First run in with sports mum

[niccig]

That sounds awful. We have been having a bad sports parent experience with baseball too, though not the negative-competive thing. It's frustrating because we want ds to have all the positive experiences and learning opportunities that come from sports, but really would rather not have him exposed to the rotten parents (and their rotten kid)---who are totally the exception, the rest of the parents and kids have been just fine.

Catherine

Like you I want the good experiences. I think though as our kids get older, you do get more of this, parents pushing their kids too far, and for what? The chances of being elite athlete are slim. Have fun, learn from sports. DS doesn't have to hear these comments as the parents are in their own area, so I think I can keep them away from this.

[smilequeen]

Parents like that make their kids hate sports that they might otherwise love. They drive me nuts!

My son takes semi private hockey lessons and there is this dad that brings his son in...OMG. Before every lesson his last words are "Don't screw up". He stands there scrutinizing and huffing and puffing the whole time and talking with this other mom about all the things they need to do like their kids have NHL contracts already. Then when he comes off he shoots criticisms at him. He coaches his kid's team and my friend's son was on the team and the guy was just mean, lying, and those poor kids never won a single game. His son is a goon. Hit the goalie on the opposite team in the back of the neck with his stick and got thrown out. Dad hi fived him. I hate this man with everything in me and I barely know him. I refuse to have a conversation with him.

And...the kid? He's 7.5. Ugh.

The lessons are for fairly skilled kids. My kid is good, and he wants to play on the elite teams but seriously...I'm willing to give him these things as long as he's still having fun. I don't scrutinize him and seriously...what would I know anyway? The private coaches are great guys and they tell him what's what and he loves them. That's their job.

[brittone2]

You know I feel your pain, having written a BP thread or two about sports parents in LL this year.

I've always heard the horror stories, but was really surprised at the intensity and behavior of the parents in our league this year.

I think you handle things so well with your DS.

[niccig]

My son takes semi private hockey lessons and there is this dad that brings his son in...OMG. Before every lesson his last words are "Don't screw up".

The lessons are for fairly skilled kids. My kid is good, and he wants to play on the elite teams but seriously...I'm willing to give him these things as long as he's still having fun. I don't scrutinize him and seriously...what would I know anyway? The private coaches are great guys and they tell him what's what and he loves them. That's their job.

Seriously? His parting words are "don't screw up" to a 7.5 yo?!?! What the heck is wrong with parents like this? My parting words to DS are "Have fun."

I agree with the part about not being a coach, so I don't know enough about the sport to say anything to DS. Someone posted an article here a little while back that was about a survey of college athletes and the one thing they hated most was how their parents behaved. The article said let the coach do their job and you stay the spectator cheering from the sidelines.

[niccig]

You know I feel your pain, having written a BP thread or two about sports parents in LL this year.

I've always heard the horror stories, but was really surprised at the intensity and behavior of the parents in our league this year.

I think you handle things so well with your DS.

We had a great baseball coach, but there was a coach of another team that took things so seriously and was aggressive with the rules, as in didn't always follow them. There were enough complaints the head of the league had to come out to the games and ref. At our playoff game, another coach wasn't rotating his players for fielding as he was supposed to do. Our coach realized 1/2 way through the game. New rule for the league is that the roster has to be submitted before a game and checked each inning to make sure all players are rotated. How do you expect the players to follow the rules if the coaches don't!

I'm not sure where DS will go with gymnastics. His class is more difficult and serious than he's used to. The coach seems encouraging but firm, there's no goofing off. DS used to goof off with the other kids while waiting his turn. Now there's no waiting as it's a smaller class, bigger gym and move on to different stations. I asked DS what he thought and he said he likes it more than his old rec class as he gets to do more of what he likes - there's more time on the high bar, parallel bar and rings. I think DS is part monkey with an invisible tail to help him hold on! We'll keep up the class and see how he does.