Do you see what these people are doing? After the kids' soccer match, win or lose, their grandparents, moms and dads, siblings, and other fans line up for the kids to run through the arched tunnel of cheering supporters. This happens immediately after shaking hands with the members of the opposing team. So I guess you could call them athletic supporters, right? I tease, but it's really a great thing they're doing for these kids.
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Not like the parents from Morris, Illinois who made an ugly scene in front of all the children because they didn't agree with a ref. (Click here for that story.) You know, in some cases our refs can be as young as eleven..
You know what's scary? Think of how an animated sports fan is accustomed to yelling at his television screen. These eleven year old refs may know ten times more about the rules of the game than a hyper parent on the sidelines, but I imagine these grown ups can be very intimidating to our young refs..
We grown ups need to decide what we want. Do we want to encourage our kids to enjoy the game and keep at it, or bark and growl and behave badly? I'll tell you what; I'm so glad that the overwhelming majority of the spectators at my son's games are there to foster a healthy, fun experience for all the kids.
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13 comments:
Pretty wild. Parents can become nasty. I've seen it before.
But that's great your son's league has all those athletic supporters.
ewwwww...
My OlderSon used to coach a little kids soccer team. Most parents were great, one or two left a lot to be desired as "athletic supporters".
he he he, can open, worms everywhere...
I have really enjoyed being able to watch mini-Craver's games and thankful for the encouraging environment there is at those games!!
I can't believe you said "I'll tell you what." Hick. :)
Well said that man! And good for those kids!
Yeah, I totally agree. there are things that we should care about and those that we should, but shouldn't be upset about. We, as a culture, don't know how to rest and perpetuate that by taking what should be relaxation and fun and transforming it into anything but.
It seems that we want our children to be successful, but successful people often know how to put things in perspective and to rest well.
Athletic supporter mob psychology. There must be a journal article out there on this somewhere. :)
Regarding, "I'll tell you what;" The joke is that phrase is misused down South or in the hills. Yes, I used that phrase, but notice that it was not a stand-alone sentence. Afterwards, I followed up and told you what.
Now I want to go and listen to Bill Engvall's comedy album again.
I really only yelled at the refs that once - and they were adults - and my daughter was knocked unconscious in the goal box.........
Really sad. But so many of us in this nation are taking much too big a view of the importance of achievement in sports, or "our team" winning. It needs to be what you experience in your case, a time for fun and learning to play well on a team in games. It can have a great upside, but in this case a definite just as great downside.
I started to comment here, but it turned into a whole post.
My kids don't play competitive sports yet, but I hope we can avoid the crazy parents.
My son just started playing league soccer this fall...no sight of crazy parents yet...but I'm on the lookout!
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