Request for the Moderator

[Cujo]

Half your posts are personal tales of your accomplishments. The fact that you now try to deny it is simply laughable. See: I'm laughing at you:

What tales of personal accomplishment? I point out that I have played for teams that lost every game and teams that have won every game. Underlying those statements is the basic message of love for competition. I consider myself to be a teacher of athletes. I don't just teach the technical portion of the game but the portion of the game that lies within the student (athletes) mind. If you want to better understand this read "The Inner Game of Tennis". I only bring up my experiences as an athlete because they are relevant to what a coach imparts to a young athlete but more importantly HOW it is imparted. Again, if I have to EXPLAIN this it kind of defeats the purpose. I rail against the current culture of youth sports because every competition has the following components (involving at least one parent and usually more):

1) Fans who scream at opposing players because they believe their child's opponent is obtaining an unfair advantage due to aggression and playing outside the rules
2) Fans who rail at referees about judgment calls or who believe that the ref is favoring one team over the other. Frequently these fans do not understand the laws of the game.
3) Fans who criticize (usually subtly but sometimes loudly) their child's teammates and who increasingly believe during the course of a game that their child is being "cheated" on the field by her teammates
4) Fans who criticize their child's coach, again, subtly or loudly, for one and/or two reasons: a) their child is not playing enough, b) their team is losing, c) the team system of play
5) Fans who rail at offside determinations even though they are completely out of position to make such a judgment. It is like trying to call balls and strikes based on MLB camera positions in center field (they are off center)
6) Fans who encourage players on their child's team to "take out" an opponent to make up for something a ref didn't call

I have spent the last 20 years as a spectator, coach, player, official and I have seen one or more (and with alarming frequency, all) of the behaviors described above, displayed. Every tournament I have been to I have seen at least one out of control situation that was at a minimum embarassing and sometimes, frightening. Yet here we have guests and trolls who respond with incredulity and deny that a problem exists. I would not be such a one note wonder on this issue if I could at least get the feeling that SOME of you understand that we are facing a turning point in youth sports. It is rapidly becoming a pure business with parents turning their children into statistical athletic assets. Mercenaries who team-shop to find the holy grail that will deliver a scholarship or resume accolades. Increasingly it has become a playground dominated by the well to do. Personal trainers, personal coaches, 3 trips per year to National tournaments. The posts defending and justifying Hope Solo's shocking and disgraceful and to put a finer point on it, poor teamsmanship and poor sportsmanship; really shocked me. But they also drove home the point to me that many many parents truly lack a fundamental understanding of what sports is and should be about. In their world Hope Solo's needs as an athlete were more important than her teammates, her coaches, or her team. These posters supporting here are merely projecting how they would react if placed in the same situation or how they would encourage their daughter to act if placed in the same situation. You, the parent, are NOT partners in your childs athletic experience, you are a facilitator, nothing more and nothing less. Until this concept is driven home and accepted youth sports will continue to decline into a boutique product that is driven primarily by money. Somewhere down on the bottom end of the hierarchy - passion and enjoyment of competition will languish as a quaint afterthought. If you think that I am a jerk and a blowhard or WHATEVER for believing this and standing up for it then I stand accused.

What tales of personal accomplishment?

This is your main problem. 99% of your posts are referencing personal experiences that somehow fit every situation presented, thats why the name Forrest Gump was used by someone earlier.

You, the parent, are NOT partners in your childs athletic experience, you are a facilitator, nothing more and nothing less.

What an obtuse statement. The athletic experience is merely a chapter in the childs growth and to say parents arent partners in their childs lives is ridiculous.

As a player I helped my OTHSL team get to D2 and then was smart enough to realize that someone else should take them the rest of the way. Several posters in here saw me play for the Kickers so I don't have to evaluate myself - some may have even played against my teams.

I'll vouch for this; I posted on this previously, and anonymously. Cujo was pretty good, especially I thought at positioning his defenders, and I enjoyed watching the Kickers play. There's a lot of talent on those OTHSL teams--amazing how well the 40-somethings can still play.

BTW, if posting anonymously makes me a troll, so be it. I prefer anonymity! :)

[Cujo]

What tales of personal accomplishment?

This is your main problem. 99% of your posts are referencing personal experiences that somehow fit every situation presented, thats why the name Forrest Gump was used by someone earlier.

You, the parent, are NOT partners in your childs athletic experience, you are a facilitator, nothing more and nothing less.

What an obtuse statement. The athletic experience is merely a chapter in the childs growth and to say parents arent partners in their childs lives is ridiculous.

You are partners in the social structure that surrounds the events, i.e. family time together on the way to the games in the minivans or grabbing a burger at Friendly's afterwards. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about what happens "between the lines". What is so hard to understand about the difference.

As a player I helped my OTHSL team get to D2 and then was smart enough to realize that someone else should take them the rest of the way. Several posters in here saw me play for the Kickers so I don't have to evaluate myself - some may have even played against my teams.

I'll vouch for this; I posted on this previously, and anonymously. Cujo was pretty good, especially I thought at positioning his defenders, and I enjoyed watching the Kickers play. There's a lot of talent on those OTHSL teams--amazing how well the 40-somethings can still play.

BTW, if posting anonymously makes me a troll, so be it. I prefer anonymity! :)

Before they moved to the North, they were the whiniest bunch of SOB's in the league. But Cujo must have been happy: there were no parents on the sidelines.

[Cujo]

As a player I helped my OTHSL team get to D2 and then was smart enough to realize that someone else should take them the rest of the way. Several posters in here saw me play for the Kickers so I don't have to evaluate myself - some may have even played against my teams.

I'll vouch for this; I posted on this previously, and anonymously. Cujo was pretty good, especially I thought at positioning his defenders, and I enjoyed watching the Kickers play. There's a lot of talent on those OTHSL teams--amazing how well the 40-somethings can still play.

BTW, if posting anonymously makes me a troll, so be it. I prefer anonymity! :)

The 50 somethings are really amazing. Those guys still get it done.

BTW - Not all guests are trolls and not all trolls are guests.

[Cujo]

As a player I helped my OTHSL team get to D2 and then was smart enough to realize that someone else should take them the rest of the way. Several posters in here saw me play for the Kickers so I don't have to evaluate myself - some may have even played against my teams.

I'll vouch for this; I posted on this previously, and anonymously. Cujo was pretty good, especially I thought at positioning his defenders, and I enjoyed watching the Kickers play. There's a lot of talent on those OTHSL teams--amazing how well the 40-somethings can still play.

BTW, if posting anonymously makes me a troll, so be it. I prefer anonymity! :)

Before they moved to the North, they were the whiniest bunch of SOB's in the league. But Cujo must have been happy: there were no parents on the sidelines.

I will grant you that our SWEEPER was whiny. That was it though. And at least we weren't dirty like Sudbury or Malaga.

As a player I helped my OTHSL team get to D2 and then was smart enough to realize that someone else should take them the rest of the way. Several posters in here saw me play for the Kickers so I don't have to evaluate myself - some may have even played against my teams.

I'll vouch for this; I posted on this previously, and anonymously. Cujo was pretty good, especially I thought at positioning his defenders, and I enjoyed watching the Kickers play. There's a lot of talent on those OTHSL teams--amazing how well the 40-somethings can still play.

BTW, if posting anonymously makes me a troll, so be it. I prefer anonymity! :)

Before they moved to the North, they were the whiniest bunch of SOB's in the league. But Cujo must have been happy: there were no parents on the sidelines.

I will grant you that our SWEEPER was whiny. That was it though. And at least we weren't dirty like Sudbury or Malaga.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

I never found Sudbury dirty. Malaga were nasty, and had the worst pitch in the league.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

I'll vouch for that, too, including at least one time when two players almost came to blows--over a substitution, I believe. :?

[Cujo]

As a player I helped my OTHSL team get to D2 and then was smart enough to realize that someone else should take them the rest of the way. Several posters in here saw me play for the Kickers so I don't have to evaluate myself - some may have even played against my teams.

I'll vouch for this; I posted on this previously, and anonymously. Cujo was pretty good, especially I thought at positioning his defenders, and I enjoyed watching the Kickers play. There's a lot of talent on those OTHSL teams--amazing how well the 40-somethings can still play.

BTW, if posting anonymously makes me a troll, so be it. I prefer anonymity! :)

Before they moved to the North, they were the whiniest bunch of SOB's in the league. But Cujo must have been happy: there were no parents on the sidelines.

I will grant you that our SWEEPER was whiny. That was it though. And at least we weren't dirty like Sudbury or Malaga.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

I never found Sudbury dirty. Malaga were nasty, and had the worst pitch in the league.

The balding - chunky short forward for Sudbury was the dirtiest player in the league - cleated me twice in the quad in the same game on balls above the waist. Our sweeper was the cause of all the yelling. Great player but a total pain in the butt. The Malaga field in Watertown/Newton line was the worst. We had to play HS games there too.

[Cujo]

[.[/quote]

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

[/quote]

We rose from D5 to D1 in two years so when was it that those two goal leads actually happened.

[.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

[/quote]

We rose from D5 to D1 in two years so when was it that those two goal leads actually happened.[/quote]

Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember playing Belmont for 3 or 4 years in the south section from amomg divisions 3, 4, 5.

[Cujo]

[.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

We rose from D5 to D1 in two years so when was it that those two goal leads actually happened.[/quote]

Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember playing Belmont for 3 or 4 years in the south section from amomg divisions 3, 4, 5.[/quote]

it is on the web OTHSL.org - rose to d1 but fell back to d2. They were 5 back when I started playing for them. I left when we made it to 2 and blew out my shoulder.

[.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

We rose from D5 to D1 in two years so when was it that those two goal leads actually happened.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember playing Belmont for 3 or 4 years in the south section from amomg divisions 3, 4, 5.[/quote]

it is on the web OTHSL.org - rose to d1 but fell back to d2. They were 5 back when I started playing for them. I left when we made it to 2 and blew out my shoulder.[/quote]

Maybe when you moved to the north. In the south it was definately several years in & around div 4.

[Cujo]

[.

Sweeper. Forwards. It was many players. It was fun to get a couple of goals up on Belmont and listen to their players start yelling at each other.

We rose from D5 to D1 in two years so when was it that those two goal leads actually happened.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember playing Belmont for 3 or 4 years in the south section from amomg divisions 3, 4, 5.

it is on the web OTHSL.org - rose to d1 but fell back to d2. They were 5 back when I started playing for them. I left when we made it to 2 and blew out my shoulder.[/quote]

Maybe when you moved to the north. In the south it was definately several years in & around div 4.[/quote]

I think I played one year in the south - if I remember it was 2002?? Stoughton Brockton, Holliston, Concord and Sudbury?? We played Malaga when we moved to North.