MN Cop Vents About Abusive Parents At Youth Sporting Events
It's been happening for years and it just seems to be getting worse. Parents at their kid's sporting event abusing the refs and just plain being rowdy and abusive towards, not only the refs but other parents and players.
It's ridiculous and this Detroit Lakes cop has something to say about how these certain parents are "failing their kids".
According to an article from inforum.com, Detroit Lakes Police Sgt. Robert Strand was working a Detroit Lakes Bantam Hockey Tournament this past weekend and witnessed first hand how out of control certain parents were during the games.
On his way out Sgt. Strand was called back into the arena, "Sure enough, got called back into the arena because they said that one of the parents started getting into the faces of other parents," Strand said.
While dealing with some problem parents attending the games a ref made a questionable call which set off more problems for the officer. "As I'm coming in, get a call for a man not breathing, unknown why. Torn. Obviously this is life or death over here and I have unruly parents in here. Not a fun situation to be in," Strand said. "I said, 'Look, I got a guy who is not breathing. I'm not there because I have to be here dealing with you,'" Strand said. "I flat out told them, 'Apparently you forgot how to be a spectators.''
Terry Eiter of the Lakes Area Officials Association, has heard it all before. It's not the players, it's the parents that don't know how to act. It can be embarrassing for a kid to have his parent or parents acting like fools in the bleachers.
"Several times during a contest, a player will say, 'Oh my god that was a good call, ignore my dad up there,' so they are aware of what the parents are saying and it's detrimental to them," Eiter said.
"If you want to see chaos, go to a youth tournament. They let new officials, typically who are reffing those games, know how they feel," Eiter said about his experiences with parents while officiating games. "They are abusive towards them and they say, 'Yeah I'm done. I'm not going to take this.'"
Sgt. Strand went to the medical emergency and once he was finished up there he had to return to the arena to escort the officials out. He had some very poignant words to share "My generation as parents, we're failing. We're not teaching the lessons we learned from our parents and carrying them on to our children," he said.
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