Worst Parent Stories

Bozo Texino

still hates Dave Kerpen
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Jul 18, 2005
11,730
Austin, Texas
Wow. You can't head the ball in U11 games?

I'm guessing this is a relatively new thing, what with concussion fears and all?
 

robssecondjob

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
661
Falmouth, MA
Yep. New within the last two tears. No heading in games for U12 and under. Limited practice is allowed for U12 players (although I won't allow it in practice because they do it in games). Opposing team awarded an indirect free kick.

Has radically altered corner's.
 

PseuFighter

Silent scenester
SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2003
14,408
Don't think I ever posted the reason I quit little league, but here goes.

I want to say I was 12 or 13, whatever the last year (or two?) before Babe Ruth league. I was pitching; never that great, really had no idea what I was doing; basically, at least way back when, the rules were you could throw anything that wasn't a curve ball or a knuckle ball. I think that was the rule anyway. So your option when you have no idea what you're doing is just to throw a 40-50mph fastball and hope your arm/shoulder/elbow doesn't give out. Anyway, we're a few games into the season, and I'm on the mound, and there's this parent on the other team that also happens to be that team's coach. Our families didn't get along or something. I don't know the specifics or I choose now to forget them. So I throw a few pitches. The coach calls time. Goes to the umpire (these are other kids in the town, kids in high school earning a hot dog and a coke for their efforts). Tells the umpire that I'm throwing a curve ball. I wish I could throw a curve ball. Ump tells me to stop throwing a curve. I tell the ump I have no idea how to throw a curve. He asks me how I'm holding the ball. I'm just gripping it like a ball I'm going to hurl, as was the case of basically ever kid it seemed. So I go back to pitch. A batter later, coach calls time, goes to the ump and says "there he goes again, those are curveballs!" Ump warns me one more time. My next four pitches go the backstop. Whomever was up walks. I get moved to center field. That would be my last game. I never go back to little league.

Also, the town was Stoughton for those curious. Also, parents that get that involved just suck.
 

Doug Beerabelli

Killer Threads
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Don't think I ever posted the reason I quit little league, but here goes.

I want to say I was 12 or 13, whatever the last year (or two?) before Babe Ruth league. I was pitching; never that great, really had no idea what I was doing; basically, at least way back when, the rules were you could throw anything that wasn't a curve ball or a knuckle ball. I think that was the rule anyway. So your option when you have no idea what you're doing is just to throw a 40-50mph fastball and hope your arm/shoulder/elbow doesn't give out. Anyway, we're a few games into the season, and I'm on the mound, and there's this parent on the other team that also happens to be that team's coach. Our families didn't get along or something. I don't know the specifics or I choose now to forget them. So I throw a few pitches. The coach calls time. Goes to the umpire (these are other kids in the town, kids in high school earning a hot dog and a coke for their efforts). Tells the umpire that I'm throwing a curve ball. I wish I could throw a curve ball. Ump tells me to stop throwing a curve. I tell the ump I have no idea how to throw a curve. He asks me how I'm holding the ball. I'm just gripping it like a ball I'm going to hurl, as was the case of basically ever kid it seemed. So I go back to pitch. A batter later, coach calls time, goes to the ump and says "there he goes again, those are curveballs!" Ump warns me one more time. My next four pitches go the backstop. Whomever was up walks. I get moved to center field. That would be my last game. I never go back to little league.

Also, the town was Stoughton for those curious. Also, parents that get that involved just suck.
You should have beaned the next kid. If they claimed it was intentional, you could argue back that why would intentionally bean a kid with a curve ball?
 

santadevil

wears depends
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Aug 1, 2006
6,472
Saskatchestan
So, it's that time of year again, holding baseball tryouts for our travel team for 13U (PeeWee for us Canadians). We did 3 nights in a row, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.
Some initial cuts were made on Tuesday and final cuts made last night, so our team is now selected.
This week for our kids was also Easter break from school, so sometimes families take vacation during this time.
I wasn't wanting to hold tryouts this late, but some other life shit popped up and we had to move them to this week.

I picked this team with the help of 3 other guys, two of whom assisted me in coaching an 11U team last year.

We ended up with 35 local kids signing up for the entire division and had 16 of them come out for tryouts, along with one kid from out of town.
I always hope for 20+ kids, but normally we are around 15 kids the last couple years.

Anyway, along with the 17 that actually showed up, I had two parents tell me they were going to be out of town.
One of the kids will end up being one of the top pitchers in the province at this age division, the other was a kid I had on my 11U team last year, who struggled most of the year on both sides of the game.

I kept both sets of parents up to date on the happenings through tryouts and after last night, one was told yes you're on the team, the other was told no, you didn't make it.
The one that didn't make it would've been behind at least two other players I cut last nights that also played on my 11U team last year and potentially one more kid too.

The dad of this kid and myself have never been great friends or anything, but he also did help me coach last year for that 11U team and like I said, kept him in the loop each night.
He actually seemed really good about the whole thing and he did give me plenty of lead time that they were going to be away and I tried my damnedest to make it happen before they were gone. Life happens, but whatever.

This morning, his wife is vaguebooking about how heart-broken she is.
People come to her rescue and inquire about what happened, what can we do?
"Oh my son, he didn't get a fair shake to make this team because we were on vacation and I know he's better then the kids that made it!"

And the one response:
"Well, maybe talk to the coach and he'll make an exception for a talented kid that really loves baseball"

This is the same wife that can't be arsed to get out of her vehicle during games and lets her 4 year old daughter keep trying to run into the dugout so Daddy can look after her in the middle of a game and her brother is constantly trying to play with her through the fence.

What the fuck people? Are you kidding me?
This is the main reason I'm not on social media. I would've blasted away with both barrels.
I've been stewing on this all day and figured I should get it out here, because my wife hasn't been successful in calming me down yet.

TL;DR version, as usual, I think people suck
 

LoweTek

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May 30, 2005
2,183
Central Florida
I was reminded of IF fly rule misunderstanding because it happened in a recent game. My team is in the field, bases loaded, one out I think and the batter hits this verrry soft pop-up (strong term - it might have been 15 feet off the ground) right to the pitcher and he missed it. Panic ensued, parents screaming, etc. The runner from third got in a mini rundown and when the catcher had the ball I told him to step on home plate. He's confused. A force play is a lesson in progress for these kids.

Umpire finally calls time and says the batter is out so no force play, infield fly rule. I never heard him call it.

I had to explain the play not only to the kids but to multiple parents. Lots of confused looks.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Jul 14, 2005
16,627
Leaving in a bit to the studio :)
I had to explain the play not only to the kids but to multiple parents. Lots of confused looks.
But Hand Ball is dependent on one word: deliberate. And is called, or not called, dozens of times each game. And is not situational, like IF Fly. (And my sons both quit baseball at a somewhat early age for lax and track and spring soccer, so I wont attempt to comment on how baseball parents react to IF Fly.) I get why some folks don't fully understand off side violations.

Does IF Fly come into play THAT often in youth baseball.

(FWIW, I was always dumbfounded by how boys lax parents never understood offsides, even after watching their sons play dozens upon dozens of games over many years. I don't mean in man-down situations or man up situations, I mean at full strength 9+gk vs 9+gk. It's not like there's a blue line out there.......)
 

Doug Beerabelli

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Showing my unsureness on IF fly rule: Does the ump verbally have to yell "IF Fly Rule in Effect" or something of that nature as part of the call? We had a doozy where the ump made a motion, but didn't call it verbally. How is the IF fielding the ball supposed to know what's going on? I think our team, who was at bat, benefitted from whatever the call was when the dust settled, but it was confusing. This was at a tournament at Sports at the Beach in DE, so you'd hope these guys knew their stuff.
 

Hendu for Kutch

Member
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Apr 7, 2006
6,920
Nashua, NH
Ya, I was taught you're supposed to yell (very loudly so all fielders and runners can hear) "Infield Fly! The batter is out!". Just signaling away from the play is asinine.
 

LoweTek

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May 30, 2005
2,183
Central Florida
A good umpire will always yell it out. If this one a couple of weeks ago in my game did, I certainly didn't hear him and I couldn't have been much more than 30 feet away from him. To be fair, all the parents on both sides were screaming and yelling like they always do but I still don't think he yelled it out.
 

Heinie Wagner

Member
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Nov 14, 2001
731
Simsbury, CT
Sadly, in any sport, almost no parents and very few youth coaches have ever read a rulebook, much less had any officiating training.

As a coach, I try to explain to parents at the beginning of the season and a couple of times during the season that it's only going to hurt our team if they yell at officials during games or try to coach their kids during games.
 

LoweTek

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May 30, 2005
2,183
Central Florida
I do the same thing every season. They are pretty good about staying off the umpires but they can't resist coaching from the grandstand. Drives me nuts and only serves to confuse the kids.
 

CreightonGubanich

Member
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Dec 13, 2006
1,378
north shore, MA
But Hand Ball is dependent on one word: deliberate. And is called, or not called, dozens of times each game. And is not situational, like IF Fly.
You're right based on the rule book, but the confusion comes because it's not called that way in practice. Most refs at all levels of soccer will call a hand ball if the player's arm is out away from his/her side, especially if it results in an advantage for their team.
 

nayrbrey

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Jul 20, 2005
2,416
Driving somewhere most likely
Really good article in the Globe today about the lack of referees on the youth sport level and how it is mostly due to the fans aka parents.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high-schools/2019/11/01/official-referee-shortage-massachuetts-high-schools-miaa/Qdv0UMlQ8fYkhhhgDbzDvI/story.html
I do travel Soccer coaching for g4/u10 & G6/u12 boys and it consistently shocks me how much confrontation there is in the game. There are some towns that it is more prevalent than others, but it happens a lot more that I thought it would.
My usual come back to parents is something along the lines of volunteer to do something (coach/ref) but they’d rather just complain instead.
 

CFB_Rules

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Nov 29, 2016
1,603
Really good article in the Globe today about the lack of referees on the youth sport level and how it is mostly due to the fans aka parents.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high-schools/2019/11/01/official-referee-shortage-massachuetts-high-schools-miaa/Qdv0UMlQ8fYkhhhgDbzDvI/story.html
I do travel Soccer coaching for g4/u10 & G6/u12 boys and it consistently shocks me how much confrontation there is in the game. There are some towns that it is more prevalent than others, but it happens a lot more that I thought it would.
My usual come back to parents is something along the lines of volunteer to do something (coach/ref) but they’d rather just complain instead.
The coaches aren't great either. It's amazing the correlation between how much a coach talks to the officials and how bad they are at their job. Pop Warner football was the absolute worst an official will get as far as coach behavior. It's no wonder most new officials quit, since those are the levels they start at. A Pop Warner coach will yell at you all game about how he thought the tackle lined up offside in the 1st quarter. D1 NCAA you talk to the head coach 90 minutes before the game and most you won't hear from again that day.

The effect of that is obvious though. When the Pop Warner coach complains you ignore it (at best). When the coach who has been quiet all game decides he has something to say, you'd better listen, because he's almost certainly right.

EDIT: The parents suck too. My final Pop Warner game was years ago when one of the parent volunteers holding the chains decided to throw the front stake into the field like a javelin because his son missed a tackle. While the coaches improve the farther up the ladder you go, the parents stay the same.
 

nayrbrey

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Jul 20, 2005
2,416
Driving somewhere most likely
Thanks for your view from that side of it @CFB_Rules. I am still in the lower end of things for my kids participation, where the coaches are majority volunteer parents or relatives. I have yet to personally experience a coaches vitriol towards a referee, it’s only been parents as of now.
 

Heinie Wagner

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 14, 2001
731
Simsbury, CT
We finished up tryouts for our towns travel basketball teams. Our 8th grade boys age group had a B team for the first time last year, We didn't get enough kids in 5th or 6th for a team and we probably shouldn't nave had a team last year, but we pretty much always have a boys 7B team, so when 20 kids showed up for tryouts, we picked two teams. The B team was not competitive, not even close. We decided not to field a B team for that age group this season.

Like most towns in our area, we struggle for gym time adding teams means doubling up and sharing gyms and fewer practices. Plus there are other options, like the YMCA league in town and a league in Hartford that takes anyone who signs up if you want more competition and don't mind driving 30-40 minutes.

One parent whose son was on the 7B team last year was not happy. Soccer does this, baseball does this, they are inclusive. I pointed out soccer has exclusive use of a park with 7+ fields, baseball has the same with 5+ fields, we have to scramble for everything we get. If we had a facility with that much gym space for everyone, we could do things very differently

His response was that it wasn't the facilities that made the difference, our travel club should be more "expansive and inclusive" and "eager to help kids of all skill levels".

Thanks for your feedback, it's always nice to get shit on after giving up most of my October for the benefit of other people's kids.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Jul 14, 2005
16,627
Leaving in a bit to the studio :)
Really good article in the Globe today about the lack of referees on the youth sport level and how it is mostly due to the fans aka parents.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high-schools/2019/11/01/official-referee-shortage-massachuetts-high-schools-miaa/Qdv0UMlQ8fYkhhhgDbzDvI/story.html
I do travel Soccer coaching for g4/u10 & G6/u12 boys and it consistently shocks me how much confrontation there is in the game. There are some towns that it is more prevalent than others, but it happens a lot more that I thought it would.
My usual come back to parents is something along the lines of volunteer to do something (coach/ref) but they’d rather just complain instead.
I’ve told this before: we had a teen in our town who was in 3 or 4 Bway shows including a full blown musical, but who quit reffing because of the crap dished out by the 20 or so parents who’d show up at any given rec games.
 

bakahump

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Jan 8, 2001
7,520
Maine
I coach MS FB for a historically bad Program. Like our HS hasnt won in years. In Years previous our MS was ok to bad. The last couple I have been lucky to be part of a good MS staff that has made us competitive with all but the elite teams.

There was on particular family/convergence of "Worst Parents" stories.....

So scene set......We are playing at homecoming on Saturday morning (the previous night the HS Lost 54-42).

We are winning 38-8 about halfway through the 3rd against a relatively bad team. Kids are thrilled that they are winning big and "carrying the water" on homecoming weekend.

We Had been warned that one player from the other team and his Dad the week before had threatened to fight the other team, the officials and his own teammates in that order throughout the course of the game. Our AD had even called the resource officer to see if he would be "around".

Then We hear some chirping coming from the opposite sideline. We look at each other as a staff and think "Oh shit hear it comes".

Then we realize that its coming from someone on the Chain Gang. Which is supplied from our parents as its at our home game. After about 5 seconds of confusion we realize it is indeed one of OUR parents. Angry....that we are winning 38-8. Well no....actually he continues Chirping and finally says "Alot of Red hasnt got to play!" meaning (evidently) that he was upset his child hadnt played much. This too caused confusion on our part as we have been subbing pretty liberally based on the score. HC looks at me and another coach "Has Chris (this guys Kid) been in?" I reply "yes Coach....he is out there NOW...". He then asked "Has anyone not played?" We all confirm that 2 players (one hurt and one new to the game and who "wasnt comfortable") were the only two DNPs. Our HC looks across the field and putting his finger to his lips gave a surprisingly loud "SHHHH". Guy then drops the down marker he is holding and leaves. (luckily another parent filled in).

Other team scored again and never gave us any trouble. (probably because the trouble maker kid scored the TD.)
And the Chain gang parent has been a prick to us since. Telling his son we are coaching "it" wrong. stirring up angst on the sidelines. Openly laughing during the sole blowout against us.

2 other disclamers
1. His son is not good. And pays no attention (which is the real sin imho). Thus absolutely he has has had limited playing time. At one point I was yelling his name trying to change his position. He didnt move and the play went that way. When I asked if he heard me yelling "Johnson" (last name) he said "But My names Chris!" (and no we dont have a kid with Johnson as a first or last name other then him.) *sigh
2. This guy used to coach MS in another school but had a bad divorce. To the point that when he tried to coach his kids in Youth FB his wife threatened to take him back to court because "Mondays and Thursdays were her day and she didnt want him to see the kids on those days on the field".