Madison soccer team endures criticism because players have short hair

[Benton]

(08-07-2017, 11:37 AM)Au165 Wrote: I have seen parents physically assault high school kids refing youth sports. This is just a different version of youth sport parents being an idiot. The topic of their stupidity changes, but the underlying issue is universal.

(08-07-2017, 12:25 PM)Au165 Wrote: I walked out of the school once after a workout in the off season as a baseball game was ending. Two umpires were walking through the parking lot after the game and a parent from our school started accosting them. I walked over between them and told the gentleman he was making an ass out of himself and his school, and to walk away. He proceeded to ask who the hell I was and to mind my own business. I explained I was actually a coach for the school, albeit a different sport, but if he wanted to ever be allowed back on school grounds he needed to leave now. In another act of parent stupidity, I once had a parent shove me after forfeiting a match where his kid obviously had a concussion. To make things better he is a freaking cop and should know better.

I am in my 8th year as a head coach at a high school, and to be frank this will be my last. I love coaching, but I hate the parents and the red tape that comes with it now.

I've tried telling parents not to talk to the officials, but they think they've got to confront them.

We've had an issue with one parent harassing other teams from time to time. Well, we were at a tournament last year where the a couple officials made comments along the lines of "we've heard about you guys" before making some really crappy calls. So a couple parents got together because they thought really needed to point out the injustices of bad calls during a youth soccer game, and they let the head official know what they thought. I don't think we had another call go our way the entire tournament. It was laughably bad... but it also was preventable (probably) if the parents had just shut up.

On the flip side, officials can be pretty crappy too. Case in point, the girl I mentioned earlier is scared to touch another player for fear of getting a card. She had a side ref tell her once "If you touch any of these little kids you won't play the rest of the game."

In 17(off and on) years reporting sports, I've seen several coaches get out of it because they just can't deal with the parents. It's a shame.