In our local rec league, we go over the "most misunderstood rules" at the coaches clinic. We start with over the back, over
and back, reaches, block/charge and traveling (emphasizing the "player on the floor" situation). There are a few more, including 3 seconds.
This is my 14th year on the Board, so I usually never have any trouble with coaches and/or players and/or spectators. They all pretty much know me by now, and they know I won't take any crap. A few things we do to cut down on the problems are:
1) we send home a copy of our rules to each kid's parents - these rules state in
BOLD CAPS that an official or Board member can eject anyone at anytime for poor conduct (since I am both, I get to do it twice as much
)
2) we have a Board member in a special shirt at all games - the moment someone starts to get even a little "out of hand", they are talked to immediately
3) we make coaches responsible for the behavior of their parents - coaches who cannot control their parents get technicals and even ejections
4) if someone gets completely out of hand (this has only happened twice in my 14 years) - we call the police and have them removed - they are then suspended for life (but we do not suspend their kid)
This year, we will have over 1400 boys and girls in our program in grades 3 - 12. Our season-opening jamboree is on Dec. 1. I'm hoping for an incident-less season.
If any of you out there are also involved in your local rec leagues and want to discuss specific situations or have questions, feel free to email me at
[email protected].