Will there be bad parent behavior at a four-year-olds soccer game?

You’ve heard the stories. You may have even seen it in person. A parent acts out at one of their child’s sports games. It’s shocking, but not surprising, when it happens. Everyone is embarrassed by the behavior—including the adult doing it. And yet it keeps happening.

I coached ten of my daughter's softball and basketball teams. I only had a few rules, but the main one was for everyone to have fun. The kids were pretty good with this. I think even at a young age, they realized they wouldn't be the next Michael Jordan. Too bad many of their parents didn't realize that, too.

One mother told me that her twelve-year-old daughter needed to play guard instead of forward because a college scout was there to watch her play. After the game, mom got in my face because her girl, the guard, turned the ball over on the final play with a chance to win the game. Sure, then she wanted her to play close to the basket. Not exactly Jordanesque.

Through the years, I’ve seen coaches get ejected from games and parents kicked out of a gym for berating young referees and umpires. It could have been worse. At least no one threatened an official with a gun—and that’s happened more than a few times at these games.

The first and worst thing I saw was when my daughter was in kindergarten. She played on a t-ball softball team made up of five and six-year-old girls. One time, one of the girls hit a ball that ended up in front of home plate—not unusual for kids of that age. She wasn't sure if it was a fair or foul ball, so she didn't run—she stayed frozen in the batter’s box. One of her teammates’ fathers was standing behind the screen and yelled at her, “Run, you little c-word, run.” Except he used the actual word. Now, usually I’m a calm person. It takes a lot to get me riled up—especially at a young kid’s sports game. But I was so stunned by what I heard that I grabbed him by the shirt, pushed him against the fence and told him loudly that I better not hear another word from him the rest of the season—and I didn't. In fact, he apologized every time I saw him for years afterward.

The reason for today's exercise on bad sports parenting is the girl who was called that nasty name so many years ago, now has a young four-year-old son who is playing in his first soccer game tonight. You wouldn't think a parent would act out at a game with kids that young, but if it happens at t-ball, what’s a year or two?

If you haven't guessed, the girl at the t-ball game was my youngest daughter and the looming soccer star is my grandson. I'm going to be attending his game. I’ll be keeping my mouth shut except to cheer for all the kids. I hope the other parents do the same thing. Hopefully, none of the adults think their toddler is the next Messi.