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I was calling in a small tournament, involving all age groups this weekend. By the time I got there, the security ( off duty Fort Worth officers ) had already been called to the field where the coaches and parents were getting into fights. By the time I got there on Saturday, the same thing had happened on another field. This, believe it or not, was in T-Ball and Coach Pitch. Security officers were around the fields for 3 days, making sure that nothing else occurred. Apparently the parents forgot this is a game and not a world threatening crisis.
On the other hand, in the same tournament, I was calling the 18-U girls. The batter hit a screamer at the 3rd baseman. The ball took a bad hop, hitting the girl in the forehead, knocking her out instantly. We called 911, got put on hold and finally found a coach who is a paramedic with Arlington Fire Dept. He came over and took care of her until the ambulance could arrive. The point of this whole post is what happened next. The girls on the opposing team quickly ran down to the gate where the ambulance would have to come on the field. There was a tent there, with a lot of equipment all around it. They quickly moved it and cleared a path for the ambulance. They then took it upon themselves to go to every corner in the park and stand there, to give directions to the ambulance on where to turn. The amazing thing about this is they did it on their own. The coaches and parents were concerned about the kid on the field and didn't know they were doing it. These 2 teams play each other a lot and there is a lot of competitiveness, as you would expect. But when push came to shove, they remembered what was really important and helped out instead of being jerks like the parents on the smaller fields. Maybe, just maybe, the parents of the little kids could learn some very valuable lessons from these big "kids". They apparently understand that you can try hard, play hard and go hard, but it's just a game. The parents on the other hand, need to learn to forget about some imagined injustice being done to their precious darlings and realize, if you can't have fun at the tournaments, just stay home.
This isn't an editorial on parents' ignorance or immaturity. I just wanted to give some much deserved kudos to the kids on the opposing team. They truly reflect what the spirit of the game should be, at all times. And they, and all the other teams just like them are why I put up with parents, coaches, umpires who only want the money and governing body officials who think it's all about them, and not the players.
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Rick
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