Having a long-time interest in ACC sports, I recall vividly watching the 1978 Gator Bowl in which the Clemson Tigers faced Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State, coached by the legendary Woody Hayes. With about two minutes remaining in the game, OSU was poised to score and take the lead when the Buckeye quarterback threw an interception. The recipient of that errant throw was Clemson’s Charlie Bauman, who eluded a number of tackles before getting knocked down out of bounds along the OSU sideline. As Bauman got to his feet, Hayes punched him in the throat and continued the beating until he was pulled away. Hayes was later fired for the incident. Well, that was then, and this is now. Back then players, coaches, and fans did lots of macho stuff like fighting and spitting, but thank goodness we’re more civilized today. NOT! If anything, incidents of bad behavior at all levels of youth sports are far worse and far more frequent than ever before.
Last month, 38-year-old Daniel Fazio, coach of a youth football team in Connecticut, shoved an opposing player to the ground. The player was all of 7 years old.
That same week, federal civil rights charges were filed against the football coach at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio. He was charged with allowing hazing and assault of his own players during a football camping trip, then covering it up. As it turns out, that same coach was also accused of abusive behavior at his previous coaching job, including threatening to burn down the home of one of his players.
Also, last month, a Rhode Island High School coach was sentenced to probation for having his players strip naked so he could perform a hands-on inspection for body fat. Although that perverse behavior didn’t result in any physical harm to the players, it was abuse, nonetheless.
None of this comes as a surprise to researchers at UNCG and Stanford, who earlier this year released the results of a joint study on the health and wellness of college-age athletes. They concluded that one in five coaches are abusive to the kids in their charge. For mathematically challenged individuals such as myself, that means 20% of coaches inflict physical or emotional damage on their players.
OK, so much for coaches, now let’s turn to parents and fans. In October of 2023, the coach of a youth football team in St. Louis was shot four times by a parent who was angry that his son wasn’t getting enough playing time. USA Today’s Stephen Borelli reported a number of similar incidents that same year in Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, and California.
In February of this year, a Seattle dad was arrested for shoving two ice hockey referees to the ground for calls they made against his son. The man was 38 years old, and the volunteer refs he assaulted were 12 and 14 years old.
Increasingly, volunteers who officiate youth games are frequent targets of parental violence, so much so that there is now a nationwide shortage of men and women who want to referee youth sports. This is backed up by a report from the National Association of Sports Officials, in which 50% of all referees and umpires feel unsafe while doing their job.
And that brings me to the players themselves.
Last week, North Carolina A&T football coach Shawn Gibbs dropped one of his players from the team for squirting water at the opposing coach in a game against N.C. Central. Gibbs referred to the incident as an “issue with team culture.”
Team culture is also a problem at Smith High School, where two recent games had to be called off early due to violence.
Back in August, while competing against Northwest Cabarrus in the Mount Tabor football jamboree, Smith players got into two separate fights along the Northwest sideline. Then, last month, in a game against High Point Andrews, a Smith player punched a referee in the head. Following that incident, Que Tucker, commissioner of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, issued a press release saying, “A concerning rise in ejections related to unsportsmanlike behavior this year undermines the values of education-based athletics.”
I agree with Tucker’s rather obvious conclusion, but I doubt that isolated and individual suspensions of players and coaches are going to change the current culture of violence in youth sports. Certainly, fans and parents who assault players, coaches, and referees can be dealt with by the courts, but I fear that the only way to break the cycle of on-field violence is to severely penalize entire programs. In the case of Smith High School, it might be time to suspend the remainder of their football season altogether.
In explaining the rise in bad behavior among players, coaches, and fans involved with youth sports, Todd Nelson, a member of the N.Y. State Public High School Athletic Association, told USA Today, “We’ve lost some decorum in our society.” Nelson is correct, and we have social media and vitriolic elected officials to blame. Ten years ago, you never would have seen a grown woman take a home run ball away from a child. You also didn’t used to see as much road rage, and political debates used to be more civil. Folks today seem to be more empowered to feel more entitled, and that’s just not a good formula for how we should treat one another.
The one thing all sports have in common is that participants must follow a specific set of rules. Too often, though, the one rule they forget to follow is the golden one.
What’s Up With Youth Sports?
Having a long-time interest in ACC sports, I recall vividly watching the 1978 Gator Bowl in which the Clemson Tigers faced Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State, coached by the legendary Woody Hayes. With about two minutes remaining in the game, OSU was poised to score and take the lead when the Buckeye quarterback threw an interception. The recipient of that errant throw was Clemson’s Charlie Bauman, who eluded a number of tackles before getting knocked down out of bounds along the OSU sideline. As Bauman got to his feet, Hayes punched him in the throat and continued the beating until he was pulled away. Hayes was later fired for the incident. Well, that was then, and this is now. Back then players, coaches, and fans did lots of macho stuff like fighting and spitting, but thank goodness we’re more civilized today. NOT! If anything, incidents of bad behavior at all levels of youth sports are far worse and far more frequent than ever before.
Last month, 38-year-old Daniel Fazio, coach of a youth football team in Connecticut, shoved an opposing player to the ground. The player was all of 7 years old.
That same week, federal civil rights charges were filed against the football coach at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio. He was charged with allowing hazing and assault of his own players during a football camping trip, then covering it up. As it turns out, that same coach was also accused of abusive behavior at his previous coaching job, including threatening to burn down the home of one of his players.
Also, last month, a Rhode Island High School coach was sentenced to probation for having his players strip naked so he could perform a hands-on inspection for body fat. Although that perverse behavior didn’t result in any physical harm to the players, it was abuse, nonetheless.
None of this comes as a surprise to researchers at UNCG and Stanford, who earlier this year released the results of a joint study on the health and wellness of college-age athletes. They concluded that one in five coaches are abusive to the kids in their charge. For mathematically challenged individuals such as myself, that means 20% of coaches inflict physical or emotional damage on their players.
OK, so much for coaches, now let’s turn to parents and fans. In October of 2023, the coach of a youth football team in St. Louis was shot four times by a parent who was angry that his son wasn’t getting enough playing time. USA Today’s Stephen Borelli reported a number of similar incidents that same year in Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, and California.
In February of this year, a Seattle dad was arrested for shoving two ice hockey referees to the ground for calls they made against his son. The man was 38 years old, and the volunteer refs he assaulted were 12 and 14 years old.
Increasingly, volunteers who officiate youth games are frequent targets of parental violence, so much so that there is now a nationwide shortage of men and women who want to referee youth sports. This is backed up by a report from the National Association of Sports Officials, in which 50% of all referees and umpires feel unsafe while doing their job.
And that brings me to the players themselves.
Last week, North Carolina A&T football coach Shawn Gibbs dropped one of his players from the team for squirting water at the opposing coach in a game against N.C. Central. Gibbs referred to the incident as an “issue with team culture.”
Team culture is also a problem at Smith High School, where two recent games had to be called off early due to violence.
Back in August, while competing against Northwest Cabarrus in the Mount Tabor football jamboree, Smith players got into two separate fights along the Northwest sideline. Then, last month, in a game against High Point Andrews, a Smith player punched a referee in the head. Following that incident, Que Tucker, commissioner of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, issued a press release saying, “A concerning rise in ejections related to unsportsmanlike behavior this year undermines the values of education-based athletics.”
I agree with Tucker’s rather obvious conclusion, but I doubt that isolated and individual suspensions of players and coaches are going to change the current culture of violence in youth sports. Certainly, fans and parents who assault players, coaches, and referees can be dealt with by the courts, but I fear that the only way to break the cycle of on-field violence is to severely penalize entire programs. In the case of Smith High School, it might be time to suspend the remainder of their football season altogether.
In explaining the rise in bad behavior among players, coaches, and fans involved with youth sports, Todd Nelson, a member of the N.Y. State Public High School Athletic Association, told USA Today, “We’ve lost some decorum in our society.” Nelson is correct, and we have social media and vitriolic elected officials to blame. Ten years ago, you never would have seen a grown woman take a home run ball away from a child. You also didn’t used to see as much road rage, and political debates used to be more civil. Folks today seem to be more empowered to feel more entitled, and that’s just not a good formula for how we should treat one another.
The one thing all sports have in common is that participants must follow a specific set of rules. Too often, though, the one rule they forget to follow is the golden one.