Trying Hard Not to be one of THOSE Parents

Last night, Clancy had a t-ball game out at the Leander-Cedar Park complex. Because this was a make-up game from Saturday's rain-out, they played on the field where Chandler normally plays her softball games. We were sitting in the bleachers next to our friends Gary and Krista and made the comment to them about how the fans aren't quite as intense at this field during t-ball as they are during the coach pitch games that Chandler plays in. After we got home from the game, I thought back to that comment and felt a bit convicted about how I might be contributing to some of that intensity that occurs during those games.

I look back at the tournament Chandler's team (the Red Raiders) played in out at Oak Hill last weekend and something that happened at the end of the first game. The Red Raiders went into the bottom of the inning tied with one out and a runner on third. The batter hit the ball off of her foot but it still rolled out far enough out in front of homeplate to give the runner on third time to score the winning run. The ball should have been called a foul ball since it hit her foot. As the runner was crossing the plate, I was standing by the first base side and yelled (quite loudly) towards the umpire "that was a foul ball, it hit her foot." You should have seen the look the first base coach from the opposing team shot me. Not that it mattered what I said, the ump wasn't going to change his call.

This is where I get a bit dumber, as I was helping Chandler gather up her equipment, I proceeded to tell her how her team got "homered" by the local Oak Hill umpire ... not once, but a few times. Never once did I tell her, "you guys played really hard, it was a tough loss, but if you keep playing hard, you will win some of those close games." The last thing I want to do is instill a mentality in her that it's someone else's fault everytime her team loses a game. I guess the good thing is that Chandler typically ignores about 99 percent of what I say.

The bottom line is that youth sports, 7/8 year old girls softball or any other, is increasingly becoming more of a parent showcase rather than a venue for the kids to have fun. I've got to do a better job making sure I'm not evolving into one of THOSE parents.