I deal with youth tennis.
We have not gotten to where girls play boys in singles.
Of all the troubles/issues, 8 of 10 are the parents.
MoKelly
I agree.
Many years ago, the YMCA in my home town in Ohio finally started a youth soccer program. It was a big football town. I was one of the only people in town who had actually played the game (and possibly even seen a game). I had also been certified as a referee back when I was in high school. Despite having no kids at the time, I volunteered to Ref some of the games for their league. A few weeks before the first game, I was asked if I would coach a team. I said "no, my work schedule will not permit me to guarantee that I can be at every game, let alone also run practices. Further, I'm not a coach." They begged me, and said they had a mother who had coached a lot of sports, but knew nothing about soccer. Perhaps I could assist and help her out with skills and drills. I agreed to assist her as well as ref.
BIG MISTAKE.
The first problem was that they combine K-3 grades in one league. Maybe that works in some other sports, but it's just too large a spread in soccer - particularly when not one kid had ever played before.
The second problem: over the entire season, I never did even
see the mother who was supposed to be the head coach. As far as I know, she did not even show up to watch the games. I did see plenty of her kid, though.
Some of the coaches were a problem. We were supposed to give everyone equal playing time. Since we had such a wide spread of ages, I would meet with the opposing coach and say something like "I'm going to play my K-1 players in the 1st and 3rd quarters, and my 2nd & 3rd graders in the second and 4th. Does that work for you?" They would look at me like I was nuts and say something like "I'm going to play who I need to play." They would then play all of their 3rd graders and their 2nd graders the whole game, and sub the others in - many of the weaker players only getting a couple minutes of playing time the whole game. They would encourage their stronger player to intimidate and just flatten the smaller kids. (They learned better in the games that I ref'd: I would start handing out red cards and throw the bullies out of the game.)
The WORST were the parents: screaming at their kids to "smear that other kid". Screaming at me because I was not leaving their 3rd grader in more of the time and was not playing all of our best players full time to get the win. I had one parent holler at me in one of the games where I was both reffing and coaching that "I don't know what they are paying you, but it's too much." Since this particular dad had been a pain in the butt the whole season, I stopped the game, asked both teams to take a breather, and walked over to the parent. I quietly said to him (so the kids could not hear, but the other parents could): "You have taken the award for the most unsportsmanlike person at every game this year. We are supposed to be giving all the kids equal playing time. I do that since it's important if they are going to get better. This league is about learning, not stacking a team to just go for the win. Your behaviour has made this season far less fun for your own kid and for every other kid out there. Your insults about opposing players are completely out of line. For your information, I volunteered as a ref, not a coach. I ended up doing both, having to take time off from work to do so. I don't even have a kid out here. It would have been great if the person who said she would be head coach had bothered to show up at all this season. Its not what I signed up for, but depite the harrasment from you and others, I stuck with it so the kids can have a team. I dont see you or any of the other parents lifting a finger to help with the coaching, or even a simple thing like carrying the water jug out before the game or helping pick up after a practice. If you want the whistle to ref and would like to coach for the rest of the game, have at it. If not, sit down and SHUT UP, or I'm ending this game and your kid's team can find another coach."
Wow! I guess this subject hit a nerve. That was about 35 years ago, and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I'm getting all wound up and pissed off just thinking about it