Oh boy - I can hardly wait

[Mark Padgett]

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.