Quote:
Originally Posted by flatbutt
I coached little league soccer for a few years and constantly instilled those virtues into my players. At least I tried to. I had some fathers who were the worst though. They'd yell at opposing players. These were kids of 8 to 10 yrs old! At one point I went to the league officials and asked for their help in banning parents from the sidelines. They said I had to deal with it. So I did. And the fathers got together and had ME removed from coaching.
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I hear ya man. Having coached hockey I have had my share of parents as you describe. I coached house league baseball too and that was not as bad, but up here in Canada every 10 yr old on the ice is on their way to NHL greatness... if those other kids would just get out of their way! Parents will actually time their kids' shifts to make sure they get enough ice time... at novice level!
RE: Sportsmanship There are always tough losses and kids do get down. That's to be expected. But when a player 'loses it', or goes off on a weaker player, or is just disproportionately angry I like to remind them gently that if they are not prepared to lose a game they should not begin to play it. There are no guaranteed wins and someone will have to lose. If you can't handle this yet maybe competition isn't for you.
And our team never loses, but we have finished 2nd in many two team contests
