About those locking gates on the dugouts

ME: "Why do you need locking gates on the dugouts? Afraid of vandalism?"

COACH: "H*** no. It's to keep the parents out."

Funny/scary story. I took DD to a tryout last week for a very high level team here in GA. There was this one mom (very visible in a hot pink t-shirt) who literally was pacing around wringing her hands the entire 3 hours. At one point, her kid (who BTW was a pitcher AND a catcher) said to Mom "my catching helmet broke." Apparently, one of the screws came loose. Mom was practically hyperventilating and went INTO THE DUGOUT and was messing around with the helmet trying to fix it. She then paced even faster, asking the kid through the fence about 650 times whether the helmet was ok. Kid was visibly annoyed. I was sitting back figuratively eating popcorn watching this and thinking that this lady was so oblivious if she thought the coaches didn't notice.

CMMom1740 said:

Funny/scary story. I took DD to a tryout last week for a very high level team here in GA. There was this one mom (very visible in a hot pink t-shirt) who literally was pacing around wringing her hands the entire 3 hours. At one point, her kid (who BTW was a pitcher AND a catcher) said to Mom "my catching helmet broke." Apparently, one of the screws came loose. Mom was practically hyperventilating and went INTO THE DUGOUT and was messing around with the helmet trying to fix it. She then paced even faster, asking the kid through the fence about 650 times whether the helmet was ok. Kid was visibly annoyed. I was sitting back figuratively eating popcorn watching this and thinking that this lady was so oblivious if she thought the coaches didn't notice.

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Gotta ask, what age group. If it's anything over 12U, god help this poor girl.

16U, believe it or not!

I changed my policy this year to have NO parents/friends in the dugouts during practice or games UNLESS a.) They are asked in because of a medical situation, b.) The kid asks first, but I encourage them to go outside the dugout instead (so long as they ask to instead of just going), or c.) It's a legitimate reason (tell a parent about what time we end vs. yelling, bathroom, etc). Surprisingly, it has worked very well, but in the past it has been a worthless cause (primarily because in the past, I had very disrespectful girls who thought rules were just lip exercises and who knew they could get away with anything because we had just enough to play, so they wouldn't be punished - this year I have 14 girls for a 16U team, so I can sit whoever I want based on what they choose to do).