Pathetic Youth Sports Stories

[apuszczalowski]

9 hours ago, Augie said:

My son was like 14 years old and reffing the 6 year olds rec hoops league. The kids don’t even know when to dribble, or what the lines on the floor mean. He’s trying to teach them, blowing the whistle as needed. Some 45 year old coach/dad is SERIOUSLY worked up. My 14 year old has to T him up, before eventually booting him. A 14 year old has to DQ a 45 year old crazy man. If you’ve never seen this world, you would be SHOCKED! 

 

 

...and I’m sure dismayed. 

I umpired baseball when I was around that age and tossed a few parents because of their mouths. I also walked off the field in my last game because of an argument over the time length for the game. I played also and the league I was in had a 2 hour curfew for games. I called the game based off of time and curfew, they tried to argue that the league of younger kids didn't have a curfew. As I was going to my bike to leave the field, I had coaches and parents basically calling me a baby, saying I had to "get home to mommy". Last game I did, wasn't worth the $15 to do it.

 

I found the travel/select teams were always the kids whose parents had money and their friends. Your parents had to be part of the group to get in.

 

I also hate going into stores when they have the travel hockey teams fundraising outside for their team. Maybe if they didn't have to spend their money on custom clothing, and stickers with the 8 year olds number for their car they could afford everything they need without fundraising

[The Real Buffalo Joe]

The baseball league I grew up playing in had competitive t-ball when I first signed up. The rule was, once the ball got to the pitcher, the play stopped. Seems like a good idea in theory. It stops kids from running around the bases and taking advantage of the lack of fielding skills at that age. Problem was, because it was competitive, the strategy just simply became get the ball to the pitcher as soon as possible. It was horrible. They stopped keeping score at that level the next season. Not out of an "everybody's a winner" participation trophy mindset, but without having to worry about winning or losing, they could focus on teaching the fundamentals of the game and playing correctly.

 

My dad was the coach for my brother and I on and off. Every year, he'd get at least one phone call from a parent asking if their kid can pitch. Usually, the funny part was the parents that did this, were usually the parents of the kids that you could tell didn't even want to be there. He usually would let them in games where it was so out of hand it didn't matter anyway. One guy even went as far as pushing my dad's assistant coach against a fence about it. 

 

This was a league that was meant to be fun for everybody. Everybody got to bat. And every kid got to play a minimum 2 of the 6 innings. They had an annual draft, that was essentially designed to make sure that the teams had an equal amount talent on all the teams. But one coach found a loophole, and basically told all of his best players parents to write down that they have to be on each other's teams, because they need rides to the game. He was a real a-hole and took it way too seriously, to the point where my dad quit coaching after that year. 

[BritBill]

I was a product of the youth set up of a professional soccer club here in England as a teenager and also represented my city as in the schoolboys (the best players from schools in the York area).

 

Man, I loved it for the first 3 years. Top level coaching twice a week. Travelling the country playing games on a weekend and the team we had were a great, tight knit bunch with whom I'm still friends with these days. 

 

However, I fell out of love with it all at the age of 16. It became more of a cattle market scenario the closer it got to it being decided if you were to become a professional at the club. The individual coaching stopped and the club quickly stopped caring once it was clear I wasn't going to be a professional (I just wasn't good enough). 

 

I could have easily made some money from the game playing semi-pro but the desire to do so had gone. 

 

My boy is now 8. We took him down to the local grass roots club I played at for some training sessions a couple of years ago. I was set watching him and his team mates train when another of the parents sat next to me shaking his head and he said "our lad is never going to make it". I just looked at him and said "but he's having fun?" 

 

A few sessions later we were walking back to the car and my son whispered to me "Dad, I don't want to go football training anymore". His poor little face. I had a feeling he'd wanted to tell me for a while but was building his confidence to tell me. 

 

Oh and a story for you all. As i mentioned above I represented my city. There were also trial to play for my county. I wasn't that bothered about this as I was already playing 2/3 games a week plus training. However, I wanted to go for my coach who was a good man and was proud of his team.

 

I did alright in the trial but nothing special. I wasn't picked to represent the county but a few of my city team mates were. After the first game they played they told me they were in the changing rooms before the game and the coach of the county team did the pre-match team talk with no clothing on the bottom half of his body. Had his wang out. 

 

For some reason, they struggled to get a squad of 11 players for the next game. This coach phoned my Dad up to see if I wanted a chance to play.My old man didn't snap very often but he did on that phone call. 

 

I wasn't surprised when there was a flood of child abuse in soccer scandals a couple of years ago. Child safety is unrecognizable these days though. The only problems seems to be the parents. 

[May Day 10]

My kid is just getting into it for the most part.  He just turned 6 and finished his 2nd year of hockey and starting his 3rd year of baseball.  I would say we have not encountered anything rough as of yet (its coming I'm sure).  We do hockey in a fairly skills-oriented, low drama organization though, at least at early age groups.  We did spring hockey last year at a different place and witnessed a trashy family hooting and hollering when their kid would knock a smaller kid over, steal the puck, score, and do a celebration.  My kid is doing spring hockey this year, and is at the high end of the age group.  Had the first game last weekend, and he was too good, where the other kids were probably not having a good time.  He wasn't passing and ended up scoring about 30 of the game's 35 or so goals.  I was hiding my face in my hands.  I had a long talk about passing and being a good 'role model', so we will see how this week goes.  If its a disaster again, I might inquire with the coach on what we could do, or if we can move him to the higher age group.

[PromoTheRobot]

My daughter was 5 or 6 when she went out for rec soccer. She spent every game ignoring the ball and doing cartwheels. Needless to say sports weren't her thing.

[Seasons1992]

13 hours ago, Augie said:

My son was like 14 years old and reffing the 6 year olds rec hoops league. The kids don’t even know when to dribble, or what the lines on the floor mean. He’s trying to teach them, blowing the whistle as needed. Some 45 year old coach/dad is SERIOUSLY worked up. My 14 year old has to T him up, before eventually booting him. A 14 year old has to DQ a 45 year old crazy man. If you’ve never seen this world, you would be SHOCKED! 

 

 

...and I’m sure dismayed. 

 

I've seen this......happened at my 9-year-old's basketball game last year. 

 

My older kid plays lacrosse and the amount of YELLING from the coaches is staggering. Most parents are more into talking to each other it seems like, but the coaches are nearly intolerable. 

 

My younger kid plays soccer and the parents are yelling at the KIDS with the coaches doing the same. I sit there silently wondering what the hell is wrong with people....

[Max Fischer]

Here's mine, but it goes back to the late 70s and had an impact on how I played sports.  It was a late regular season Little League game (13-14 year olds?), my team was down a bunch of runs in the ninth when we started to rally and got within a few.  On a very close play, our team was tagged out at home on what would have put us within one run and a few men on base. I believe me and most of my teammates thought he was out but the coach and parents went nuts, which eventually got the opponent's coaches involved in a screaming scrum. I remember the young-ish umpire was a mess and our team protested. 

 

I don't recall how the league determined that the call should be reversed but I remember everyone was surprised.  I remember my Dad thinking the ump lost his nerve and started to hedge. A few days/weeks later the game resumed with our team down one run and two outs; then our next batter struck out and it was over.  

 

Takeaways:

- It was too close a call to argue. To me, he looked out. 

- I didn't understand why everyone was so angry, it wasn't a blatant missed call and the ump could easily have been correct. 

- I remember the coaches and players screaming at the umpire who I remember as "old" but may have been in his late teens/early twenties. 

- I remember most of my team watching from the bench without saying a word. 

- Last, I remember parents talking about this for quite a while.  

 

 

[RochesterRob]

  It was bad during the 1970's when I was school age.  A big reason why I had no interest in sports whatsoever until college was almost done.  Anyhow, lots of "important" parents having their way in terms of who played.  A cousin was a pretty good football O lineman in high school but probably played 15 minutes collectively for his senior year.  Sportsmanship was not emphasized with the kids so all kinds of pettiness and bickering went on.  As somebody who did not play I was "told" (not that I listened) who I could associate with and be friends with which changed by the week due to that person's on-field abilities.  By the time I started high school sports was definitely one thing I could live without.  I do wish that I had seen the connection between being on a team and the ability to land certain girls on the other hand.

[BuffaloBud]

All the pressure on youth and high school sports has left a big hole on officials as well.

[Augie]

2 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

I've seen this......happened at my 9-year-old's basketball game last year. 

 

My older kid plays lacrosse and the amount of YELLING from the coaches is staggering. Most parents are more into talking to each other it seems like, but the coaches are nearly intolerable. 

 

My younger kid plays soccer and the parents are yelling at the KIDS with the coaches doing the same. I sit there silently wondering what the hell is wrong with people....

 

When our older son was about 14 they went to Miami for an AAU hoops tournament, about 4 hours away. (We went somewhere every weekend like this.) Things got out of control and our HC probably should have been arrested for an encounter with the guy running the clock. The refs stopped the game and refused to contunue until cops were in the gym. This is 14 year old boys basketball we are talking about! 

 

We had four coaches on that team because they kept getting ejected, sometimes for multiple games. We needed enough that we’d have at least one available at all times. Sometimes it got close. Kids basketball......

 

 

. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Augie

[ExiledInIllinois]

3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

My daughter was 5 or 6 when she went out for rec soccer. She spent every game ignoring the ball and doing cartwheels. Needless to say sports weren't her thing.

"I went out for the football team to prove that I'm a man
Guess I shouldn't tell them that I like Duran Duran..."

 

Oh wait, wrong thread, I wasn't suppose to reply lyrically.

[Gray Beard]

My son was one of those early growth spurt kids.  He played the low post on the junior high school basketball team, which was a pretty positive experience.  He also played on a basketball travel team in junior high. One of the neighborhood dads was the coach, and my son will likely be scarred for life from that experience.   Poorly run practices, favoritism for certain kids, terrible in game coaching, etc.  

 

Fast forward to high school, and my son didn’t make the cut for varsity.  Several other kids grew taller after they had their growth spurts.  A six foot tall low post player wasn’t wanted, and he didn’t have good enough ball handling or shooting skills to play on the perimeter. 

 

The good news for him was that he finally wore us down and we let him play football in high school. We never let him play in the Pop Warner and junior high leagues with all his friends. Turned out that he was a helluva linebacker.  He was heavily recruited by D3 colleges.  He played football in college very briefly, but then he blew out his knee and decided it wasn’t fun anymore.  

[Turk71]

I played organized football, hockey, basketball and baseball in various combinations and times in my childhood. I also swam and dove competitively for a few years.

   The one negative thing that sticks out about all those different teams and sports after all these years is the parents who were way too involved and coaches who took things way too seriously. The influence and pressure on the coaches, the favoritism and nepotism the coaches displayed. The abusive behavior of some coaches. I was the sixth out of seven kids and my parents were not those kind of parents. As much as I loved sports certain parents and coaches could take the joy out of the game.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Turk71

[BuffaloBud]

What ever happened to "having fun"?

[Gugny]

In my twenties, I took the time to become a wrestling referee.  In one season, I was rushed by a drunken parent (at a morning modified tournament); berated by an angry mother because her son was pinned; and had to send an 8th grader to the locker room because, during a match, he was at the edge of the mat chanting "buuuulll ... shciiiiiit," whilst sitting NEXT TO HIS COACH.

 

The drunken parent, I was able to quietly suggest that he leave the area and he obliged.

The angry mother, I explained that her son was likely more embarrassed at her chewing out a ref than his about getting pinned.

The 8th grader was suspended from the first baseball game of the season, because this occurred during the last match of the season.  He actually went to the same school I did (and where my son goes now) and I knew the coaches very well.  I had a talk with them that they should know better, especially with kids that age.

 

I was done after that.  It was not fun.  The coaching thing is what pissed me off the most.

 

----------------------------------------

 

Then there was little league for my son.  He was probably 7.  HORRIBLE.  And he just didn't really like the game.  But he played the whole season.  During the season, I was talking to another dad.  We were talking about one of the coaches (someone we'd both gone to HS with).  This coach deliberately delayed his son starting school so he'd be older than the competition.  

 

Who the hell thinks like that when their kid is 4-5 years old????

 

Same coach had two sons.  The older one is a gifted athlete.  Both football and baseball.  Crazy good.  The younger one is my son's age.  During on LL game, the coach's son made an error.  The coach yelled, top of his lungs, "you'll never be as good as your brother."

 

Same game ... same coach ... this guy makes a pitching change mid-inning.  That NEVER happens in LL.  They don't even keep track of the scores/standings at that age.  Anyway, it's near the end of the game and there are 2 outs.  My son ... who never got one hit, mind you ... was up.  This douche brings in "that kid" who's bigger and stronger than everyone, to face my son.  The kid blew him away with three fast balls, which was no big deal.  But the fact that this a-hole took a kid out mid-inning because he gave up a hit or two, THEN brings in Mariano ***** Rivera to strike out the least-talented player on the team .... 

 

I always hated that mother *****. That made me hate him even more.

 

 

[LewPort71]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 2:08 PM, BuffaloBud said:

What ever happened to "having fun"?

 

Having fun went away with the decrease of playing neighborhood pick up games.  As a generalization it seems

that neighborhood pick up games are ancient history and 'structured' sports have become the norm.

 

[SinceThe70s]

Add this to the list. Parents of 7 year old's brawling on the baseball field.

 

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/06/18/video-brawl-little-league-game-lakewood-colorado/

 

[Augie]

15 minutes ago, SinceThe70s said:

Add this to the list. Parents of 7 year old's brawling on the baseball field.

 

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/06/18/video-brawl-little-league-game-lakewood-colorado/

 

 

Well that is nothing short of sickening. 

[SinceThe70s]

5 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Well that is nothing short of sickening. 

 

I can't get past the age of the kids. Not that I'd excuse the parents if the kids were older, but the age of the kids makes it even more unfathomable to me.

[Needle]

On 5/10/2019 at 7:02 AM, Gugny said:

In my twenties, I took the time to become a wrestling referee.  In one season, I was rushed by a drunken parent (at a morning modified tournament); berated by an angry mother because her son was pinned; and had to send an 8th grader to the locker room because, during a match, he was at the edge of the mat chanting "buuuulll ... shciiiiiit," whilst sitting NEXT TO HIS COACH.

 

The drunken parent, I was able to quietly suggest that he leave the area and he obliged.

The angry mother, I explained that her son was likely more embarrassed at her chewing out a ref than his about getting pinned.

The 8th grader was suspended from the first baseball game of the season, because this occurred during the last match of the season.  He actually went to the same school I did (and where my son goes now) and I knew the coaches very well.  I had a talk with them that they should know better, especially with kids that age.

 

I was done after that.  It was not fun.  The coaching thing is what pissed me off the most.

 

----------------------------------------

 

Then there was little league for my son.  He was probably 7.  HORRIBLE.  And he just didn't really like the game.  But he played the whole season.  During the season, I was talking to another dad.  We were talking about one of the coaches (someone we'd both gone to HS with).  This coach deliberately delayed his son starting school so he'd be older than the competition.  

 

Who the hell thinks like that when their kid is 4-5 years old????

 

Same coach had two sons.  The older one is a gifted athlete.  Both football and baseball.  Crazy good.  The younger one is my son's age.  During on LL game, the coach's son made an error.  The coach yelled, top of his lungs, "you'll never be as good as your brother."

 

Same game ... same coach ... this guy makes a pitching change mid-inning.  That NEVER happens in LL.  They don't even keep track of the scores/standings at that age.  Anyway, it's near the end of the game and there are 2 outs.  My son ... who never got one hit, mind you ... was up.  This douche brings in "that kid" who's bigger and stronger than everyone, to face my son.  The kid blew him away with three fast balls, which was no big deal.  But the fact that this a-hole took a kid out mid-inning because he gave up a hit or two, THEN brings in Mariano ***** Rivera to strike out the least-talented player on the team .... 

 

I always hated that mother *****. That made me hate him even more.

 

 

Parents are holding kids back for sports constantly in my kids school district. I had so many people tell me that I was making a mistake sending my daughter to school when I did. Totally insane and pathetic.