Don't Be "That" Parent At Your Kid's Soccer Game

By Ben Glass, Esquire

Benjamin W. Glass and Associates

. https://www.benglasslaw.com/

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Don't Be "That" Parent At Your Kid's Soccer Game

My son Matt (14) absolutely loves soccer. I've experienced every side of it (parent, coach, player, referee, you name it), so I always look forward to his matches. But as we all know, when it comes to youth sports leagues, there can be some behavioral issues… from the parents, that is! Here are nine tips on how not to be “that” parent at your next youth sporting event

You will get good referees and you will get bad referees. As the parent of a team playing one of hundreds of games on any given day, you can expect more bad than good. It's just math.

Bad referees don't even know they are bad, so yelling at them does nothing to change the game for you.

What yelling at a referee CAN change is the attitude the players have toward match officials and adults in general. Read that again and think about it for a moment.

Nothing good can come from engaging the other team's parents in a negative way. On the other hand, walking up to one of them before a game and introducing yourself would be cool, unexpected and amazing.

If the other team's parents are jerks, remember #4.

You should cheer positively for your players. And stop there.

You should never cheer a yellow or red card that a 14-year-old opponent gets. That's somebody's child who just made a mistake.

At the end of the day we are developing citizens of the world is what you are about to say to a match official, parent, or player moving toward THAT goal?

Refereeing is hard. It's easy to sign up to take the course to learn how hard it really is!

I've been a referee myself, and I can tell you it ain't easy. So, go easy on them, soccer parents of Virginia. I guarantee you that it will make your kids' games a lot more fun, and that you'll wonder why you ever saw the world differently before.