Parent behavior

[Little Angels Softball]

Had a rather substantial girl pitching 12U for me one year (about 5'9" and 165 lbs) who was clocking 57 - 59 mph with regularity. We were playing a rival so we knew all the girls on the other team and knew who their parents were. The skinny little SS on the other team had a loud-mouth mom who always got on my pitcher, saying how she was so big and that she drove her own car to the game and that she was a junior in high school and shouldn't be pitching on a 12U team (the girl was in the 7th grade).

This big girl liked to pitch inside to intimidate hitters and every once in awhile she'd hit a girl or at least make one get dirty. She got pretty close to one of the other team's girls and the girl went down (she didn't hit her, though) and that SS's mom jumped up and said, "Get that big ol' bitch out of there! And check her driver's license! She shouldn't be pitching!" The big girl heard her loud and clear.

The next inning, loud mouth's girl comes up to bat. The big girl rears back and unloads a wicked fastball that hits the girl right in the ribs. She had no chance to get out of the way and she just crumples to the ground, gasping for breath and trying to cry. My big pitcher looks up into the stands at loudmouth and gives her a big smirk ... which promptly brings loud mouth on a dead sprint out of the stands and toward the gate to the nearest dugout. The other team's 1B coach has to catch her around the waist and literally throw her to the ground to keep her from getting to our pitcher. I'm not sure what she would have done but the pitcher was bigger than she was, strong as an ox and obviously had a bit of a mean streak in her ... loud mouth may have had her hands full. The umpire threw loud mouth out of the park and we resumed play.

 

[3'sDad]

The flip side of this thread:

Last week DD had to pitch against 4 of her very good friends in a HS State Tournament game; lots on the line. The opposition brought their A+ game that day & DD and her team didn't. The better team that day won by several runs.

Yes - DD was disappointed; but she had pictures taken after the game with her BFF's; posted them and went to dinner with two of the girls.

The parents from both teams stayed together, hung out and rooted for a good, competeive game.

Sometimes adults actually act like adults.

 

[SoGASoftball]

OP, maybe it is just in GA where we have plenty of these problems, but we have security, led by the school resource officers, who would have had a good time tossing the folks down the line who made those remarks to a player.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

Had a rather substantial girl pitching 12U for me one year (about 5'9" and 165 lbs) who was clocking 57 - 59 mph with regularity. We were playing a rival so we knew all the girls on the other team and knew who their parents were. The skinny little SS on the other team had a loud-mouth mom who always got on my pitcher, saying how she was so big and that she drove her own car to the game and that she was a junior in high school and shouldn't be pitching on a 12U team (the girl was in the 7th grade).

This big girl liked to pitch inside to intimidate hitters and every once in awhile she'd hit a girl or at least make one get dirty. She got pretty close to one of the other team's girls and the girl went down (she didn't hit her, though) and that SS's mom jumped up and said, "Get that big ol' bitch out of there! And check her driver's license! She shouldn't be pitching!" The big girl heard her loud and clear.

The next inning, loud mouth's girl comes up to bat. The big girl rears back and unloads a wicked fastball that hits the girl right in the ribs. She had no chance to get out of the way and she just crumples to the ground, gasping for breath and trying to cry. My big pitcher looks up into the stands at loudmouth and gives her a big smirk ... which promptly brings loud mouth on a dead sprint out of the stands and toward the gate to the nearest dugout. The other team's 1B coach has to catch her around the waist and literally throw her to the ground to keep her from getting to our pitcher. I'm not sure what she would have done but the pitcher was bigger than she was, strong as an ox and obviously had a bit of a mean streak in her ... loud mouth may have had her hands full. The umpire threw loud mouth out of the park and we resumed play.

I'd like to think, coach, that (although inside you were probably laughing - as I probably would have too - hate to admit it) you informed your Nolanette Ryan that sometimes players get hit, it's part of the game, but hitting someone on purpose to get back at a loudmouth parent is not acceptable.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

I'd like to think, coach, that (although inside you were probably laughing - as I probably would have too - hate to admit it) you informed your Nolanette Ryan that sometimes players get hit, it's part of the game, but hitting someone on purpose to get back at a loudmouth parent is not acceptable.

We had that discussion immediately between the next innings. I made it as clear as I could while trying my darnedest to keep from smiling.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

We had that discussion immediately between the next innings. I made it as clear as I could while trying my darnedest to keep from smiling.

 

[csmda5]

Had a rather substantial girl pitching 12U for me one year (about 5'9" and 165 lbs) who was clocking 57 - 59 mph with regularity. We were playing a rival so we knew all the girls on the other team and knew who their parents were. The skinny little SS on the other team had a loud-mouth mom who always got on my pitcher, saying how she was so big and that she drove her own car to the game and that she was a junior in high school and shouldn't be pitching on a 12U team (the girl was in the 7th grade).

This big girl liked to pitch inside to intimidate hitters and every once in awhile she'd hit a girl or at least make one get dirty. She got pretty close to one of the other team's girls and the girl went down (she didn't hit her, though) and that SS's mom jumped up and said, "Get that big ol' bitch out of there! And check her driver's license! She shouldn't be pitching!" The big girl heard her loud and clear.

The next inning, loud mouth's girl comes up to bat. The big girl rears back and unloads a wicked fastball that hits the girl right in the ribs. She had no chance to get out of the way and she just crumples to the ground, gasping for breath and trying to cry. My big pitcher looks up into the stands at loudmouth and gives her a big smirk ... which promptly brings loud mouth on a dead sprint out of the stands and toward the gate to the nearest dugout. The other team's 1B coach has to catch her around the waist and literally throw her to the ground to keep her from getting to our pitcher. I'm not sure what she would have done but the pitcher was bigger than she was, strong as an ox and obviously had a bit of a mean streak in her ... loud mouth may have had her hands full. The umpire threw loud mouth out of the park and we resumed play.

I hate this. I feel like I have to bring my daughter's birth certificate in my purse wherever we go. She's in 6th grade, just turned 12 this past month and is already 5'8, late bloomer and still has more growing to do. I am so tired of parents questioning her age, especially when she still has baby fat on her cheeks and doesn't even wear a training bra. It's just sad. I'm tall and so is her father but they just overlook that fact. We haven't even stepped into the travel ball circuit yet, just LL and middle school ball. She throws insanely hard and the couple times she's taken down a batter the parents care more that she's big. If a smaller girl did it there wouldn't be an issue, but because she's bigger than the coaches it's a big deal. She's been heckled many times by other parents and she just turns around and looks at them for a second to let them know she heard. She'll never tell me till we leave because she knows I'll lose it. I just wish people would look at her for what she is and realize she might even be younger than their child. Some parents are aholes.

 

[YOCOACH]

I hate this. I feel like I have to bring my daughter's birth certificate in my purse wherever we go. She's in 6th grade, just turned 12 this past month and is already 5'8, late bloomer and still has more growing to do. I am so tired of parents questioning her age, especially when she still has baby fat on her cheeks and doesn't even wear a training bra. It's just sad. I'm tall and so is her father but they just overlook that fact. We haven't even stepped into the travel ball circuit yet, just LL and middle school ball. She throws insanely hard and the couple times she's taken down a batter the parents care more that she's big. If a smaller girl did it there wouldn't be an issue, but because she's bigger than the coaches it's a big deal. She's been heckled many times by other parents and she just turns around and looks at them for a second to let them know she heard. She'll never tell me till we leave because she knows I'll lose it. I just wish people would look at her for what she is and realize she might even be younger than their child. Some parents are aholes.

We actually did carry around DD's birth certificate to tournaments until we moved to TB.

 

[jwalk]

We have all seen it before. The "bad" parent on the other team, or heck, even your team. The one that over celebrates or constantly gives instructions to all the player because they know more than the coach. Or the gossip parent that knows what #12 did at prom or how late #5 stayed out the night before the big game. We have all been around them.

But...

Have you been to a game where there were insults shouted at your team by the opposing teams parents? That happened to a couple of our players that had the luxury of playing on the side of the field that housed these awesome parents. There was a play in the third inning of our HS Varsity game; Batter pops up ball between 1st & 2nd slicing towards the foul line and in front of the right fielder. 2nd basemen ran as fast as she could to get the ball that was driving out of play. She dives at the ball and the ball tips off the front of her glove and the ball was dropped in foul territory. While she was on the ground one of the parents shouts "Great job #12, way to miss the ball! You suck!" Exact words. The right fielder heard the comment and directly asked the parents who said it only to hear nothing. Nobody took ownership of their lovely comment. Our players returned back to their position and kept playing. The comments kept coming, all game long.

So why do parents feel the need to interject themselves into a game? Does it make them feel better about themselves to comment "you suck" during a game? Unbelievable, and I have seen a bunch of crappy things at games.

This happened to us at a tourney but WE were the supposed "bad parents". We were out in left field enjoying the game, about 10 of us under the tents and one of our girls flew out to left. The left fielder missed it and we didn't think anything of it. We'll she goes and tells the coach we were laughing at her for missing it. One mom on the other team comes over and starts talking to the people next to us and saying how rude we were for laughing at the fielder and the people next to us said I'm not sure what she heard but the people over there didn't say or do anything. but yea, that sucks if that really happened.