IHSAA Memo to Parents on Behavior
- Thread starter Fitzy
- Start date
“98% of students will go on to college to do something other than athletics. Your kid will be one of them.”
I think that’s how the commercial goes...
I think that’s how the commercial goes...
my wifes bf taxes pay these peoples salary. do not tell me what 2 do.
A similar memo probably should go out to all the helicopter parents in all areas of education and activities.
High school coaches and referees have to really love what they do and love working with developing young people in order to take the verbal abuse that they get from some folks.
High school coaches and referees have to really love what they do and love working with developing young people in order to take the verbal abuse that they get from some folks.
Sports have become too important to the wrong people for the wrong reasons. The money school districts spend is out of control and the weight put on an extracurricular activity is insane.
Is that letter real? I'm serious, I can't believe the state was so blunt in their statements, really impressive! I've been umpiring baseball in this state for 35 years and am currently our umpire association's game assigner. We've lost 50-60% of our membership just since 2015 and it's just become brutal trying to fill all the game assignments.
So many guys dropping out of umpiring for a variety of reasons (focus on family, can't get away from work, not worth it financially) but the main issue is definitely the parents. Honestly, we get treated better by the coaches/players (who have the biggest stake in these athletic events) than the parents who are just there to watch.
So many guys dropping out of umpiring for a variety of reasons (focus on family, can't get away from work, not worth it financially) but the main issue is definitely the parents. Honestly, we get treated better by the coaches/players (who have the biggest stake in these athletic events) than the parents who are just there to watch.
I was a referee for a few seasons, but I decided that I liked coaching better.
That way, you get to yell at the ref instead of getting yelled at.
That way, you get to yell at the ref instead of getting yelled at.
I think it’s really a spiraling problem. I’ve done HS baseball for the last decade. Your gonna get bitched at no matter what at some level but it has gotten worse. Some of the guys I know that have stopped umping had good reasons and didn’t have the time but some did because of the ********. Problem is you then get guys kind of roped into it that really aren’t any good and thus the problem just gets worse.
I officiate volleyball, and I’m constantly shocked at the behavior of some fans. Unfortunately actually I'm not terribly shocked anymore. Yes towards me and other officials it can be bad but i think the really abhorrent and more frequent behavior is towards coaches and even athletes both their own and their opponents. There are so few officials that during the volleyball season every week we get desperate pleas to officiate matches, especially sub varsity and junior high matches, or they may have to be cancelled. I don't think it can be fixed by having officials quit, and matches to be cancelled. Education won't do it because unfortunately the people that read that letter won’t likely be the people who need to self evaluate, and the ones who do need to self evaluate won't recognize it.
Our club did a benefit soccer tournament for families of a horrible tragedy. All entry fees, all field access, all officiating, donated. One of the last games, a U16 boys, was getting very physical with someone getting off the ground and coming after a player. Parents were yelling at each other. Parents really yelling at the 15 year ref. (reffing for free) Our club official just went on the field and called the game off and "politely" said the event was not about that kind of behavior.
So yeah, if that behavior happens at a benefit game, nothing surprises me any more.
So yeah, if that behavior happens at a benefit game, nothing surprises me any more.
This reminds me of a good friend of mine from graduate school --
He had come back to graduate school after teaching high school history and social science in a little farm town in northwest Iowa for about five years. Great guy all around.
He told me he loved teaching and loved the kids but... he just could no longer deal with the parents. He said that, "If I have to get one more angry phone call about how me giving little Bobby or Susie a C in 10th Grade history is going to keep her from getting into Harvard, then I think I am going to go and throw myself off the history bridge in the county."
He eventually bailed on the field entirely and ended up a claims adjuster.
He had come back to graduate school after teaching high school history and social science in a little farm town in northwest Iowa for about five years. Great guy all around.
He told me he loved teaching and loved the kids but... he just could no longer deal with the parents. He said that, "If I have to get one more angry phone call about how me giving little Bobby or Susie a C in 10th Grade history is going to keep her from getting into Harvard, then I think I am going to go and throw myself off the history bridge in the county."
He eventually bailed on the field entirely and ended up a claims adjuster.
This is only going to change when we are allowed to have frank discussions with people. Something along the lines of,
Dear delusional parent, if your child is struggling in my 10th grade history class they are miles away from getting into Harvard. They will need to have a significant change in attitude and put in many hours of study.
I won't defend people's behavior, but to the extent that it is driven by parents taking kids' sports and their athletic futures too seriously, it's not hard to see why when we have feeder programs that start in second or third grade and take many hours each week, and many months out of the year. Among other things, they cost a lot and send an implicit message to parents that it's a pathway to a scholarship. It's no wonder they want a return on their investment.
Track and Field officials are having this problem too? In my four years of running in Illinois, I never saw a parent yelling at an official. I also played and reffed soccer, so I can relate to this article.
I sound like my grandpa 15 years ago. It turns out he saw where this was going. I think there are a lot of things you lose perspective in as you age but I don't think this is one of them. It wasn't like this when I was in sports. It had just started to get to the point where you were expected to be "practicing" everything all the time. Now it's to the point where you have to do so much to be on a team that kids don't have time to be kids, they don't have time to get part time summer jobs which I think are just as valuable, if not more, than being on "x" team. The sad part is a lot of the time it doesn't even seem like the kids want to do it anymore because they're burned out from playing basketball 12 months a year since they were 12 and baseball 6 months a year in the same time period.
I always wanted to get into basketball officiating. There's no way in hell that's ever happening now.
