Sportsmanship - worse in AAU? Getting worse overall?

[26 Year Gap]

Some weekends are worse than others with AAU. I think too many parents live through their kids. They do not realize that there is NOT going to be a write-up in the paper about how great their kid is and what wonderful parents they must be to have a great kid. Good site managers can help with problem fans. Same with problem coaches. I really only had a big problem with one coach and one fan this past season. The players on the coach's team were also whiners. And the fan was a fan of this team. He quieted down quite a bit after I pointed him out to game mgmnt. I think many officials tire of loud mouths in empty gyms and have a lower threshhold for issuing technical fouls to players & coaches. Generally, a lot of the coaches would not be hired as HS coaches...they are there to make sure their kid gets lots of playing time. Those that are HS coaches and are coaching younger kids are generally pretty well behaved from my experience.

Well, actually there was one other coaching staff I had problems with. And by not issuing a T right away on the AC I made it worse. Of course this team did not even remember to bring any basketballs to the tournament, so that tells you quite a bit about their skill level.