Violence in Youth Sports

It’s a beautiful fall day. There is a touch of autumn in the air and the azure sky contrasts the dark green grass of the peewee football field. Children line up in a mock exhibition of an NFL pro game. Signals are called and the ball is clumsily hiked and soon fumbled. The opposing team picks up the ball and runs the entire 50-yard length of the field. The referee signals “Touchdown!” But there is some sort of disturbance. A man is on the field shouting and gesticulating. His face is red: either from anger or drink. He is furious at the referee. “How could you be so stupid? Didn’t you see that kid go offside? Are you freakin blind?” The referee tries to calm the man down and get him off the field. A pushing match ensues and the red-faced man throws a haymaker at the ref’s chin. It barely makes contact. Concerned parents take the irate, incoherent, father aside. Kids are crying while the referee rubs his chin and wonders what the hell happened?

Adult violence in youth sports has roots in everyday life. There are too many incidents of parents’ introducing grown-up rage into youth sports. An article written by Denise Mann published in Positive Coaching Alliance cite

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We speak about the stress heaped on these kids out in the field due to peer pressure, but we forget about stress applied by parents on the sidelines.

Of course the real victims in this struggle are the kids. In 1996, Wisconsin’s district attorney lost his job for shoving a referee into a wall during his son’s junior varsity basketball game. The man later pleaded guilty to the crime and cannot attend future games. Violence and idiotic rage turns up in every sport.

There has been a lot of talk about what to do about this epidemic. For them the child playing soccer on the field could be the next Olympian, another Mia Hamm. During a girls hockey game in Canada last year, a 40 year old man pointed a laser pointer into the eyes of three of his daughters opponents causing them to leave the ice with severe headaches and flu-like symptoms. Calvin, (of the comic strip “Calvin And Hobbes”) has no such problems. All they need is a little push from dad (or mom) to get them on the road to stardom. Parents cannot help but see sports through grown-up eyes. These decisions will sometimes cause an otherwise normal parent to lose control.

Approximate Word count = 1918
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

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