Kids sports

[Deleted member 18333]

My wife played sports in high school, I played all the way through the collegiate level. That being said, this right here, all of it... is why I tell my wife I hope our boys don't want to play sports.

Even with some of the nonsense from a few parents overall its a lot of fun. The troublesome parents are more of an annoyance than anything and its usually not that bad. Some of my fondest memories are of coaching and watching a kid really start to get it.

Also, don't discount the single mom aspect.

 

[Dougfirtree]

I have just the opposite. My son is 10 and plays in divison one travel soccer. He played on the 12-13 year old division one team and then this winter played on grade 2, 13-14 year old team.
He is back to grade one this winter, as an 11 year old on the 12-13 team. For the most part its very competitive, most kids have had some semblence of professional training, one on one coaching and skills camps are the norm. Its an all year sport for him, weekly training and lessons and if our school doesnt orgainaze a travel team he is good enough to try out and make the commercially ran teams near by. the parents for the most part are good people and act appropriately .
The school run rec leagues are basiclly a baby sitting session, the skill level just isnt there so we pulled him out of it to play in more competitive leagues. Its a full time job getting him to lessons and practices weekly. Luckily he is good student as well, so he stays on top of his grades and school work.
I am very thankfully for anyone that volunteers their time to coach and work with the kids. Many time its thankless i am sure, however i have to say in our community are the surrounding areas the parents are very appreciative .

Ha ha, apparently New Yorkers are loud, rude and abrasive EXCEPT when it comes to youth sports.

I did at pickup 1 practice. I even pulled the 1 guy aside one night and explained to him that kids on my team are not to be belittled while we are playing a game (it shouldn’t happen period). It toned down the craziness, but there were still things that made me look into the stands and shake my head. I’m thinking maybe beating up a parent might send a message to the rest of them. The problem is the ones I can whip aren’t trouble.

Yeah, that's a common problem, I find.

 

[Irrelevant]

Some of my fondest memories are of coaching and watching a kid really start to get it.

Yes, there's almost nothing I'd rather do than watch my daughter play soccer. It's just so rewarding.

 

[2rocky]

Coaching Highlight....
Our little Rural CYO league team was in the final playoff against an urban team with an "intense yeller" coach. It was the day of the Memorial Alumni game at the high school in memory of a local community member known for wearing a black cowboy hat, so I wore mine as I coached the 4th grade game....We must have looked like a bunch of hicks to that other team....


We ended up winning 18-17, and that "yeller" coach was a changed man after the final buzzer. "Y'all can play some ball out here"

Now the #32 above is playing Varsity in High school and all i can do is tell her how proud I am of her....

Was the littlest one here:

 

[MNElkNut]

regarding the group texts....what drives me nuts is the "thanks" or "thumbs up" or "BettyLou Liked an image" texts at 1 am in the morning!

for the most part it is pretty civil around here. I have coached my kids baseball, football, and basketball. No issues from parents to me. But I will share a story about another parent coach. For travel basketball tryouts, the boys were in 6th grade and would play games on 4 Saturdays in a row. 4 teams with random players each time. Goal was to evaluate each player. Worked well. Except for the one player who had absolutely no athletic, let alone basketball, ability. none. His parents timed the amount of playing time he had on the first day and complained to the volunteer parent coach that his kid should have had 11 minutes of playing time and only had 9 minutes and 32 seconds. His response was classic. "It won't matter".

Saw a sign in one tourney that said No College basketball scholarships will be awarded today, so behave!

 

[FreezerHunter]

Not sure what is available in your area, but see if you can find opportunities that aren’t sports teams…4-H (many ways to incorporate current interests), Scouts, Music lessons, youth band or orchestra. Find something that doesn’t define “success” as being slightly less bad than someone else. Look for activities which require kids to actually meet a standard and show mastery instead of “winning”.

 

[smarandr]

While I generally do my best to refrain from being critical of anyone who donates their time to coach a youth sport, my middle son had a pretty bad coach for his 4th grade flag football team last spring. It inspired me to coach my youngest son's 1st/2nd grade flag team last fall. Thankfully, all the parents on our team were very supportive, but one of the first things I and my co-coach did was set expectations: Our primary reason to be there was to have fun and to learn some football skills; winning, if it happened, would just be a nice bonus. They're 6 and 7 years old after all, the Super Bowl is still a couple of years off for these kids.

 

[Bambistew]

I would hate to rile up my daughters t-ball coach. He was packing heat every game. He's also like 6-6" and could pinch a guys head off I think.

I distinctly remember some 25 years ago one of my classmates dad in the stands yelling at coaches, refs, kids on the field/court. He was a total d-bag and was asked to leave more than once. He even got our team a technical foul 2-3 times over the course of his kids careers. Why people get so worked up over prep sports is beyond me. Ejection needs to occur more often. The sad part of the loudmouths is most are generally losers in life and I think project that onto their kids?

 

[Potsie]

I would hate to rile up my daughters t-ball coach. He was packing heat every game. He's also like 6-6" and could pinch a guys head off I think.

I distinctly remember some 25 years ago one of my classmates dad in the stands yelling at coaches, refs, kids on the field/court. He was a total d-bag and was asked to leave more than once. He even got our team a technical foul 2-3 times over the course of his kids careers. Why people get so worked up over prep sports is beyond me. Ejection needs to occur more often. The sad part of the loudmouths is most are generally losers in life and I think project that onto their kids?

My dad was that guy. Part way through my sophomore year of high school I had to ask him to not come to my games anymore.

 

[Stocker]

I would hate to rile up my daughters t-ball coach. He was packing heat every game. He's also like 6-6" and could pinch a guys head off I think.

I distinctly remember some 25 years ago one of my classmates dad in the stands yelling at coaches, refs, kids on the field/court. He was a total d-bag and was asked to leave more than once. He even got our team a technical foul 2-3 times over the course of his kids careers. Why people get so worked up over prep sports is beyond me. Ejection needs to occur more often. The sad part of the loudmouths is most are generally losers in life and I think project that onto their kids?

Oh come on! Wearing your letterman’s jacket to HS games and telling everyone in earshot you should be coaching because back in 78’ you carried the team to the 2nd round of the playoffs just screams “I’ve been very successful in my post HS life”.

I wasn’t really thinking about this until your post, but a good friend of mines dad was this way. He wasn’t really a yeller, but was extremely critical and would always tell us stories of his glory days. To top it off the guy is a notorious poacher. He came to my house about 5 years ago and remarked “if you ever wanna see some big deer hanging on the wall come to my house”. Admittedly I don’t have any monsters, but looking at big bucks shot on private ground with a spotlight isn’t high on my to do’s list.


Said friend of mine isn’t into sports and has no interest in hunting. Gee, I can’t imagine why.

 

[3855WIN]

We had a kid who really sucked. No two ways about it. Hot mom, so that helped. We finally got the kid to take a few pitches and he even got a few walks. His dad decides to help. He goes behind the home plate backstop and tells him when to swing. Somehow, they never got their timing down with that technique.

Worst thing to happen to youth sports is travel ball. It’s pro sports without the pay. It takes away from the community aspects of youth sports, which is the best part.

 

[KB_]

I tried to put my autistic son in wrestling this year and couldn't even get anyone to respond to me. He is athletic and really his biggest challenge is being able to communicate back to people in a way they can understand fully.

Was pretty disappointed. We are trying skiing.

 

[Bambistew]

The best part of prep sports were the poker games on the bus. Those games were so life changing. Loosing $100 on a hand IS something I never forgot, I can't say the same for the sports we were playing.

 

[Sawtooth]

I tried to put my autistic son in wrestling this year and couldn't even get anyone to respond to me. He is athletic and really his biggest challenge is being able to communicate back to people in a way they can understand fully.

Was pretty disappointed. We are trying skiing.

Cross Country and Tennis are two other sports I would take a look at. Your son will be part of a team and be supported by his teammates, but will only have the pressure he puts on himself to improve his time/talent to move up the team positions list.

 

[huntin24/7]

My daughter started wrestling this year at 7 years old. Her first meet was this weekend. It was a lot of fun and generally very good sportsmanship. We got a ringside view of 2 sets of parents almost go at it over their 7ish year old sons match. It was kind of embarrassing to watch.

 

[nhenry]

My daughter started wrestling this year at 7 years old. Her first meet was this weekend. It was a lot of fun and generally very good sportsmanship. We got a ringside view of 2 sets of parents almost go at it over their 7ish year old sons match. It was kind of embarrassing to watch.

Back in HS wrestling I once saw a kid I beat get legitimately slapped by his father afterwards. Made me sick to my stomach.

 

[Stocker]

I tried to put my autistic son in wrestling this year and couldn't even get anyone to respond to me. He is athletic and really his biggest challenge is being able to communicate back to people in a way they can understand fully.

Was pretty disappointed. We are trying skiing.

One of the teams we played against this year had 3 autistic kids, one was the son of the gal that coached. We actually got to play them twice and it was the highlight of my season. She knew exactly how to communicate with them, even though they were all different. She spoke with with me before the game about it. (We are supposed to have a time restraint and after 5 pitches the batter is out) I told her forget about the time and if they needed a few more pitches to go ahead. Explained to my team a little bit and told them to be encouraging. Once she got their attention and got through to them, they hammered the ball! It was impressive watching her communicate, motivate, and encourage them.

I certainly hope you and your son find something that he enjoys.

 

[KB_]

Cross Country and Tennis are two other sports I would take a look at. Your son will be part of a team and be supported by his teammates, but will only have the pressure he puts on himself to improve his time/talent to move up the team positions list.

My son wont don't cross country lol. He runs like I do, freakin brick. Barrel chested and strong. He has been wrestling with me since he was 3. Dude is really athletic.

pretty pathetic honestly that they wont even respond to me. I even made a phone call and got the run around they cant support it.

I volunteered my time to support the team because I use to wrestle and did Jiu Jitsu while I served in the military. Still nothing. Maybe its for the best, cause judging from that interaction it must be a toxic situation. Or I just didnt get ahold of the right people who knows.

 

[KB_]

One of the teams we played against this year had 3 autistic kids, one was the son of the gal that coached. We actually got to play them twice and it was the highlight of my season. She knew exactly how to communicate with them, even though they were all different. She spoke with with me before the game about it. (We are supposed to have a time restraint and after 5 pitches the batter is out) I told her forget about the time and if they needed a few more pitches to go ahead. Explained to my team a little bit and told them to be encouraging. Once she got their attention and got through to them, they hammered the ball! It was impressive watching her communicate, motivate, and encourage them.

I certainly hope you and your son find something that he enjoys.

Yea we got him on a skiing school starting thursday, This is a group that works specifically with people with any special needs. Ill give him a year and see how he does, and if he enjoys it ill put him in the racing program if that's what he wants to do. Whatever it takes.

 

[Bob-WY]

The only thing more eye opening that coaching, for me, was reffing. I was a soccer ref for about 10 years. I was also the director of instruction for the league. Attrition of teenage refs never renewing for year 2 was about 85%, the number 1 reason was parents and coaches.

One league actually had a good idea, the coach was responsible for parents, if the ref reported the crowd, the coach was held responsible (little known fact, a soccer referee has ZERO control over the spectators, they don't exist in the laws of the game, so officially a ref can do nothing, EXCEPT tell a parent they need to leave and if they don't, game is over.)

I've had players ask me to tell parents to shut up, even had one kid ask me to tell that guy to shut up, it was his father.