When I went to the rink on Friday night, there was a kids tournament going on. I think it might have been Pee Wees. The kids were about 11 years old and it was a checking game (thought there wasn't a lot of checking going on). I stood there watching the game for awhile, but soon
found myself paying more attention to the parents in the stands. The one that got my particular attention was a woman standing at the glass, shooting photos with a very expensive long lensed camera, shouting intermittent encouragement to her son on the ice. When I say "encouragement" let me illustrate what I mean. She yells, "Timmy, pass the puck, pass the puck!" The kid hears her and does a blind pass to nowhere, at which point she yells, "Who the hell were you passing to, Timmy?!" This was followed by other encouragement, such as "Why are you changing up? That kid sucks!" Aah...sports parents. It's hard not to laugh, but I have to wonder how scarred the kid gets. I played in quite a few team sports when I was a kid, and I feel very fortunate that my parents never behaved like that. It would have embarrassed the hell out of me. My mom and dad it to a lot of games and drove me to many practices. My dad was always there at the beginning of soccer games, where he'd hoist me up on his shoulders so we could hang the soccer nets for the first game of the day. He'd often run lines, even though I don't think he really "got" soccer. At baseball practice, though he wasn't a coach, he wasn't beyond hitting fly balls to us during warm up. All of that time next to the playing field, and I don't ever remember hearing him yell at me or anyone else on my team. I guess I was really lucky.
I'm working a short day today, then leaving directly from here to go to LAX. I abhor flying out of LAX, but I couldn't get to Canada from Burbank without a stop. The weather here is warming up again, but I see it's cold and wet in British Columbia. Wally will be looked after by my friend, his Auntie Madeline. I'm sure he'll be spoiled and a few pounds heavier when I return.
found myself paying more attention to the parents in the stands. The one that got my particular attention was a woman standing at the glass, shooting photos with a very expensive long lensed camera, shouting intermittent encouragement to her son on the ice. When I say "encouragement" let me illustrate what I mean. She yells, "Timmy, pass the puck, pass the puck!" The kid hears her and does a blind pass to nowhere, at which point she yells, "Who the hell were you passing to, Timmy?!" This was followed by other encouragement, such as "Why are you changing up? That kid sucks!" Aah...sports parents. It's hard not to laugh, but I have to wonder how scarred the kid gets. I played in quite a few team sports when I was a kid, and I feel very fortunate that my parents never behaved like that. It would have embarrassed the hell out of me. My mom and dad it to a lot of games and drove me to many practices. My dad was always there at the beginning of soccer games, where he'd hoist me up on his shoulders so we could hang the soccer nets for the first game of the day. He'd often run lines, even though I don't think he really "got" soccer. At baseball practice, though he wasn't a coach, he wasn't beyond hitting fly balls to us during warm up. All of that time next to the playing field, and I don't ever remember hearing him yell at me or anyone else on my team. I guess I was really lucky.I'm working a short day today, then leaving directly from here to go to LAX. I abhor flying out of LAX, but I couldn't get to Canada from Burbank without a stop. The weather here is warming up again, but I see it's cold and wet in British Columbia. Wally will be looked after by my friend, his Auntie Madeline. I'm sure he'll be spoiled and a few pounds heavier when I return.
posted by EditThis at 2:37 PM
3 Comments:
I pity the adults who think they are going to find immortality through their kids' sports exploits . . .
I hope Wally has fun with Madeline and his Great Dane gal pal, who is named after a bay in Jamaica . . .
Have fun boarding - I'm sitting having eaten a piece of pizza and a salad feeling like a huge pig . . .
I also was vey fortunate that my parents never acted that way. I always felt bad for kids who had parents like that. I also was very fortunate that my parents never missed my games.
Have a fun trip.
My brother and I played sports all while we were growing up and my dad was always a coach. As it was, my brother and I were in different leagues because of our age, so my dad switched each year so he could coach both of us. He never yelled at us or any of his players, which was one of the reasons why everyone wanted to play on my dad's teams. Even better, my mom worked in the snack bar, so we always got to eat for free afterwards. I had the best time growing up in that environment. Shame on the parents of today who are ruining the experience for their kids.
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