Seven out of eight isn't too bad
 

Had four middle school tournament games today. Seven of the coaches were pretty good. They didn't complain hardly at all and asked decent questions politely. However, one guy needed a lesson in how to be a human being. It was a girls coach. This team feeds into one of the top girls HS programs in the country. I'm sure everyone from the Portland area is familiar with this program and knows the HS to which I'm referring.

It wasn't so much that he was a pain to us, (just the usual jerk coach) but he yelled and screamed at his girls the entire game. And I don't mean in a positive manner. In fact, I can't remember even a single positive word spoken by him to any of his players in the entire game even though they played really well and won by over 20. On two different occasions, two different girls were actually crying after this guy finished yelling at them. It was pathetic. My partner spent most of the game just shaking his head. If I was a parent of one of these girls, that guy wouldn't have made it out of the parking lot without needing medical attention. What's wrong with these cretins?

Gotta admit, I'm surprised. Most of the coaches in those programs (associated with that school to which you refer) are pretty good, at least to their kids.

I lost all respect for Little League Parents in general when the scandal broke a couple of years ago about that certain person who had a certain basketball development program outside the schools (I'm sure you know who I mean). He was having consensual sex with some of the sixteen and seventeen year old girls, as part of their "payment" for his services. The unbelievable part was the parents' response when they found out about it. None of them wanted to press charges. They didn't even withdraw their kids. When they were interviewed they said, "Well, he can get them scholarships." Some of them had even known or strongly suspected before it became public. But they wanted their little darlings to be stars and no price was too high to pay. They should be put in jail along with the abuser.

Their children are going to have some deep scars because their parents did not protect them.

If this would have happened in my local kids rec league, I would have told that coach to knock it off the first time I heard any verbal abuse, and if he would have given me any rebuttal other than, "Sorry, it won't happen again" along with an apology to the girls, he would have been not only ejected, but suspended indefinitely.

Unfortunately, this happened in a tournament for teams from extremely competitive leagues.

I did have one minor "run in" with this guy. During play, he told me that the next time his team "had possession", he wanted a timeout. I told him thanks for the heads up, but to remember to request it at that time. He said, "I just told you." Fortunately, there was a dead ball by now, so I had the time to tell him that I couldn't grant a request "in the future" and he'd still have to ask for it when he wanted it.

He looked perplexed. :)

This is so over the line I'm thinking you gotta have the story wrong or something . please tell me this story is not true.

I know the world is full of people doing nasty things to each other,including parents doing things to their own. This just seems so calculating I'm almost at a loss for words.

I know it. That's what's so appalling. In this day and age for parents to look away from something like this for any reason at all is beyond comprehension. Although in fairness to parents everywhere, I will say that it was a family who finally turned him in when their daughter came to them and told what was happening. But they took a lot of heat for getting the program shut down. As I remember it, some parents even accused the whistle-blowers of being jealous because the guy hadn't approached their daughter, and so they wanted to punish him for not favoring her. It was just amazing to me that any mother could be so blind to the realities of the long term effects of this kind of abuse.

Yup, I know. It really is true, and I don't have the story wrong. It's simply appalling.