Rant: Travel Softball and Bad Parents

[MadBomber]

I apologize in advance but I just need to blow off some steam. It's either that or put the muzzle to the medulla!
I coach a girls travel softball team (mostly 18 and under girls) and the parents are driving me crazy! Don't get me wrong we have some good parents but some of them take the frickin' cake! Our season resumed this weekend after a 3 month lay-off for high school softball (most of our girls play 12 months a year). We had a tourney in Columbus with an 8AM game Saturday morning. I got a call at 7PM Friday night from the mom of a team captain saying the player was going to quit because "another team wanted her really bad!" They'd decided a few days previous but waited until 13 hours before game-time to inform the coaches. What the hell kind of lesson does that teach the girl? Last week I had our starting centerfielder quit because she's mad at her Dad and to teach him a lesson she's quit softball. And as an added bonus, the dad called me up demanding a refund of the player fees or he was going to sue me! I'd never met the Dad; he never comes to games or practices and honestly I thought this was a family of divorce. I explained to him that we have to pay our tourney fees months in advance and because his daughter quit, there'd be no refund. He screamed and cursed and generally mad an ass out of himself so I hung up.
Then, as a topper to a fine week, I lost my best pitcher to a broken ankle in our first game Saturday morning. She's out until September.
I don't know what possesses parents to act in such a selfish manner. It's no surprise that some of the kids today are totally self-absorbed. Don't get me wrong, I've got some great girls on the team but some days I'd cheerfully kill the whole lot of them.

Rant over, please return to normal programming.

 

[redneckmedic]

GET THEM OLD SCHOOL BUDDY!!!

 

[public servant]

Feel free to rant away. This is the very behavior that made me quit coaching little league. I could deal with the kids...(except for the one who stood in the outfield and cut his ball glove in half with the butcher knife he brought from home...do you think he had issues??)...it was the whacked out parents I couldn't handle. Demanding this and that. I had one threaten to kill me in the parking lot after a game. 6 years was 5 and a half too long.

 

[MadBomber]

I had one parent last year that showed up at a tourney drunk and very loud. The umpire threatened to kick me out if I didn't get him out of there. I just laughed and told him to go ahead and run me. Over the years I've learned to stay away from drunks and morons whenever possible.
This is my sixth year of travel softball and I'm to the point where I can't wait for the season to be over. I seem to say that every year but I always come back for more. Jeebus I must be nuts!

 

[Bigum1969]

I just finished up my first season coaching my son's baseball team. It was made up of mostly 5 year old kids. I didn't really have any complaints, but I can tell you it is a thankless job. I don't think more than one or two parents bothered to thank me for coaching their kids. I didn't do it for thanks, but I don't think I'll coach for more than a few more years.

 

[aclark]

Bomber I hear you bud. I umpired NSA softball for 4 years and while I caught crap from the coaches (naturally) the parents were down right awful and mean! As an umpire I had a father threaten to beat me up after a game his daughters team lost, and I have probably had to run more coaches because of parents than for things they did. I feel you here bud.

Don't get me wrong, there were some good parents. Especially at the world series, those were some intense parents, but nearly all of them class acts.

 

[1032JBT]

While thankfully mine are not old enough for travel stuff yet, I do have a nephew that played travel soccer. I have been to a couple of his games and the behavior that some of the parents was way beyond out of control. You know it's pretty sad when even their kids are telling them just shut up and knock it off.


I definitly feel for most of the people that volunteer to coach, they normally don't deserve the flak they get.

 

[HICKMAN]

I feel for ya. I've coached all level of Little League over the years, never got into travel because of the politics that always seem to follow it. Coaching a Big League team this season (16-18) and we're having fun getting whupped by all the school teams, including Brownsburgs HS team this weekend.

Parents and their teens are always a b*tch at this age.... they both think they know everything about the game and never want to listen to a coach.

 

[roysecup]

MAn do I understand where you are coming from. I umpire around 15 baseball/softball games a week, and the things i see some parents doing and hear them saying is insane. I especially liked it last week when I had 2 parents get in a fist fight at a 11 and under game, real classy. This will be my 6th year umpiring, and I also take care of a local little league, during that time I have had the pleasure of dealing with some real idiots.

 

[Indy317]

I don't know what possesses parents to act in such a selfish manner. It's no surprise that some of the kids today are totally self-absorbed. Don't get me wrong, I've got some great girls on the team but some days I'd cheerfully kill the whole lot of them.

This is why I don't think this country will last but another 15 years, maybe 20. Part of the reason for this is how easy life has become for the last three generations or so. We don't have to cut wood to build fires to heat our homes or cook our food. We don't have to hunt our food. We don't have to make our own clothing. We don't have to pump and bottle our own water or milk. What made humans tough is quickly eroding away into history. If we have a massive break down on a national level, tens of millions would just up and die.

Edit to add: A lot of these attitudes come from parents who are desperate for their kid to get some sort of college money. This is why every dang school system has a fancy pool, basketball courts, baseball fields, softball fields, tennis courts, soccer field, etc.. If the economy wasn't collapsing, I swear I believe that within 10 years, we would see ice rinks. Every parent pushes more and more sports because colleges are jacking tuition constantly. The letters I read in the paper pretty much confirm my belief, that these parents are seeing dollar signs, instead of focusing on the real issue at hand. It is no longer about the sport, it is about playing at the college level and getting _something_ in return for that.

 

[MadBomber]

This is why I don't think this country will last but another 15 years, maybe 20. Part of the reason for this is how easy life has become for the last three generations or so. We don't have to cut wood to build fires to heat our homes or cook our food. We don't have to hunt our food. We don't have to make our own clothing. We don't have to pump and bottle our own water or milk. What made humans tough is quickly eroding away into history. If we have a massive break down on a national level, tens of millions would just up and die.

Edit to add: A lot of these attitudes come from parents who are desperate for their kid to get some sort of college money. This is why every dang school system has a fancy pool, basketball courts, baseball fields, softball fields, tennis courts, soccer field, etc.. If the economy wasn't collapsing, I swear I believe that within 10 years, we would see ice rinks. Every parent pushes more and more sports because colleges are jacking tuition constantly. The letters I read in the paper pretty much confirm my belief, that these parents are seeing dollar signs, instead of focusing on the real issue at hand. It is no longer about the sport, it is about playing at the college level and getting _something_ in return for that.

Oh you have no idea! In a travel softball program you're expected to play in "Exposure Tourneys". The tourneys are a lot more expensive than usual; $450 to $500 vs the normal cost of around $325. Of course the parents freak out if they look at the schedule and don't see 5 or 6 of these meat-market events. They also freak out when you tell them that their player fees are going to go up accordingly (that is, the ones who aren't trying to stiff you with a bad check). I had one Dad pull his daughter from our team this spring because he wanted to put her into "a big-time program that travels all over the country! I've got to get her seen by scouts!" The player was very happy with us and was a favorite of her teammates. But Daddy's ego couldn't deal with the fact that we didn't go to Colorado, Florida, North Dakota and China (yes, you read that right; freakin' China!). My feeling is that good grades are a hell of a lot more likely to get them into college than being able to play softball. Try telling that to mommy and daddy though!

 

[JetGirl]

Don't lose faith in the rest of them.
This should make you feel better...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jocw-oD2pgo]YouTube - W. Oregon Sara Tucholsky first HR - ultimate sportsmanship[/ame]