Why We Don't Have Enough Officials ...

[tnolan]

Saw this and echo the thoughts of JRut here.

There cannot possibly be any situation in youth sports that would cause tensions to escalate to this level of insanity.
And while this and instances like this may cause a few people on the fence to decide against it, I hope that the good ones can stick around and realize that this does not define the game. The organizations that "sanction" these youth leagues need to do a better job of reminding and enforcing sportsmanship and then ultimately penalizing fans/coaches/players where needed. And officials too! I'm sure there are some not without fault of their own in these cases, but we're not talking about that...
Used to be that we'd have to fight to get paid, and then take a stance when these leagues or camps couldn't figure out why they couldn't get officials and kids, coaches, or volunteers just weren't cutting it. Now I think anyone working with these youth organizations needs further representation and affirmation that these instances can be controlled and for the most part avoided, else...good luck finding people to officiate at all.

I've been burnt by youth leagues before some 15+ years ago. It's not worth it anymore and that's too bad because I want to grow/teach the game.