Oh boy - I can hardly wait
 

Just got my schedule for our local kids rec league for the weekend following this one. There was a note directed to me that I was selected specifically to work a particular 8th grade boys game because we've been having "problems" with a certain coach. Apparently, in the first two weeks of the season prior to the holiday break, we received a few complaints from parents as to how he is treating the kids on that team. This is his first year coaching with us and the complaints were about how much he screamed at them and got right in their faces. That's not in keeping with our league policies. He also got a T in his second game for arguing with a ref. That same ref (who is a HS English teacher) will be working the game with me. That works for me, since we're old buddies (we're also buddies who are old).

While I'm not going into the game looking for trouble (seriously, I'm not), since I am on the league Board, I have to be especially aware of his behavior. If he mistreats the kids, he's gone, possibly for the rest of the season, depending on how bad he is with them. Anything physical, such as poking a kid with his finger in the chest (we had a coach do that last season) or pushing a kid and he will be banned from this league forever. I was told he also has two younger kids so he might want to coach them in the future.

For about 10 minutes after I got the message, I practiced my "YOU'RE OUTTA HERE" mechanic. ;)

Inquiring Minds Want to Know?
 

How do you get from here,
To here,
so quickly?

It seems to me that this "coach" should be handled by the league and his behavior should be addressed before your game. This is more of an administrative issue......

He is part of the "administration", he has been on the board for years.

For many years I was the Chairman of the "disciplinary" committee for our local "select/travel" soccer league. There were many times I was asked to modify my schedule to referee a game when there had been a complaint about the behavior of an adult affiliated with a team in the league. It never failed to amaze me how stupid some people act when in positions of "leadership". :(

Then either address the treatment of players as your "administrative team" or put up with it. All you are doing is hurting the kids if you allow it to go on...just my opinion as it should not be an 'officials' job....

Could you give game time, date, and location? What airport would be best to fly into? :D

No point. The coach will see Mark working the game and will be a little angel until the next time he feels he can get away with such behavior.

I've learned this in the summer baseball when I've assigned myself as the elephant hunter. Those days the elephants stay in the dugout.

They're sending an official is serves on the board of directors to work the game so he can observe the behavior first hand. If he breaks game rules, the "official" will address it. If he breaks league rules, the "board member" will address it with the board after the game. What more do you want?

Wait a minute...it doesn't matter what you want. It's none of your business.

"This is his first year coaching with us..."

Very possible he doesn't know there's an elephant hunter in the building.

Could be.

I'm convinced that if *all* the officials were like Mark, the coaches would never act like this.

I'm probably a bad person to work rec games like this -- I'd give out Ts like a diabetic handing out Halloween candy with only a few minutes of trick-or-treating left.

There are many times in life when the same person can "wear multiple hats". "Just putting up with" bad behavior is never an option when accepting responsibility for a youth league.

In our case our organization was all volunteers. It was much more convenient for me as a referee to be assigned to a game where we needed to get first hand knowledge of a complaint situation, than to get one of the other committee members to arrange to show up to observe only. We also had to deal with the situation of people being unwilling to "officially" report "problem" situations. Our bylaws did not allow us to take disciplinary action based on "anonymous" information. People would complain but would not be willing to sign a written complaint. We were left with having to have a board member witness the inappropriate behavior to be able to take corrective action. We had it in our bylaws that participants and spectators were under the authority of the referee crew. We expected the referee crew to help preserve a "sporting" atmosphere of all games hosted by any team in our league.

Handling situations like this is part of my "job" as a senior member of our Board. This is my 18th season volunteering on the Board. I have held virtually office we have, including President. One of my current duties is to administer our "scholarship" program which funds the registration fees for kids from low income families. Seeing to it that a kid in that situation still has the opportunity to play sports is the most rewarding part of the job.

There will also be two other Board members at the game and they will be recognizable because they wear polo shirts with our association logo on them. I wear one also when I observe games at which I am not officiating.

In past years, the Board has kicked out two coaches "for life" on my recommendation. Once when a coach slapped a 6th grade boy across the face during a timeout (he thought it would be OK to do so because it was his kid) and once when a coach pushed a HS kid who was working his game as a rookie ref with us. If that had happened recently, the new Oregon law concerning assaulting a sports official would kick in. As it was over 10 years ago, and the kid wasn't injured, the kid's parents decided to let it go.

And yes, most coaches know I'm also a Board member when I work their games mostly since I introduce myself at the pre-season coaches meeting.

One's a joke and one's not. You guess which one is which.

I think I've only T'd up a few rec Coaches in all my yrs of doing it here. Guess our leagues/coaches are pretty tame compared to other parts of the country.....specifically the upper north-west. Ahem..... ;)

I am looking at a similar situation in our local rec league, which starts Monday.
We have a guy returning after being absent a couple of years. You know the guy. The most ignorant, yet most vocal, all in the same package. In his last stint as coach, he came to the officials after the game to tell them "You guys need to watch the game closer." No kidding. It is a new season. The slate is clean. Perhaps we are all older and wiser. But when you go into the neighborhood with the biting dog, one cannot be blamed for carrying a stick.