GophersInIowa
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the rise of parents in high school sports in the last 15 years is embarrassingI witnessed an incident a few years back.
HS game had just concluded. fans leaving gym. coach of visiting team is approached by parents of a bench player outside the locker room. parents seem upset. I was not trying to snoop but had to go by them to get to the exit. and as I passed, I heard the Coach say with a fairly loud voice - "I am not going to talk to you about playing time!"
I spent 35 years covering HS sports for local newspapers and radio stations. In the last 10 years or so, I had more than one coach tell me off the record that the parents were getting harder to deal with.
another story - and I swear this is true: Dad in small town had two sons on the local baseball team. one son played a lot, the other rode the bench. Dad was furious the other son wasn't playing. He ran for school board and told people openly that if he got elected, he was going to get rid of the baseball coach. He was not elected.......
While I think it's gotten worse recently, these type of idiot parents have existed forever. My senior year of football 25 years ago, first playoff game we scored late to go up by 3-4 scores. It was more than likely going to be our last home game due to our seeding even if we continued to win so the coach decides to put all 10 seniors in on kickoff with just a few minutes left. I was on the far side towards the visitors sideline and as we were lining up a group of men, I assumed parents, were yelling about how much we sucked, got lucky, etc. It was the second time we beat them pretty easily on the season. We were clearly better than them.the rise of parents in high school sports in the last 15 years is embarrassing
from someone who coaches travel teams......officiate up to the 9th grade level.....and someone that has worked my fair share of games in the last 4 years doing shotclock for select high school basketball games......its truly sad what the parent world has turned into
just this past year......working shot clock for boys game....neighboring high schools, big rivalry game.....i heard the same parent use the term p%ss$ and little bi$*es when screaming from the stands at the opposing team....how does a 40ish year old man think that is ok?
Good for the kid for understanding the situation. Sometimes parents can convince the kids they're better than they really are.Big school in the metro. Mom is fuming because her son didn't make the final roster on the hockey team. At tourney time the team only carries 2 goalies. She demands a meeting with the coaches, and she brings a lawyer to the meeting. Her son sits there with head down, listening to his mom rail against the coaches. Finally, her son says; "Mom, I AM the third best goalie in the school. Those guys are better."
The meeting continued for another 20 minutes, mom wouldn't give up.
In a small school, almost everyone makes the team. In a huge school, hundreds are in the program, but few suit up on game days.
I got this first-person report from one of the coaches in the room. Sheeeesh!
Much of my life is education, and I can tell you that difficult parents are multiplying in areas other than sports. It's brutal, and is having a measurable impact on educational leadership and people willing to be part of it.I witnessed an incident a few years back.
HS game had just concluded. fans leaving gym. coach of visiting team is approached by parents of a bench player outside the locker room. parents seem upset. I was not trying to snoop but had to go by them to get to the exit. and as I passed, I heard the Coach say with a fairly loud voice - "I am not going to talk to you about playing time!"
I spent 35 years covering HS sports for local newspapers and radio stations. In the last 10 years or so, I had more than one coach tell me off the record that the parents were getting harder to deal with.
another story - and I swear this is true: Dad in small town had two sons on the local baseball team. one son played a lot, the other rode the bench. Dad was furious the other son wasn't playing. He ran for school board and told people openly that if he got elected, he was going to get rid of the baseball coach. He was not elected.......
This is definitely the case. A relative of mine is a school counselor for a public school district in TX. When I ask her what her biggest issues are , she says it's dealing with the parents. Some of kids do have real issues that she can deal with, but some of the parents make it much worse.Much of my life is education, and I can tell you that difficult parents are multiplying in areas other than sports. It's brutal, and is having a measurable impact on educational leadership and people willing to be part of it.
The text of experience?Absolutely brilliant!
And it's always the same parents who reach out.
Go Gophers!!
Screwed from birth or the slang version -I am personally glad to be almost done with this nonsense.
As a coach for an in-house rec league basketball team of 4th graders, in a playoff game, one mom was heckling our kids so bad a few them actually had to come off the floor visibly upset and shaken. When one of my players was preparing to shoot free throws that would tie or win the game, she was yelling at him to miss. 4th grade. In-house.
I had a lengthy discussion with the program director after that and we both concluded that ideally, we would have coaches, players and officials and that is it. But these idiots would storm the castle over that, too.
How did the kid with the insane mother turn out? He ended up moving to another school district after 8th grade because he was first kicked off his traveling team for repeated misconduct and then got expelled from school altogether for behavioral reasons. Jeez, how did that happen?
Who are these people? That's terrible.I coached my boys up through 8th grade. The problem I see is the traveling/AAU circuits. Kids (and specifically parents) are paying big $$$ and all of the expenses to travel with their kids. They all think they are going to get a D1 scholarship out of the deal. For 98% of them, it ain't happening. But because of this, parents seemingly think they have a right to more input. It's incredibly frustrating.
One quick example, every year we would play an end of the season tournament in Wisconsin Dells. They have a facility there that is set up to host huge tournaments. Nice set-up. Long story short, I screwed up and was late submitting our application. No more openings for 11u's so we decided to play up to 12u. First game we played against a team from Illinois. Big and talented. They had there own photographer, trainer, team banners, website and about 5 different sets of uniforms. We are down about 20 with 2 minutes left and they are still full-court pressing and the coach is yelling at their kids "put it on them....run it up....let em know who we are...." Parents chanted while our kids were shooting free-throws. Our big kid air-balled a FT and they chanted air-ball every time he touched the ball after that. He was nearly in tears. The tournament coordinator finally told them to knock it off. They posed as a team after the game with the scoreboard. Evidently, that was a tradition.
My son from that team just finished his senior year of hoops. We remembered this story and looked up the kids from the website. Couldn't fine one bit of info that any of them even played high school basketball, much less had college offers. I wonder why? LOL
Apples don't fall far from the tree.I am personally glad to be almost done with this nonsense.
As a coach for an in-house rec league basketball team of 4th graders, in a playoff game, one mom was heckling our kids so bad a few them actually had to come off the floor visibly upset and shaken. When one of my players was preparing to shoot free throws that would tie or win the game, she was yelling at him to miss. 4th grade. In-house.
I had a lengthy discussion with the program director after that and we both concluded that ideally, we would have coaches, players and officials and that is it. But these idiots would storm the castle over that, too.
How did the kid with the insane mother turn out? He ended up moving to another school district after 8th grade because he was first kicked off his traveling team for repeated misconduct and then got expelled from school altogether for behavioral reasons. Jeez, how did that happen?
Excellent take.I coached my boys up through 8th grade. The problem I see is the traveling/AAU circuits. Kids (and specifically parents) are paying big $$$ and all of the expenses to travel with their kids. They all think they are going to get a D1 scholarship out of the deal. For 98% of them, it ain't happening. But because of this, parents seemingly think they have a right to more input. It's incredibly frustrating.
One quick example, every year we would play an end of the season tournament in Wisconsin Dells. They have a facility there that is set up to host huge tournaments. Nice set-up. Long story short, I screwed up and was late submitting our application. No more openings for 11u's so we decided to play up to 12u. First game we played against a team from Illinois. Big and talented. They had there own photographer, trainer, team banners, website and about 5 different sets of uniforms. We are down about 20 with 2 minutes left and they are still full-court pressing and the coach is yelling at their kids "put it on them....run it up....let em know who we are...." Parents chanted while our kids were shooting free-throws. Our big kid air-balled a FT and they chanted air-ball every time he touched the ball after that. He was nearly in tears. The tournament coordinator finally told them to knock it off. They posed as a team after the game with the scoreboard. Evidently, that was a tradition.
My son from that team just finished his senior year of hoops. We remembered this story and looked up the kids from the website. Couldn't fine one bit of info that any of them even played high school basketball, much less had college offers. I wonder why? LOL
Look for local basketball tournaments for spring ball and meander over to one. Spend the $7 or whatever it is for admission and just bask in the atmosphere. The place will be crawling with them, especially now that high school is done and the AAU and club circuits gets huge influxes of good players. Have a rain poncho handy - it will keep you from getting slimed.Who are these people? That's terrible.
Nope, they sure don't. Kid never had a chance.Apples don't fall far from the tree.
This might be an exemption...A father asked the coach if there was any skating skills his son should be working on. Coach response was he's to small. The rest of the year the kid lead the team in scoring, assists, was on the penalty killing and power play. Guess the motivation was the coach calling the kid to short.I witnessed an incident a few years back.
HS game had just concluded. fans leaving gym. coach of visiting team is approached by parents of a bench player outside the locker room. parents seem upset. I was not trying to snoop but had to go by them to get to the exit. and as I passed, I heard the Coach say with a fairly loud voice - "I am not going to talk to you about playing time!"
I spent 35 years covering HS sports for local newspapers and radio stations. In the last 10 years or so, I had more than one coach tell me off the record that the parents were getting harder to deal with.
another story - and I swear this is true: Dad in small town had two sons on the local baseball team. one son played a lot, the other rode the bench. Dad was furious the other son wasn't playing. He ran for school board and told people openly that if he got elected, he was going to get rid of the baseball coach. He was not elected.......