Pop Warner Fight?

[minnie61650]

HOWEVER, I do think it would be in everyone's best interest to change the dates in which PW comes. The holiday season does not seem like it would be the best time to host a ton of loud adolescents, who are potentially very disrupting on several guests (fight or no fight). Maybe if they switched it to late summer or something when it is less busy-it would have less of an impact or potential disruption towards other?


Just my opinion.

I understand and tend to agree with your point that the holidays season might not be the ideal time to host such a large group but..... most Superbowl games are held at the end of the football season. They could however hold preseason games and perhaps then emotions would not be running so high.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[stellablue]

Good point Linda....can you tell what a football expert I am?

I guess my point is there has got to be a happy medium as far as planning these things...

 

[Disney Von Drake]

That said, I do not think that WDW should end their commitment to PW. I think that a few bad eggs should not be representative of an entire organization and second chances should be given for next year's participants.
Hopefully, the PW organizers of this event have learned their lesson and have a better plan for next year.

This is not the first time Pop Warner has had serious problems with their attendees at WDW. Here’s a memo written last year in an attempt to correct previous unacceptable behavior:



2006 Pop Warner
National Cheer and Dance Championships
December 5-8, 2006
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

TO: All Pop Warner Association, League & Regional Officers
FROM: Jon C. Butler, Executive Director
RE: Personal Responsibility at PWLS Events/Activities
DATE: September, 2006

As Pop Warner’s events grow and attract more media attention, each of us has a duty to make sure that ALL of the people at those events represent Pop Warner appropriately.

We’ve had serious behavior problems at past Pop Warner Super Bowls at WALT DISNEY WORLD®. This note gives you and your participants, young & old, players & coaches, parents & fans fair warning that such problems have not been tolerated in the past, and certainly will not be tolerated this year.

Every Pop Warner Association is accountable for its players, cheerleaders, coaches, administrators, parents and others from your area at all Regional and National events. Any incidents of unacceptable behavior from any person(s) affiliated in any way with your Association will mean:

• A possible immediate ejection from the Pop Warner Super Bowl events and WALT DISNEY WORLD® property. The persons involved risk forfeiting hotel and other deposits. Revised Air reservations/ ticket payments will be your problem, not ours nor Disney’s.

• Possible lifetime ban from Disney World.

• An AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION from all Regional and National events for all teams/squads from that Association for one full season.

• Possible suspension and/or probation from coaching or administering within Pop Warner.

Each Association is responsible for those who represent it. So is each League. So is each Region. If repeated problems occur within a particular Association, League or Region, additional measures will be taken.

Pop Warner is a family. Let’s all act like it. If our Pop Warner family behaves well, then everyone – whether part of Pop Warner or not - will respect us.


http://www.popwarner.com/images/2006SpiritManual.pdf

 

[I'mNoPrince]

I've been following this thread for a few days.

.......

HOWEVER, I do think it would be in everyone's best interest to change the dates in which PW comes. The holiday season does not seem like it would be the best time to host a ton of loud adolescents, who are potentially very disrupting on several guests (fight or no fight). Maybe if they switched it to late summer or something when it is less busy-it would have less of an impact or potential disruption towards other?


Just my opinion.

Thats not going to happen because they play their seasons and then do regonals and so forth to get to that time frame.

It would be no good to play their regular local season and then a few months later play for the SuperBowl.

And really if you look at it the money is about 7 to 10 rooms per team minimum and were talking a week and many teams . This doesn't even include the Cheer part of it.

I know when we play Paintball we have over 300 hundred teams that carry anywhere from 7 to 24 players . Now we have no agreement that we will stay on-sight and most teams do not as they travel 5 to 8 times a year to play so they cram as many to a room as possible and Disney really looks at that if there is a complaint.

That type of Money in the Bank to speek of is why they have it at that time of the year as it was historically a slow time of the year (Like out Paintball in late Oct and April when we played 2 times a year at WWoS).

But then the DVC and general public relised it was a great time to go and this is what has become of Disney having no real slow season anymore just a not a packed time.

I also agree that you can't blame an entire group because of the actions of a few teams ( yes those chaperons and parents with that team were responsible for those players invovled).

The thing is people need to start complaining right there on the spot . Go to a CM ,ask for a manager , Go to City hall . Do what you need to do to make sure others don't negitivly effect your enjoyment when not follow the rules set by Disney.

I know there was hugh talks before about the Brazilian groups and they have been better when we have seen them in the parks so maybe the same needs to be done here.

You have to remember that most of these kids have never been out of the City and never around many things that make then Happy . They don't know how to act and it's not really their fault it's the parent and gaurdians that are with them. I'm not sure about other areas but POP Warner here is for the needed areas . The team that won and got booted doesn't even have a field to play or practise on.

 

[VacationDad]

I think we’ll just have to disagree on this point. If this were the case, there would be no need for a non-profit organization to run the program.

What youth sports organization is for-profit? Is Little League or Cal Ripkin baseball out to make a profit?

First you said Pop Warner was for underachievers who couldn't make their school team, now you say it is a mix? Which is it?

 

[stellablue]

Maybe they could ban them from staying at an on-site resort, but not from the event itself?

Just seems harsh to me to get rid of the event all together....seems weird for me to say that, because I get so annoyed by unruly adolescents....I guess PW just seems like a good cause....

 

[Disney Von Drake]

What youth sports organization is for-profit?

Off hand, I don’t know.

Is Little League or Cal Ripkin baseball out to make a profit?

No. They have tax exempt status.

First you said Pop Warner was for underachievers who couldn't make their school team, now you say it is a mix? Which is it?

It’s both, but I thought that the latter would be obvious to even a casual observer. The statements are not mutually exclusive of one another.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I would be willing to bet that a majority of working CM's (if anyone ever asked them) woud be glad to NEVER see Pop Warner or the Cheerleaders at WDW again.

 

[minnie61650]

This is not the first time Pop Warner has had serious problems with their attendees at WDW. Here’s a memo written last year in an attempt to correct previous unacceptable behavior:



2006 Pop Warner
National Cheer and Dance Championships
December 5-8, 2006
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

TO: All Pop Warner Association, League & Regional Officers
FROM: Jon C. Butler, Executive Director
RE: Personal Responsibility at PWLS Events/Activities
DATE: September, 2006

As Pop Warner’s events grow and attract more media attention, each of us has a duty to make sure that ALL of the people at those events represent Pop Warner appropriately.

We've had serious behavior problems at past Pop Warner Super Bowls at WALT DISNEY WORLD®. This note gives you and your participants, young & old, players & coaches, parents & fans fair warning that such problems have not been tolerated in the past, and certainly will not be tolerated this year.

Every Pop Warner Association is accountable for its players, cheerleaders, coaches, administrators, parents and others from your area at all Regional and National events. Any incidents of unacceptable behavior from any person(s) affiliated in any way with your Association will mean:


• A possible immediate ejection from the Pop Warner Super Bowl events and WALT DISNEY WORLD® property. The persons involved risk forfeiting hotel and other deposits. Revised Air reservations/ ticket payments will be your problem, not ours nor Disney’s. • Possible lifetime ban from Disney World.

• An AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION from all Regional and National events for all teams/squads from that Association for one full season.

• Possible suspension and/or probation from coaching or administering within Pop Warner.

Each Association is responsible for those who represent it. So is each League. So is each Region. If repeated problems occur within a particular Association, League or Region, additional measures will be taken.

Pop Warner is a family. Let’s all act like it. If our Pop Warner family behaves well, then everyone – whether part of Pop Warner or not - will respect us.


http://www.popwarner.com/images/2006SpiritManual.pdf

As noted above:
Pop Warner did give the parents, the players, the coaches and members fair warning that they and Disney expected good behavior of all who would participate in this event.They warned if there Any incidents of unacceptable behavior from any person could result immediate ejection from the Pop Warner Super Bowl events and WALT DISNEY WORLD® property.

Perhaps many participants did not take the notice seriously.

I am hoping they have learned a lesson. In the past Pop Warner was able to keep the bad publicity to a minimum and mostly within in own its own circle.
I am thinking by calling the news and making the statement: "They could have handled it so much better, you know? They really could have. They could have said look you know what? Fine, you guys have to leave in the morning. Then our babies. We have one year old, two year old, three year olds, that we had to just jerk out of bed and they were just crying. You know it was just a bad scene. It was really a bad scene," the parents hurt the image of Pop Warner far more than they hurt Disney.

Now that the news is out about the fight and the eviction of three Pop Warner teams Pop warner (IMHO) needs to take responsibility and take every step it can to assure this not happen again.

I think Pop Warner should get a copy of the video of the teams being kicked out in the middle of the night and have every team that is going to partake in future events show that video to their teams and the parents before they are allowed to sign up for the Disney trip.

I am hoping it would be an eye opener and all the members would know that Disney is serious and there will be zero tolerance of any violent behavior.

Hopefully the teams, the parents, the chaperons, and all of the Pop Warner coaches will learn that Disney is serious about their policy and will keep a better eye and a tighter reign on the students in the future.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[vic32]

I think the sadest part is that it was the parents fighting. My girlfriend in NJ took her two girls this year(second time). They stayed at the New Orleans hotel. She even said she was glad because it's quieter. The cheerleading event in March that is on ESPN, has anyone heard of this stuff happening with them?

 

[Kristina]

Well, that's that then. I just watched the parents fighting video and it made me sick. We were planning on visiting next December 1st- 16th but I don't think I want to risk it. Mind, we visited last year during Pop Warner and didn't have any issues but when we got home I read here on the Dis that many others did . We love the holiday season however, and Thanksgiving will be late next year so maybe we can rethink it for November. However I believe that it's regular season then and I'd rather pay value rates.

Is there a petition going around that I've missed or?

 

[CanadianGuy]

Ok.. some misconceptions..

The video of the parents fighting was NOT at Disney World. That was a local event someplace. And we don't know how old that clip is. But once again..

THAT VIDEO WAS NOT FROM DISNEY WORLD.

Secondly..

This nasty event of the 1am eviction marred an otherwise uneventful few days. I stayed at All Star Sports from December 6th to 12th and unless you were at the arcade or the front desk on the night of the eviction -- it was a non-event.

I wasn't even aware this had happened until 2 full days later.

Yes. It's a terrible thing to have happen but I don't want people getting the wrong impression from these posts.

I was there.. for most of us non-PW guests, it wasn't a big deal whatsoever.

For most guests, they had no idea this had even happened.

Knox

 

[huey578]

New article on pop fight

Pop Warner fight redux
We've got a lot more information about the Pop Warner fight at the All-Star Music Resort than we had last week. In the incident, the Westport Patriots of Baltimore got into a fight with the Kahalu'u Hei'eia Broncos of Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii and the Waianae Tigers of Waianae, Oahu, Hawaii.

A Disney cast member familiar with the situation informed MousePlanet that the All-Star Music front desk received a call at around 11:45 p.m. Friday night that there was an altercation at the arcade, and that there were 90-100 teenagers involved in a serious fight. There were reports of adults hitting kids. Three security guards and a security manager responded and broke up the fight after midnight. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office was called and deputies interviewed participants to try to determine how the incident started. Due to conflicting stories, no charges were lodged. All of those involved were sent back to their rooms.

The members of the three teams involved were all disobeying the Pop Warner "quiet hours" curfew that began at 10 p.m., as noted in a Disney information packet sent to all participating teams.

Around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, the fight started again in buildings 3 and 6, with approximately 100-110 people involved. The front desk was called by families not involved with Pop Warner, claiming that it was close to riot conditions and that they wanted to check out immediately to get away from the situation. Sheriff's deputies, along with Disney security staff, stopped the fight again. One boy from the Kahalu'u team had his nose broken and went to the hospital. There were no other reported serious injuries.

Pop Warner football commissioner Sam Mutz and others from the organization were called to the scene. After evaluating the situation, Disney and Pop Warner made a joint decision at around 2:20 a.m. to evict the teams from the resort, rather than ban them from Disney property entirely. With about 140 people in total evicted and 100-110 involved in the fracas, there were perhaps only 30-40 people who had to be woken up when the decision to evict them was made.

The Pop Warner representatives called around to find alternate lodging for the teams, and found space at the Legacy Grand and Holiday Inn. Disney paid for the teams to be transported to their new lodging. They had a fleet of cabs lined up, and the last cab left just before 5 a.m.

The situation was apparently anticipated by the Pop Warner organization, as a packet sent out months ago to participants in the tournament included a memo from Pop Warner Executive Directory Jon C. Butler to all Pop Warner Association, League and Regional officers that warned:

As Pop Warner's events grow and attract more media attention, each of us has a duty to make sure that ALL of the people at those events represent Pop Warner appropriately.

We've had serious behavior problems at past Pop Warner Super Bowls at WALT DISNEY WORLD. This note gives you and your participants, young & old, players & coaches, parents & fans fair warning that such problems have not been tolerated in the past, and certainly will not be tolerated this year. Teams have been disqualified, and, in one case, sent home early at their increased expense.

Every Pop Warner Association is accountable for its players, cheerleaders, coaches, administrators, parents and others from your area at all Regional and National events. Any incidents of unacceptable behavior from any person(s) affiliated in any way with your Association will mean:

A possible immediate ejection from the Pop Warner Super Bowl events and WALT DISNEY WORLD® property. The persons involved risk forfeiting hotel and other deposits. Revised Air reservations/ ticket payments will be your problem, not ours nor Disney's.

Possible lifetime ban from Disney World.

An AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION from all Regional and National events for all teams/squads from that Association for one full season.

Possible suspension and/or probation from coaching or administering within Pop Warner.

Each Association is responsible for those who represent it. So is each League. So is each Region. If repeated problems occur within a particular Association, League or Region, additional measures will be taken.

Pop Warner is a family. Let's all act like it. If our Pop Warner family behaves well, then everyone—whether part of Pop Warner or not—will respect us.


This was echoed in a statement from Walt Disney World spokesman Jacob DiPietre, who said, "This incident was unfortunate but with thousands of Guests at the Resort we have to maintain a safe environment for everyone. We have a no-fighting policy that is shared with Pop Warner. Anyone fighting is subject to disqualification from the competition and eviction from the resort. We were in contact with both law enforcement and Pop Warner throughout the event."

With both sides telling conflicting stories, it's unlikely that the true cause of the fight will come to light. It appears that the altercation started between the Westport and Kahalu'u teams, with the Waianae team coming to the aid of its Hawaiian compatriots. The Westport team had won the Midget Division II Warner Conference title earlier on Friday. The Kahalu'u squad took the Midget Division II Tomlin Conference consolation title on Friday, and the Waianae team was finished on Wednesday, having lost both of its games in the Midget Division I playoffs. The Midget teams were composed of youths approximately 12-15 years of age.

One of the Westport coaches told the Baltimore Sun that he was upset that the fight overshadowed the team's win. "It's unfortunate that it had to happen like this," he said. "It's getting me down. We work hard to keep these kids out of trouble and now this one moment is going to dominate the entire season."

Despite the organization's Web site noting that "Pop Warner is committed to developing America's young people on the field and off," it seems that some coaches still believe off-field behavior takes a back seat to on-field results.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Makes me glad I was a drama nerd as a kid. No fighting ever broke out between the mimes and the improvs....

 

[Amyg]

The cost has gotten out of hand for many of the athletes and their families, so only the athlete will come, and without proper adult supervision, thing get hairy.

This is so true! I'm from Hawaii and was shocked and embarrassed that two teams were from our fair state. From what I read in our local papers one team jumped in to try and defend the other Hawaii team.

What you said about WDW being too expensive to bring enough parents/chaperones is probably true especially from Hawaii where we have to travel twice as far.

I have never been to WDW during any big event but I can say that I would not want to be there for PW! I hear the language and disrespect from kids younger and younger these days and it's frightening!

Some of the parents said that at 3 a.m. they were notified that they had to vacate the premises within 30 minutes so there were little children and crying babies. I can't blame Disney for that but whomever made arrangements definitely should have made certain that each person clearly understood the policy AND there should have been a lot more chaperones.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Thanks so much for posting the updated information! As I posted earlier on this thread...Pop Warner was PART of the decision to evict the teams from the hotel in the middle of the night. Disney is not the bad guy here.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

My DBF and I just got home last night after a wonderful trip to WDW. We stayed at POP that night and I had no idea this even happened until I just jumped on the boards now! Crazy!

We were at MK the day the crazy granny tried to get into the park...didn't know a thing about it until the next day when my sister called to tell me about what happened.

 

[ckret01]

My DBF and I just got home last night after a wonderful trip to WDW. We stayed at POP that night and I had no idea this even happened until I just jumped on the boards now! Crazy!

We were at MK the day the crazy granny tried to get into the park...didn't know a thing about it until the next day when my sister called to tell me about what happened.

I too was tat MK the day the granny thing happened and I had no idea until I was at Epcot the following day and overheard someone mention it.

I stayed at the All Star Sports from Dec 8 -13 and while I saw many Pop Warner kids they were all pretty well behaved.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

WOW so that artical states that they were only ejected after the 2nd fight a few hours from the first. This brings up the reasoning of asking them to vacate right away as they may have gave them the chance the first time .

 

[Uncleromulus]

So--given a SECOND chance and screwing THAT up!!
They should have been tossed out the first time--crying kids and all.