Does this exist everywhere? Am i crazy to think they should be removed? Am i wrong?

[Jquick823]

This weekend i ran into a team that complained MORE THAN ANY TEAM I'VE EVER SEEN!!! I promise you it started before the first pitch. My 12U girls like to cheer and i encourage it, nothing crazy just what you hear everywhere. Pitcher throws a ball they cheer low rider pitch a little higher. No team has ever complained to me about the cheering before so i was a bit shocked when the manager of the other team asked me to quiet my girls down. Here is what he basically said.

Hey coach can you tell your girls to cheer in between pitches because it's distracting my pitcher. The complaint was that the voices of my girls were spiking during her arm circle, i never pay attention to this because i would rather have ear plugs in than listen to these cheers. I caught it and addressed my team in a way everyone could tell i addressed it. (to me it was the right thing to do in hopes the fans of the other team settled down a bit). I did however tell the girls to cheer away and be loud but be loud the whole time. I told the coach i won't tell them not to cheer as their is no rule in USSSA against it. By the 2nd inning i have parents on the fence cussing at me, coaches telling me and my players that we are classless and we should be ashamed for directing the cheering at their pitcher. We don't use noise makers or bats or anything except voices, hands and feet to cheer.

The game progresses and the parents of this team amp up their cheering, you know the kind that all 12U girls need to hear. My favorite was (Hey coach you F...... Moron you don't have the Softballs to tell your girls to stop you P...Y) I told the coach that his fans can yell away i've been married for 15 years and i've heard it all before. My wife spit her coffee out she laughed so hard.

Later in the game our pitcher hit a girl on the elbow and she took 5 steps toward our pitcher with the bat staring at her. Yeah it was the coaches daughter that complained all game. When he told me that it was his daughter i didn't bat an eye at it and neither did our girls. Our girls did the all for one go softball chant at the end while the other team complained while packing up their stuff. One coach looked and said see they are doing it still to the tournament director who laughed and said that team does that chant after every game for the last 3 seasons.

This was unbelievable to me how unclassy this other team was and i feel for the girls. But I ask....

Does this happen elsewhere at the 12U level? I get 18U i've seen things there but not 12U

Am i crazy in that i contimplated asking for the removal of their team from the rest of the tournament because the umpires did nothing? It happened on Sunday in elimination play as well with the next team they played.

Am i wrong somehow in this?

 

[CoogansBluff]

Not a fan of the ''low rider'' cheer or any cheer that could be construed as taunting the pitcher or the other team. So I can understand why another team might take issue with it. But 98 percent of teams/coaches/pitchers that are annoyed by this have learned to ignore it, or to approach the opposing coach in a friendly way about it. But that would be asking for adults to act like adults.

Was the umpire aware of the spectator behavior (ie, insults, cursing)? Would like to think that blue would deal with that.

 

[Jquick823]

Umpire was aware and did nothing except warn the other team several times. Kept saying the girls are a product of their coaches and parents.

Maybe it's because i hear it 12 hours a day every weekend, but both teams do these cheers and maybe i'm immune to it being directed at the pitcher or anyone else. But that being said, any cheer you do is in fact directed at the person/player in the circle. That circle is lonely.

 

[mosftballdad]

I'm so glad my DD is past the cheering phase of the 12's and under. They still cheer just not the obnoxious ones. My girls always did the way to low bring it up a little higher chant. The only time I objected to a team's cheer was when a pitcher threw close to a batter and the chant turned to something like - if you hit her we're coming after you with bats. Let them cheer and have fun as long as they are not being directly hateful or threatening to the other team. Girls get louder as the pitcher pitches...it happens with every team around here. My DD actually likes it when they get louder when cheering...kinda spurs her on.

 

[coachjwb]

I am also not a fan of any cheer directed at the other team or individual players on the other team. In my opinion, all cheers should be positive and directed at encouraging members of your own team. As coaches of youth players, we have the responsibility to teach them how to play with sportsmanship and respect. Like others, I try to ignore it when the other team does it and encourage my players to do the same, and I wouldn't be supportive of parents of our players personally attacking the team doing it. But I also will not tolerate my players doing it back in retaliation. My teams will always play with class and respect, or they won't play for me.

Jquick ... while I understand your being upset with the way the other team acted, I would encourage you to take a step back and reflect on whether there are some things your own team can do to lessen the chance you'll run into this again.

Just my opinion ...

 

[JJsqueeze]

Chatter don't cheer. I personally think most cheering is annoying and the girls do it on autopilot by 12 U so it has lost it's charm. At 8s and 10s I think they enjoy it, by 12 I think even they are mostly annoyed by it.

Any cheering that is aimed at distracting a pitcher is stupid and I don't see why coaches put up with it, it doesn't work and it just seems so low brow.

The fact that the other team was so on you about this leads to me believe that maybe your girls were over cheering and making a spectacle of themselves. If they were trying to distract the pitcher with cheers then it is just low class. But the other team swearing is even lower class so maybe it was a good ol fashioned muddy pig wresting contest and everyone got appropriately dirty. I personally like the teams that quietly go about their business with a good attitude but no forced/robotic cheering. My DDs coach encourages them to cheer and we both dislike it, DD shoots me looks like "really? were going to do the pee wee power crap for the thousandth time?" It's our inside joke at this point.

 

[Jquick823]

I did take a step back and i looked at it and told them to cheer hard but the entire game not just when she was pitching as that is low class and uncalled for. I don't teach that to these girls nor would i tolerate harrasing like that. This is the first time this was ever an issue, i have the emails from multiple coaches, umpires, directors of how classy our girls are and that is why i was taken back by this. I think the cheering is robotic and annoying but the girls seem to like doing it so they do it. If i thought it was intentional and malicious in nature they wouldn't play for me, i'm not that way.

I don't like the quiet dugout, it's not quiet in college and they are banging drums in the dugout or hitting the microphone with the bat it's so loud at times. So if D1 can do it why can't 12U?

 

[coachjwb]

Cheering is absolutely a part of the girls fastpitch game ... while it gives me a headache sometimes, I get it and think its kinda neat!

With that being said, I haven't been to a lot of D1 college games, but I have been to hundreds of D3 ones and I may have missed some things, but I can't say I ever heard anything negative towards or trying to overly distract opponents while in pitching motion or batting swing. Coaches don't want that kind of stuff to negatively reflect on them and their programs, and thankfully most girls know that it's not acceptable by the time they get to college. Am not saying your team did something wrong jquick, but I think the most important thing for someone to take away from this thread isn't how this particular team's parents reacted poorly, but what we as coaches have the responsibility to teach our players.

 

[NorthMS]

Cheering is fine. I don't allow any cheer directed at the other team. Period. You can cheer without it being directed at the other team. If they mean harm or not, you can not deny that cheer is directed at the other team.

As to the actions you described, that's completely unacceptable and the Umpire and/or TD should have responded.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Was this a rec league team playing in a tournament for the first time? Was there a big disparity between your teams in terms of talent and skill? I've heard that cheer more times than I can remember from our side and our opponents, and I've never seen anyone react that way. There must have been something else going on to provoke that kind of reaction.