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As a ref who originally started working youth/CYO ball in my area, I appreciate the time the coaches/parents/administrators/officials put into the league.
However, after working high school ball for the past 4 years and continuing to work the youth leagues, I have realized what a difficult environment youth leagues are to work in.
The kids are 99% of the time not the problem. The majority of the time it's either over zealous parents or inexperienced/uninformed coaches. The article is good but our league here in the Bay Area has code of conduct rules for players/coaches/spectators. The league also has the Positive Coaching Alliance come in for talks with all coaches.
Has it helped? The talks have only gone on for 2 years so it's debatable if there's been any effect yet. Hopefully, eventually coaches and parents will realize that sports are for kids and let them enjoy the experience.
I will continue to ref the league (at least for a while longer) because it's additional work for me. I started a new job 4 months ago and my high school schedule will likely be....VERY LIGHT this coming season.
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