SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP How to avoid coach/parent/player bad actions on the field

Wow...pontificate...I feel like I am in a class discussing kings and queens of the dark ages. What exactly does pontificate mean you ask...?

"to speak or express opinions in a pompous or dogmatic way"

I am unclear as to where I was pompous (having or exhibiting self-importance) or was self involved with a dogmatic (a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds) approach. As far as I can tell, most individuals involved in this discussion are coming from the idea that they are either involved in soccer personally or have a child that is involved in soccer. I think that discussion is good, and possibly someone may take something out of this that can help reign in some of the unwanted behavior. As for who has read the code of ethics...I have. A brainstorming session is where the best ideas usually come from. This is basically a brainstorming session. It is always better to be proactive rather than being reactive. If you are always reacting, you do not have the proper vision to be in a position of authority. The less you have to react, the better eveeryone else is. That is paramount in market based management strategies, or even the Sigma Six ideaology. These ideas need to be somehow integrated into the soccer management system of the club organizations.

UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH what a bore. You think little league baseball does this??? NO thier referees(umps/blue) have backbones and don't mind a little banter.

What ever your response 2004sucker....SAVE IT and use those words in your brochure for Columbia's ultimate Soccer Club. Then you can control EVERY PARENT that has paid thier $500 to sit nice.......

AND REMEMBER practice what you preach!!!!

I am out for a brown ale and some PRINGLES!!!!!

Cola Fan, if you don't have anything positive to add, I would appreciate it if you would just not add anything at all. If I wanted to focus on one individual, I would have started the topic with that person's name. I am trying to get a general overview of how to prevent such occurances in the future as per the topic. If you want to read more into it, feel free, but that isn't necessarily the reason for the topic.

To get back to the original question:

Several times as a spectator, as a coach and as a referee, I have reminded parents that if they would not yell something out at a school spelling bee, they should not yell it out at a youth soccer game. These two activities are not fundamentally different. That tends to quiet the unruly ones.

Before each season, I hand out my expectations to both players and parents. Three of the bullets on the list are:

- Parents are responsible for providing positive encouragement. If you want to yell out technical or tactical advice, I can get you a coach's pass, and you can sit on our side. You get extra bonus points for yelling "Well done!" to someone on the opposing team. Remember, it's all about sportsmanship.

- The referee is always right. Always.

- After the game, we shake hands with the other team. Win or lose, we hold our heads high, and say "Good game" with sincerity. We then thank the referee crew.

I have had a few problems with sportsmanship on my team and on my sideline, but if I stay on top of it, it never gets to the point of needing police intervention.

Honestly, I think the number of incidents involving coaches would drop dramatically if they were all required to also get certified as referees and work a few games a year. I know that I'm a lot more understanding of referees since I started doing it. The same advice could apply to parents, but I know how unrealistic that is.

Yo Shearer..allow yourself to be PMed so we can talk without these twats being present...

Hey guys, I finally realized what it takes to get rid of LE Dudeman and Shearer. All you have to do is make rational comments about any issue. That throws them off so much, that they have to crawl back in their holes and resort to their "private" conversations.
Shearer & your really bosum buddy LE,
I have found an appropriate soccer website that suits your tastes. You can post all you want in their diaries, since this forum is too complex for you.
http://www.ukrainiansoccer.net/diary/travel_diary.asp

Jack, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday? I noticed that you were a little angry. I know of a lot of people that would be offended by the t word you threw out there. Let us be constructive on the issue.....

Lurker, I think you are right about the whole refereeing thing. If coaches had to referee a game or two, they may have a little more understanding of the referee's plight. I think that some of the parents need to read the rules, and understand them before they go to the games. I was sitting through a U-12 girls game the other day, and all that I heard was "hand ball, hand ball" every time the ball hit someone on the hand, even if they were protecting their face and it was just a reflex action with no advantage. Or the whole idea of being in an offsides position but not active in the play is a hard one for parents to understand too....let alone if you ever give advantage...God forbid. Parents have no clue what this is, let alone a lot of referees don't fully grasp the concept either. I have had parents and some coaches go nuts when you give an advantage. Understand what it is, and how it may benefit your team before you go yelling about it. Soccer is much more popular now then it was in the last generation. Most of the parents now don't fully grasp the concepts of soccer because they never played themselves. If they better educate themselves, a lot of these problems would go away.

Soccerboy,

Question, and I'm not being sarcastic....just want to hear it from the referee's point of view. In a competitive U-12 girls match, if a ball is heading toward a girl's head and she puts up her hands to protect her face, and as a result, the ball drops right to her feet (or to the feet of a teammate), is it a handball?

Factor in that these girls are only 11 years old, but playing classic/challenge, not rec.