New to Board-Weird Game Tonight

[dsturdy5]

A few questions/points to ponder...

1. When you recommended the player be suspended, is this standard protocal for this league?

2. Who is the game management at these games? I've worked rec and even some travel league games where there is none and we are expected to be GM (fairly or unfairly). I find that leagues with visible and approachable GM are the ones I tend to take games from first and foremost.

3. Do things like this happen regularly during games in this league? If so, you may wish to drop this league from your list of leagues to work.

4. Do things like this happen regularly (or more than a few times a year) in games you work? I'm not asking this to say it is all your fault, heavens knows coaches, players, and parents can be absolute jerks a lot of the times and need to be dealt with, but think about IF it is happening more than it seems is appropriate in your games. Can YOU do you anything differently?

5. I have had a similar post game exchange with a player (5th grader!) and his dad, but I did what someone else suggested. I just recorded the technical with the table and the game was over, the dad came over after the game (I had another) and he hit the roof. I was young like you, probably about 25.

I called the assignor, this parent had called him first and filled his head with lies. My partner stuck by me (as did the rest of the people in the gym) and in the end the kid was punished for his actions (something in the area of 10 technicals during the season...again 5th grade!), the parent was suspended for the next game, and the league wrote new rules regarding behavior for parents, players, and coaches effective immediately.


The best advice I have for dealing with confrontational parents is what someone else here once told me. "Silence cannot be quoted." In the end, do what works for you and what is right for the situation. If sarcasm works, use it. If you need to be stern, do it. If you have to walk away, that is what you do. There is no fix-all.