Opposing Parent: “Get Number 1 - push him down!” Me: “But you guys are up 13 - 1?

    As parents, why do you go to your child’s lacrosse (or any other sport for that matter) game? Do you go to support the team, watch your child, socialize with the other parents? For me, it is all of the above. I truly enjoy watching all my children play their respective sports. 

       Yesterday, what I witnessed was appalling.  Please keep in mind that we (meaning the lacrosse team/family) knew that our opponent was going to be difficult to say the least to win. With that said, we just wanted to see a good game. A game that is played with sportsmanship, good passing/catching and excitement! What we got was a mauling from the other team. Do not get me wrong, the team is a good team with the best record but to beat up on us (literally) was uncalled for. 

        We were in trouble  about 4 minutes into the game where we were down 3 - nothing. But that’s ok, we still were encouraging our players to play well and not give up. They were scoring quite quickly and the gap really started to widen.  That’s fine, but, at 13 - 1 and the parents in a frenzy to “whack” our players and score again was a bit much.  I was sitting up on the stands, pretty much by myself (I like to yell - what a shock) when I heard a parent say, “get number one!” “Push him down” “Hey number one stop being a baby and get up!” Ok, that got me aggravated. Our number one player, who that parent was yelling at,  is a freshman playing for the first time on our team. Knowing we are not going to catch up, we are blessed with a coach that believes to put all players in to get the playing time experience.  Then I was walking on the sidelines to hear the coach on the opposing team baiting our defense players. Are you kidding me? Any one that knows me, knew it took all my strength not to go kick that coaches butt and take him out.

      

    This all goes back to my original question. Knowing that your team is going to play a team that will likely beat you, what is your attitude going into watching the game. 

       Not even a week ago, Billy and I, by ourselves went to go see a lacrosse game that was not our team. Why? Because we truly enjoy watching good lacrosse played by good players and watching good coaches. Paid the fee to get in and was certainly not disappointed. Both teams played hard, competitively and was exciting to watch. That is the attitude I had going into yesterday’s game. I just wanted to see good lacrosse. What I got was players that ran up a score/showboated/horrible parent chants and horrible coaching ethics. Come on here people, ESPN was not filming the game, Chazz Woodson was not there recruiting for his team, just play the game.

    I woke up this morning feeling like this blog had to be said. I am embarking on a new blog that will be devoted to lacrosse. I will be interviewing parents/coaches/vendors to get the inside story of what a parent/new player goes through starting out playing this sport. I want to hear what equipment works/what camps work and for that matter doesn’t work to help the player thrive.  Lacrosse here in Florida is still fairly new compared to up north as in New York and Maryland where they have been playing for decades.

      I will never give up this blog as even with all the negativity of yesterdays game - I still walked away feeling positive that our team/families and most important our coaches showed class. That is what is most important here. I am excited to watch my oldest son, Patrick, coach his JV squad in today’s game. There are blessings out there everyday, it’s just up to you to find them. Ton o’ blessings to ya until next time.