James’ game last night was the first time his coaches had to experience some parental heckling. Well, I can’t say they HAD to, but they definitely did. And I felt both sorry for them and embarrased to be a parent.
See, I spend each game at the fence next to the team bench wherein I can confer with the coaches and be an extra pair of eyes for them as they can’t always be looking at the entire field when concentrating on a couple of kids. Thus, I’m privy to their thoughts and reasonings. The other parents, however, sit on the benches where their only concerns are their kids and the kids of those sitting around them. They’re not as interested in the kids being trained as they are in them hitting or winning.
Anyhow, last night, nobody was in proper form. Maybe it was the heat and humidity, maybe it was something else. The result was that they just weren’t playing as well as they could and should. In fact, it was downright discouraging how uninspired they were. It got to the point that one coach said how with the complete disinterest they were showing, they almost didn’t deserve to win (compared to the other team who were whooping it up non-stop and really playing “ball”). You know what? I agreed with him. The other parents, of course, didn’t, and shot back a few comments. The only thing this did was insult and upset them. The result? One of the three coaches was so angry that he decided he had had enough. He told me he won’t be at the game on Wednesday as he hastily packed up the equipment at the end of the game.
The team did end up winning (9-8 as the game was stopped once the tie-breaking score came in during the last inning) but I felt it to have been bittersweet. Out of the three coaches, he was the one who spent the most time pumping up the kids and teaching them how to play properly (the other two coaches have different strengths). If he really does walk away now, it will be a bloody shame. Made worse by the fact that those in the stands don’t even realize what he does and how much time and energy he’s already put in for the kids.
…some kids’s parents… (sad shaking of head)