OMG, parents get WAY too caught up in kids sports

[Aidensmom]

My son plays baseball. It has always been stressed to him that he is there to have fun, win or lose, though we try our best to win. He gets it. Heck, he is the team's biggest cheerleader even if they do bad, he is sure to tell everyone they played a great game.

I was very grateful that my son got on a team where the coach, while competitive to the point that he wants to get the kids to strive to win, isn't a big yeller or makes them feel bad if they mess up or in general makes a jerk out of himself on the field. We've had bad calls against us, we just take it as it comes....

I was flabbergasted today at my son's game when the coach on the opposing team started having a freaking temper tantrum because our first baseman's miraculous catch (we are talking 5 and 6 year olds here) caused him to accuse us first of cheating because the child jumped into the baseline to make the catch (thus supposedly purposely blocking the batter from making it to first base), but then when it was called an out went on to badmouth our team as being the team no one wanted to play because we were such jerks and tell our kids to keep running instead of stopping at first base. (yes, he was met with replies of "if the kid hits it to the fence, yep, we're going to let him get a homerun." ).

It is a GAME. If my 6 year old gets it that its not the end of the world if you lose, why can't adults?

People need to let their KIDS play and enjoy the game!

As my son says, "We're 5 and 6, we don't know what we're doing"

 

[DisMN]

As my son says, "We're 5 and 6, we don't know what we're doing"

That's my initial thought too....

WHO KNEW you could train those little buggers to be super human baseball catching/throwing superstars? I bet your team started training those boys when they were still in diapers, didn't you Aidensmom? Didn't you? C'maaan, admit it.




I'd have been laughing AT that coach....probably would have ticked him off further but who cares? What a JERK!

 

[Aidensmom]

WHO KNEW you could train those little buggers to be super human baseball catching/throwing superstars? I bet your team started training those boys when they were still in diapers, didn't you Aidensmom? Didn't you? C'maaan, admit it.

I did buy him a wiffle ball and bat when he was 3. Technically, he still wore diapers at night.

 

[mselly13]

And it just gets worse and the kids get older. My husband has volunteer umpired and had to kick parents off the T-ball field for cussing. It's just sad.

We have a Dad in this town that has been asked to leave just about every organization we have because he is so competitive. And if he doesn't get his way or his kid doesn't get playing time you don't want to see what he does. He once started a fist fight with another 1st and 2nd grade basketball coach on the court after the game....with all those kids standing there.

I don't know if it's people trying to live through their kids or that they too high of expectations for their kids...I just know it's sad.

 

[Planogirl]

It can get bad in the schools too. DS is into amateur wrestling and some of those parents get way too wrapped up in it. I just laugh and ignore them and their demands.

 

[Doe]

My daughters play club volleyball and I'm amazed at some of the parents at the u12 level. It's just sad that some parents make it about themselves, like how their child is playing is a reflection on them.

 

[CowboyCO]

DS6 played basketball for the first time this year. He played with a lot of zeal, had fun, played good defense and ran up and down the court with his smile lighting up the gym.

Well, after 7 games, he still hadn't scored a basket. He can't dribble well, is by far the smallest kid out there. Well, tonight, he got loose under the basket and they passed him the ball. Miracle upon miracles-- he catches the ball. Then dribbles twice to the basket and puts up a shot and it goes in!!!!

All the parents and the sidelines cheered so loudly for him and all his teammates and coach high fived him until his hand hurt. You would have thought he just won the NCAA championship.

 

[allison443]

The New York Times had an excellent article yesterday about college athletic scholarships-basically how some parents' expectations of a college scholarship for their kid will never be met. Interesting statistics! Other than the big money sports of football and basketball, athletes in the other sports don't get the "full ride" that many parents seem to expect.
Here's the link...it was the most emailed article from the Times until Governor Spitzer's scandal eclipsed it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/s...em&ex=1205380800&en=a7d4378c9f0fa471&ei=5087

 

[JPN4265]

My son plays baseball. It has always been stressed to him that he is there to have fun, win or lose, though we try our best to win. He gets it. Heck, he is the team's biggest cheerleader even if they do bad, he is sure to tell everyone they played a great game.

I was very grateful that my son got on a team where the coach, while competitive to the point that he wants to get the kids to strive to win, isn't a big yeller or makes them feel bad if they mess up or in general makes a jerk out of himself on the field. We've had bad calls against us, we just take it as it comes....

I was flabbergasted today at my son's game when the coach on the opposing team started having a freaking temper tantrum because our first baseman's miraculous catch (we are talking 5 and 6 year olds here) caused him to accuse us first of cheating because the child jumped into the baseline to make the catch (thus supposedly purposely blocking the batter from making it to first base), but then when it was called an out went on to badmouth our team as being the team no one wanted to play because we were such jerks and tell our kids to keep running instead of stopping at first base. (yes, he was met with replies of "if the kid hits it to the fence, yep, we're going to let him get a homerun." ).

It is a GAME. If my 6 year old gets it that its not the end of the world if you lose, why can't adults?

People need to let their KIDS play and enjoy the game!

As my son says, "We're 5 and 6, we don't know what we're doing"

Just think, your son is only in the 5 and 6 year old group. You still have at least 12 more years of this....

 

[MushyMushy]

Ugh! That's why I'm so glad that my son didn't do sports (other than a couple of years of soccer, which was so laid back) -- I couldn't have handled that kind of pressure. And when DD did soccer, she was more likely the kid on the field playing with her hair and looking at the daisies. At least the other parents thought she was cute and didn't yell at us.

 

[Holly Sox]

This is my son's 5th year playing. For the most part, we have a great group of parents. We've all played together for so long, and most of the kids on the other teams are either our kid's friends or our friends' kids or both, so we do a lot of cheering for each other.

However, for the last 2 years, in Coaches Pitch, there was a mother who is the most obnoxious woman I've ever encountered. She brought a freakin COW BELL to the games. She would ring that stupid bell incessantly, scream out cheers ("Swing that bat and bust that ball" sounds cute when yelled by 7 and 8 year olds. By 35 year old post-skanky women, not so much) She cheered when our kids struck out. It's coaches pitch, woman... your team didn't DO anything. You're cheering because my kid screwed up.

So, the last time that we played them, our team just destroyed theirs. We were trying to take the high road, but she started yelling at the umps (who are high school players), cheering for our strike-outs, etc. So our entire group of parents and grandparents started screaming "DINGALINGALINGALINGALING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" at her whenever we scored. Not the most mature thing I've ever done, but was extremely fun and she finally shut up.

It just makes me sad that parents act like that and spoil what should be pure fun at this age.

 

[Cindy B]

My kids aren't really into sports. Thankfully, there aren't those kind of parents in the drama, band and wind ensemble.

 

[skuttle]

DS started playing soccer last year, right after he turned 4. So far I haven't seen any of those parents. But I do find that coaches are REALLY hard on their own kids. They give a lot of slack to the other kids, but I feel bad for their own children because they are hard on them when they make a mistake. Also this year, the coaches let their kid get away with a lot (pushing the other teammates, being a ball hog, always wanting to be in the game and not sit the bench and throws a fit when told to sit the bench, etc.). It's only one season, so I kept my mouth shut for the most part (there was a time where I saw their son kicking my DS when they were warming up, so I did yell at their son to please stop kicking ).

DS is right at the age cutoff, so he got bumped up to the next league this season so he's 4.5 years old playing with kids up to 6.5!! So luckily, he's been the "cute little one" at all of the games and no one has gotten mad at him. LOL!

 

[NMAmy]

It was a real shock to me to have an athletic daughter since I am the least athletic and least competitive person I know.

It was a real shock to me, particularly when she was young, to see how obnoxious the parents could be. It was a small town and, really, a parent would most likely know the majority of the kids on either team. DD told me she liked that I would applaud both sides--I mean, the next day, the kids all went to school together. Why would you be mean to a little kid over a GAME?

High school is even more competitive. DD is an excellent basketball player but she decided to stop playing last year and became a cheerleader instead because it was less stressful for her and she wanted to go back to having fun.

 

[disneynutt1225]

So, the last time that we played them, our team just destroyed theirs. We were trying to take the high road, but she started yelling at the umps (who are high school players), cheering for our strike-outs, etc. So our entire group of parents and grandparents started screaming "DINGALINGALINGALINGALING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" at her whenever we scored. Not the most mature thing I've ever done, but was extremely fun and she finally shut up.

I shouldn't be laughing, but that is hilarious!

My father is president of the little league over here and they have a zero tolerance policy. If a coach or a parent gets to be too rowdy and/or obnoxious they get suspended for X amount of games. If it continues, they cannot participate in little league in the future. For the most part, the parents and coaches are pretty good. I think there's still a couple of incidents throughout the year, however.

 

[Frye7127]

DS6 played basketball for the first time this year. He played with a lot of zeal, had fun, played good defense and ran up and down the court with his smile lighting up the gym.

Well, after 7 games, he still hadn't scored a basket. He can't dribble well, is by far the smallest kid out there. Well, tonight, he got loose under the basket and they passed him the ball. Miracle upon miracles-- he catches the ball. Then dribbles twice to the basket and puts up a shot and it goes in!!!!

All the parents and the sidelines cheered so loudly for him and all his teammates and coach high fived him until his hand hurt. You would have thought he just won the NCAA championship.

That was our son this year, too. It was so awesome and a great experience for him. I hope that he plays again next year - it was just so encouraging.

As for baseball, we are playing again this year for the second year. I know what you mean about the parents and coaches yelling. Luckily, we have had two sweet coaches and their assistants, but some of the other teams have been terrible, particularly when he played at 5 years old. There was a coach out there yelling at 4 - 5 year olds and pitching fits. It was unbelievable. i told my husband that I was glad we didn't get him, or he wouldn't be playing. Hello! 4 and 5 year olds! They were out their plucking grass in the outfield and talking to their parents in the stands. That coach acted like they were major league players and should have the attention span of a grown-ups. It's boring in the outfield when the batters can hardly hit it to the pitcher.

We will see how this year goes. there are a few boys on the team that look and act like they have been groomed since birth and one daddy who looks and acts the part of pimp, er ah, i mean, stage parent.

 

[CF'er]

7-8yo T-ball is the most competitive age group in our league. DS 11 played baseball until last year. He isn't that good and just to play "rec" you have to be.
We all took up taekwondo at that time and really love it. We are almost blackbelts now and have something we can do as a family.

 

[ICF]

I can't believe there are leagues out there for 5 / 6 year olds that are already playing games?

My 8 year old doesn't even practice until this weekend.

I guess it's a lot warmer in Fl, but we don't start baseball at that level for another 6 weeks as I thinkt the games run from the last Saturday of April until late June (or about 8 weeks excluding Memorial weekend).

How long is your season or do they have more then one season at that level down there??

 

[my2boyzrock]

How about this one. Last year at the cub scouts Pine wood derby we had a parent approach the scout master because the 2 kids (boy scouts mind you, maybe 13/14 yo) that were sitting at the finish line to judge which car came first apparently "missed" a call. The parents claimed their son's car came in first(and if it did, it was by a hair) and those boys "don't know what they are looking at and obviously weren't paying attention" Now the scout master calmly replied something like "it is what it is, these boys are just volunteering-we are going by what their ruling is." The parents were REALLY mad. It was our first year in scouts and I was thinking wth??this is scouts!! Fortunately, this year, they invested in a new race track that judges on its own who is 1st so no disgruntled parents this year.

We also get that parent attitude in baseball w/ DS9. T-ball wasn't bad at all, but in Instructional it really showed w/ some parents. He is in kid pitch this year, and it is sometimes brutal here. One parent actually told my son's coach that his son is going to be the next Roberto Clemente!!(and he was SERIOUS) and the sad thing is that the son has a better than everyone else attitude as well. DH is the assistant coach and hears alot of grief, and I know it only gets worse as they get older!

 

[tmarquez]

My DD is 5 so our sports experiences are limited, but...

The first thing she wanted to try was cheerleading (I know...maybe not an actual sport) but it was VERY stressful. The kids were 3 - 5 and acted like 3 -5 yo's. Everything had to be perfect, it was expensive and very competitive. There was so much drama, it was ridiculous. I wanted to quit, DD wanted to quit...but we didn't because we stick things out...it's the rule.

Now she is in soccer. It is great. She is smiling and laughing and falling on her behind. None of the lids really know what they are doing and they have older kids officiating the games (those poor big kids!). The parents are great...they cheer for both teams...even when we kick it in the wrong goal!

DD already wants to sign up for soccer again (only had 2 games so far), and never wants to do cheerleading again.