Youth sports, the slap heard across the field

[riverhunter]

TLDR: Be better in front of children.  Don't talk crap, its youth sports!

Over the weekend my son was playing in a baseball tournament.  On Saturday his team went 1-1 losing to a pretty good team.  On Sunday we ended up seeing them again in the semi-finals.  It was a close game tied 3-3 in the third inning when my sons coach called time and visited the mound.  The opposing first base coach sent his runner to second.  One parent on my son's team did yell out  "time was called, you can't steal a base" the opposing coach quickly responds to the parent " I didn't hear anyone call time".  The runner was sent back to first and the opposing coach yelled again back at a parent that "he will get second anyway".  Knowing the coach was upset and trying to prove a point the steal sign was back on and my sons' team picked the runner off.  As the opposing first base coach was headed back his dugout a small amount of back and forth continued.  This set the tone for the next two innings!

Remember this is 11u youth baseball.  Kids on the field having fun!  No scholarships or mlb contracts we going to be handed out on this Sunday lol.  ONE mom from our team was sitting in the opposing team's area and began to run her mouth.  It was annoying and uncomfortable but, what can you do.  We end up loosing the game 5-4 and the kids are on the field shaking hands and we are packing up our gear to head home.

I hear some raised voices and look to my left and one opposing team's mom reach's back and slips the shit out of the mom talking crap.  In my mind, if you run your mouth recklessly then take your medicine.  It should have been over and they should be embarrassed and gone there sperate ways.  But no, the husband of the MOM that got smacked comes flying over and tries to attack the mom that did the smacking.  Again, in my mind you never put your hands on a woman and Luckly a few dads chocked him out before he could lay a hand on her.  This sets the whole thing off and a few small skirmishes start happening.  People start calling the cops and yelling assault blah blah blah.  My sons coach saw what was going on and led the team out of the facility another way.  I got thru the commotion and made my way to where my son was and we headed to the truck.  His teammate ( son of the mom who got smacked ) was visibly upset and the coach was sitting next to him in the grass taking to him to try and help.  As we left 3-4 more cop cars came flying in so I'm not sure how bad it got or if thigs settled down.

Moral of the story is simple....parents cause 99% of the drama and their kids learn from that type of behavior.  Parents in youth sports need to be better!  If you're really that upset (and you shouldn't be ), take it to the parking lot and handle it there.  But don't do it in front of kids! And stop calling the cops!

[CNCAppsJames]

No scholarships or mlb contracts were going to be handed out on this Sunday.

This. SO MUCH THIS!

I do NOT miss coaching youth sports. I watch my granddaughters travel softball team. You would think life altering decisions were being made on the field of play. I always laugh when little T-Ball Freddy's mommy talks about college. I just say "worry about your kid making the Freshman Team in High-school... when he's gotta beat out 50 other all-stars for the 15th spot on the team."

 

Until Jr. High it doesn't really matter. Learn to be a good team mate, learn the fundamentals of the game, learn to be coachable, and most importantly, have fun with your friends.

[riverhunter]

worry about your kid making the Freshman Team in High-school

This is so accurate!

[gcode]

Parents (or grand parents) can often be the biggest ptoblem

my wife has a friend who is raising her grand daughter because the real mother is a total flake and off to parts unknown.

The girl is 14 or 15 and has been in training her whole life to be a dancer ( ballet)

I don't know if this is the daughter's dream or the grandmother's dream

The girl is anorexic and anemic, always starving herself to keep her weight down and her figure trim.

The girl's entire life is training and traveling to dance competitions.

In my mind, the whole situation is borderline child abuse.

This weekend the girl had a bad landing and broke her ankle badly.

I suspect her dancing days are over and she will never dance professionally.

The grandmother is absolutely freaking out, calling my wife in hysterics,

not about her sick and injured grand daughter but about her lost dancing career.

[mowens]

My girls were in dance from preschool to graduation. One of them contemplated pursuing a career in dance but eventually decided against it.

I know some people look at dance as a lightweight activity but they're wrong. The training they go through can be intense.
For instance, they would do 200 crunches before class even began. My girls did it because they enjoyed it. One is now a school psychologist, and the other is a behavior analyst.

And in ballet, when they finally get their toe shoes, it can be brutal. I'm not surprised the granddaughter was injured.

We saw quite a few parents like the grandmother in Gcode's post.

[gcode]

And in ballet, when they finally get their toe shoes, it can be brutal. I'm not surprised the granddaughter was injured.

my wife danced as a girl and took it up again in her 40's
she was quite good.
Her dream was to dance in the Nutcraker Christmas special the school put on.
She was competing against girls more than half her age, but made the cut the third year she tried out.
Unfortunately, she shattered her ankle in a bad fall before the show took place.
Some fool spilled a spot of soda on the dance floor and did not clean it up.
That's all it took.
That woman is tough as an old boot. she shattered her left ankle and drove home
in her Acura CL S Type (with a 6 speed manaul)
3 different doctors said she would never walk properly again, but she made liars of all of them.
her dancing days are over though.

[mowens]

My girls danced in the Nutcracker, but not in any of the primary rolls.

Cheers to your wife for being brave enough to do it again in her 40s.

[Brad St]

Those are all the reasons why I loved my kids doing 4H =)

[Incogneeto]

Those are all the reasons why I loved my kids doing 4H =)

It's all good till a calf kicks you in the Nuttz.

[CNCAppsJames]

Those are all the reasons why I loved my kids doing 4H =)

This is why our two youngest sons got into Scouting.

Maniacs suck all the fun out of EVERYTHING.  Even in Scouts.

When I was Scoutmaster two parents told me their sons "...were not advancing quickly enough...". They left the Troop shortly after I told them what was up. Turd buckets. Neither of them earned their Eagle Scout rank when they left.

Long story short... one of them had a 70% absense rate. There was no reason given, usually no call was made to anyone in the Troop on an absense. So fast forward a year. Kid is 2 weeks away from turning 18... I get a call from. The Scoutmaster of his new Troop. They want me to sign off on the scout's time in leadership. So I informed the new Scoutmaster that I was NOT going to sign off on on a Scout that had a 70% absence rate for serving in a leadership role. Sorry. If I only show up to work 30% of the time, that will not works out for me. The Scoutmaster confided in me that he was only present 50% of the time. The rank of Eagle Scout must be earned, No more than the requirements, a d DEFINITELY not less.

[Incogneeto]

I thought this was about "Will Smith"

[Brad St]

My middle son was the competitive one and enjoyed sports. His middle school traveling basketball team was going to their first games one saturday morning. I knew some of the parents and kids but not all. I was standing that morning next to a guy that was bigger than me (I'm 6'3 and not skinny). This guys starts swearing at his kid during their warm up shots. I turned to him asked him "Who's playing the game, his son or him?" It was like I slapped him as he took a step back and apologized. He then moved away from me and stood by another mother and began his ranting.
It was told to me that morning by another parent to take a look around. Those would be the people we'd be around till the kids graduate or we moved away...and they were soooo true. That guy was that way all the way till his sons senior year and then something changed. Someone finally got through to him.
On another note, his wife was an angel. She was one of the kindest, sweetest people you could ever meet.

[Jeff]

Those are all the reasons why I loved my kids doing 4H =)

One of my nieces and her husband have 90 acres with a small farm of cows and pigs.
Her boy LOVES pigs and playing in the mud and going to the big fair where the 4H kids were showing off their animals. He was in heaven. He's 3 years old and had the biggest smile on his face.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

I don't know if this is the daughter's dream or the grandmother's dream

The girl is anorexic and anemic, always starving herself to keep her weight down and her figure trim.

The girl's entire life is training and traveling to dance competitions.

In my mind, the whole situation is borderline child abuse.

I know some people look at dance as a lightweight activity but they're wrong. The training they go through can be intense.
For instance, they would do 200 crunches before class even began.

My mom was a rising star ballerina in the late 70s/early 80s, from about 10-15 I think. She played the leads all around town, not sure how many ballet schools there were back then, but it was a brutal schedule for her. And same thing, had to keep very skinny, unhealthy, and the teachers would even give these 12 year old girls amphetamines to keep them going during training too. Gramma found out and reamed them out. She loved the dancing, but always remembered a lot of negativity with the adults around her. Auditioned at the big schools, but her academics kept her back a little, as I recall.

I hear similar (less drug-fuelled) stories from my coworkers who coached hockey and soccer too: parents suck, and no your 8 year old  isn't going to "The Show", so sit down and shut up.

[CNCAppsJames]

Yep, and chances are the collective "you" don't know anyone that is going or has gone to the show.

In my 19 years of coaching, I knew (did not coach) 2 kids that made the majors (Chirs Parmelee - played for the Twins), Baily Falter, and Zach Collier

then in Football, my son played Football with Dane Cruikshank and trained in the off-season with a Rams Wide Reciever Corey Harkey.

It is extraordinarily rare to even know a professional athlete let alone see them in their youth.

The odds of a 14y/o Baseball all-star making the Freshman Team in High-school School 20%. The odds of that same all-star playing all 4 years and making Varsity ~5%. Playing ANY level of college less than 1%.

Making the pro's. Microscopic.

Enjoy the game. Learn to play together as a team. Play ALL the sports. Don't listen to shitty travel-ball and High School Coaches. They are in it for themselves and don't know shit regardless of their "pedigree". The majority of pro athletes are multi-sport athletes. That's a fact.