I have watched my nephew play baseball for a few years now from the sidelines. This year I was asked to help coach the team and it has made me understand a few things.
Parents get really serious about their kids sporting events. Some keep it to themselves others are vocal and find themselves in the car for the game. I never understood how they could get so irate. After all, it's only a game. My nephew plays in the most popular league in our area. They play more games than any other league and that is what you want. It's no fun to practice for three months and only play eight games. These are the serious parents and I know why. We don't practice as much as some of the other teams, but a regular weeks schedule goes like this:
Sun. - Off
Mon. - Off
Tues - Practice from 6:00pm to 7:30pm or batting practice and then a game (about three hours start to finish)
Wed - Practice from 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Thurs - Off
Fri. - Game @ 6:00pm or 7:45pm including batting practice before the game (no game if we play two on Saturday)
Sat. - One or two games and batting before
We spend over nine hours a week playing and practicing. This is all done after work hours so every parent has already put in a full day of labor. Most of our parents drive some distance to get to practice or games and neither location is exactly close to anything. The average drive time is about thirty minutes one way. That makes an extra four hours a week they invest in their child’s sport. Add to that, regular drills at home and it is easy to see where you can put twenty hours a week into your child’s sport. This is a part time job to see your kid play baseball. One that you get no pay from except to see your child happy, a reward immeasurable in mere dollars and cents.
Now, these baseball parks are not well funded. Parents volunteer to man the concession stand for five hour shifts. The parents, kids and coaches clean the park on a regular basis. I am sure that the whole thing barely breaks even. The park hires the umpire and refs, and they are usually high school aged kids looking to earn a few bucks. Here lies the problem. I don't know many high school aged kids that are all that mature. They routinely make bad decisions. That's not a bad thing; it's just part of life. These kids are left to make calls that are not always with the popular vote. If they did their job and made sure they were paying attention to all that was going on and not to the fact that their girlfriend was sitting in the stands waiting on them to get off so that they can go get busy or whatever it is they do, I think there would be a lot less upset parents at games.
Last night we had two parents ejected from the game because they expressed their disgust over a bad call. The entire ball field agreed that this kid was safe (other team included). The ref calls him out. He is OUT. Game over! We are only down by two runs and our boys have been busting their butts. The parents have picked up a part time job to make sure their kid has a good time.
Let's face it, loosing sucks. The kids know it. They are competitors and victory always tastes better than a bitter defeat. When a parent gets a little heated over a bad call, I believe that they should set a good example and bite their tongue. BUT! I get it. As a coach, I have to make sure I keep my team going. As a mentor, I have to be a good role model. As an uncle, I just get pissed off but keep it to myself.