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I ref for and sit on the Board of Directors for a local rec program (grades 3-8). I work games in the 5th-6th & 7th-8th grade leagues. Have been with the league for 6 years now.
We have a preseason coaches meeting to go over the expectations the of the league, set forth by the Board of Directors....Sportsmanship is at the core of that.
I talk with the coaches at this meeting about our expectations as officials. Like the OP said, we have a lot of coaches that get started in grade 3 and move up every year with their kids, so I know most of these guys already and there are no problems with them. The new guys, it's a crap shoot and we have had some really good coaches and some, not so much.
Last year we had a first year coach who absolutely went off on one of my officiating crews in 5/6. Dropping F-bombs left and right about some calls. Needless to say this was an isolated incident and that guy was immediately banned from the league. I don't have any issues with T-ing up a rec league coach...It's not so much what you say but how it's said and I'm not going to let some a coach chew my butt or question my credibility....ESPECIALLY since I am on the board of directors for the league and stand 100% behind the sportsmanship aspect of youth sports.
I like the letter you put together and would consider that if we had issues arrise during the course of the season but we have a good group of coaches this year and I really don't anticipate any problems.
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