This week yet another youth sports physical altercation took place, this time in Northern Virginia where volunteer soccer coach Vince Villanueva was attacked by a dad of one of the players he was coaching. This is certainly not the first time I have examined the physical outbursts witnessed by adults involved in youth sports, as I have previously talked about it here, here, and here. In fact, I could write about these stories weekly, as youth sport violence is only increasing as time passes. Rather than learning from previous mistakes, it seems like adults are more energized, activated, and for some ready to engage in physical violence when they see that their child is being used different than what the parent expected — or not being used at all. Why all the violence in youth sports? And what do we need to do to correct the situation?
The mounting pressure to make it…
As adults continue to wreak havoc on youth sports, kids, coaches, and even officials are feeling the direct impact. When physical violence occurs at youth games, kids learn that if you don’t agree with something, go charge the field and take things into your own hands! Coaches are also impacted, as fewer adults each year want to deal with all the static that comes with being a youth sport coach, leaving kids without proper coaching and oversight — and in some cases, no team to play on without having an adult willing to coach. And finally, there is a national shortage of youth and interscholastic sport officials at the moment, and guess what the #1 reason why this is happening? Of course, it’s out of control parents who regularly humiliate, intimidate, and in some cases physically attack officials.
Yes, the trend of violence witnessed in youth sports is only getting worse, but why? There are a number of theories to examine, beginning with the argument that people today simply do not comply and accept things as they once did — and there’s probably some truth here. But that doesn’t explain all the violence, especially as it applies to youth sports. From my view, the continual focus on making youth sports akin to college and pro sports contributes greatly to the much of aggression we witness. Expanding on this idea, I believe the following components have lead to our current state:
- Youth sports are more serious today, with most kids having opportunities to specialize and/or play their chosen sport year-round. Along with this comes a greater family investment by means of time, energy, and money, arguably leaving parents more on-edge when they see their child being treated unfairly in their eyes.
- With fewer trained coaches and officials (many have left because of out of control parents), some parents become agitated that their child’s coach may not be qualified, or the officials working the game don’t know what they are doing — examples of things that can leave a parent vulnerable to acting out.
- These days, we have almost come to expect vulgarities from the stands, or threats of violence toward coaches and officials. Has this paradigm-shift made it more normal to take things into your own hands?
- There are still relatively light consequences when it comes to violence at youth sports, with only the rare incident involving the police. In most cases these ugly situations are resolved simply by volunteer parents trying to settle things, with the hopes that the league bans the parent from attending future games.
Final thoughts
I wish after the last 20+ years that I could report a decline in violence and aggression witnessed in youth sports, but that simply has not been the case. Yes, more schools and leagues today are implementing protocols to address threats of violence, but these efforts lag behind because of vague crowd rules, lacking personnel to step in when problems occur, and questionable legal issues relating to what and how violent situations can be handled responsibly. No, there is not an easy answer to this disturbing problem, but it is important that we continue to try and improve the situation as youth sports are one of the best, most fun, and positive developmental experiences kids can enjoy today.
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