Youth sports. Not usually the place where kindness abounds. I was watching my son's soccer practice tonight. It was at a large community complex with several practices and games going on at once. Along with this came several coaches yelling and lots of parents "assisting" their kids loudly from the sidelines.
Recently my son broke his toe and had to sit out a few weeks. He commented about how much easier the game looked sitting on the sidelines than when he was on the field. Every time I heard a parent shouting at their kid, I wanted to figure out a way to remind them of this fact.
His coach tonight was just great. He took time to explain things clearly, and was as patient as a person could be with a bunch of 10 year old boys who liked tackling and wrestling just as much as they like playing soccer. And while I could not figure out a way to kindly tell some of the parents to stop yelling at their kids about something that was supposed to be fun, it was easy enough to make sure I thanked the coach for his time, effort and patience.
Betsy,
ReplyDeleteI coach soccer and I hear you about the parents! I'm sure that your son's coach appreciated your comments even if he was distracted at the time.
A very interesting blog!