It was my daughter’s very first year in recreational soccer and my first year as a youth sports mom. You could cut the excitement in the air with a knife for both my daughter and I. Even though I didn’t know much about the whole youth sports thing, I was excited to experience it and get involved.
While I thought it was kind of odd that our coach saw the opposition as the enemy, I brushed it off and figured it was just her way of getting a bunch of 7 year old girls excited to go out and play hard and have fun.
Three games into the season my daughter got to experience one of the highlights of youth sports, getting to play against five of the girls in her 2nd grade class. She was so excited about the game! Half way through the first half, she and one of her classmates from the opposing team crashed into each other, knocking each other to the ground. What we thought might have been a problem turned into smiles.
My kid reached over to help the other little girl up, as they continued to giggle. They got up and both started laughing! Admirable…when a kid helps another kid up don’t you think? Ha! Guess again.
The coach was furious and came unglued. She immediately pulled my daughter out of the game and started screaming at her in front of all the parents and her teammates! “You are not going to play another minute of this game young lady, what do you think you are doing out there, having a “tea party” with the enemy? You just sit there and don’t say another word.”
I was livid as I watched my little girl cry. My “mama bear” instincts started to come out, something you find happening frequently in youth sports. Defying the coach’s rule to not approach the players during the game, I ran over, sat down next to my kid on the grass and put my arm around her in hopes of consoling her. I could feel the flames shooting out of my ears! I didn’t know what to do being new to the youth sports world (I’ll tell you what I actually did in my next blog post) – was this normal and acceptable behavior? Not in my opinion! The other parents didn’t look at us but just stayed away – probably for fear she would pull their kid out. No wonder some kids give up sports at such an early age – it’s just plain wrong! We had lots to learn…
How can coaches get away with this kind of behavior? Its not right. In one of my next posts I will tell you how I handled this abusive coach. Have your kids been treated in such a disrespectful way…if so what did you do to handle the situation? Has anything like this ever happened to you and your kid or someone you know? How did you or they handle it? What recommendations do you have for parents out there that will go through this type of abuse and situation? Please share your stories or those of others you have seen in this situation!