We were really busy with basketball this weekend.
It was Homecoming so Heather's cheerleading was supposed to be very special. She has looked forward to it since school started this year - this being her senior year and all. It didn't go at all as planned and she ended up quitting the squad. She's been a cheerleader all 4 years of high school. I told her that her and I were going to talk to the coach to see if we could work something out. The coach is new this year and has some definite ideas about how things should go. Heather, being a 4 year veteran has some definite ideas about how things should go so I'll let you know how that goes.
Saturday, Sonya had 2 games and Colby had 2 games and Darrell was out of town playing softball. I went to Sonya's first game and sent Colby with a teammate's parents. They brought him to me after his first game and watched Sonya's 2nd game while waiting for the boys to play their 2nd game. Confusing, huh? Anyhow, some of the parents were getting a little emotional at Sonya's game (3rd & 4th grade girls) and my friends commented that Colby's game was worse. The parents almost came to blows over the calls of the referees. Colby even had a mark on his arm of a shoe print where a player from the other team had stepped on him - I'm thinking not on purpose but the other parents said it probably was on purpose. He's fine - but still has a purplish mark on his arm.
After Sonya's games, we went to Colby 2nd game. As soon as the game started, the other team was demolishing us. They were beating us like 32 to 8. The coach on the other team was screaming at his players and I was really getting annoyed at how he was treating these 11 year old boys. My son happened to be part of an all-star baseball team with this guy's son a couple of years ago and I thought he was an arrogant jerk then, but he didn't have anything to do with the coaching so I didn't quite see this side of him.
I commented to one of the other moms that if that kind of attitude from the coach was how you won a basketball game, I would just as soon lose! She agreed - we both thought he was going way overboard.
About that time, the referee didn't see a foul on one of his boys so he started yelling at the ref that he needed to watch the game - the ref ingnored him but the guy kept on. At one point, the ref even said "Sir, you are winning this game by 20 points, just keep quiet" The guy got even more mad and kept running his mouth. Finally, the ref gave him a technical foul which means a player, of our choice gets to shoot two free throws without anyone else on the court. The guy still wouldn't shut up - he said "I get a technical just for asking you a question?" The ref said "Sir, I've explained to you that I'm just doing my job, please sit down and be quiet or I will throw you out of the game" The ref was not rude in any way and he remained calm. The guy kept up "You'll throw me out of the game just for asking you a question?" The ref calmly looked at the officials and gave him another technical foul and told him he was out of the game and had to leave the premises.
Meanwhile, all the boys on both teams didn't know what to do. They were astounded. The guy left the gym but wouldn't leave the building and at half time, he wanted all of his players to come out of the gym so he could coach them. The ref stood his ground and said that wasn't allowed and would not let the coach have any contact with his players. I was so glad he stuck to his guns. This guy should have been made to leave altogether, but the ref was doing the right thing.
It didn't really matter, we still lost the game 51-22, but it sure was interesting. After the game, alot of the parents went up to our coach and told him how glad we were that he was coaching our sons and how much we appreciated him. I had a talk with my kids on the way home and told them never to act like that at a game and that the other coach was completely in the wrong and should have obeyed the referee from the get-go.
We live in a very small town and it's amazing how seriously some of these parents take these game - I mean it is 5th grade basketball or 3rd grade in Sonya's case. I'm shocked that grown adults would act like this in front of their own kids and everyone else's kids, too. I wonder if he was even embarrassed after thinking about it later and I really doubt he was.
You could not pay me enough money to be a referee, umpire or any kind of official for children's sports. It is utterly ridiculous what these people have to put up with. Thinking of it now, I'm going to talk to my husband about calling the governing body and complaining about this guy. He was out of control!
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4 comments:
I once attended my nephew's t-ball game in a neighboring town where the residents are notoriously competitive. I was impressed that nobody seemed to be yelling and getting angry, so I relaxed and began cheering and calling out encouragement just as the parents always did when my brother played in my hometown.
After a few innings, I started noticing people giving me funny looks. I figured it was because nobody knew me and wondered why I was cheering for kids I obviously did not know, so I just clapped. Still, I got stares.
In the end, I realized the reason was that I was the only person, including the parents and coach, who was cheering or clapping. Because their team was losing. And they don't acknowledge losers. Even when a 7-year-old boy walks off the field in tears called out, unable to hit the ball off the tee in however many tries.
I'm very glad my kid won't be growing up in that particular environment.
Dang, I wrote you another book! ;-)
it's so sad and also scary. you hear about parents actually beating up refs and coaches and other parents at youth sporting events. seriously, these men have TOO much testosterone.
We live in a Southern community that takes sports very seriously. The city little league team actually won the World Series this past year, so you can imagine how much baseball means to these people.
We have our children signed up through the Upwards sports program that is hosted by local churches. This keeps the coaches from being "nuts" and the partents too. You actually have to sign a contract on how to behave. That's sad, but at least you don't have a bunch of idiot adults screaming at their 7 year olds because of a bad play.
I'd get so irritated with coaches and parents at the kids games. I've seen many parents who should've been kicked out and weren't. Such bad examples, I just don't get it. And the coaches, the way they'd talk to the kids sometimes would make me so angry. Don't miss that part of the kids growing up.
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