I may have told this story before, so SIAP, but I had 2 friends who had helicopter dads throughout all of my youth sports. I played on baseball, basketball and football teams with these kids, and the dads were at every single game. I kid you not, not one game went by where at least one (if not both) completely blew up at a referee, the coach, or their own sons. For reference, one was the father of our best athlete, kid was unreal at everything he touched, an old school athlete per se. His father was the biggest of the two hot heads, and every time he blew up, it effected my friends game. He would go into a shell and not be assertive, especially in basketball. It was obvious and upsetting, really. Our coach who was a hardass(affectionately) even tried to take him aside when he saw this happen. It never really worked.
Fast Forward a few years, my buddy moves out to the west coast for his dads job, and went on to be tied for 2nd in the nation in interceptions as a HS senior. He had offers to play safey at Boise State, Oregon State, and a few mid majors. He decided to go to Boise State.. for business. I asked him why he didn't at least give football a shot if he ended up at BSU anyways, his only reason? He didn't want to give his dad a reason to interject in his life anymore... when he said that ****, I got sad/mad/whatever you want to call it, because one of the best true athletes I have ever seen just lost the love for athletics because his dad felt some superiority against officials and coaches. Be better parents, sports aren't everything in this world, and your actions have a lasting affect whether you think they do or not.
