooming their little Johnie/Johnette to be a professional athlete. I finally got tired of the politics, as well as the parental attitudes, and quit. I had been Vice President of our league, and resigned that post as well.

I must say the absolutely most enjoyable game we ever played was the last game of the year my first year as Manager/Coach. We were in either last place, or next to it, and the other team was about the same record. All the coaches got together, decided to let the kids play positions they hadn't played, as well as 'coach' their respective teams. We sat back, making only the decisions of who was to play where to keep things running. The kids had a ball, and most of the parents really enjoyed the game and picnic afterwards. A couple of parents got mad thinking we had let their kid pitch only to embarrass him. That was not the case at all, and the kid thanked us for the chance even though the other team scored several runs off of him.

My opinion now is that organized sports do have their place, but so do good old neighborhood sandlot games. The kids can work out the problems themselves, just as we did as kids. As for the parents, BAN THEM FROM GAMES! Or just put them out about 100 feet past the outfield fence with gags........