Who Owns Youth Sports?
By Doug Abrams Responding to last week’s column about “Mistakes,” Frank McMahon commented that “the time is long past for youth sports to be returned to their rightful owners, the children we purport to serve.” Mr. McMahon hit the nail right on the head. Our enterprise is called “youth sports” for a reason — youth … Read more
Mistakes
By Doug Abrams Coaches are teachers in every sense of the word, and much of the educational psychology that works for teachers in the classroom can also work on the athletic field. You can tell a lot about a teacher, for example, by watching the teacher’s reactions to the mistakes students make as they seek … Read more
What Youth League Coaches Don’t Know – And What Coaches and Parents Can Do About It
By Doug Abrams When I was president of mid-Missouri’s youth hockey program about ten years ago, a visibly upset parent called me aside one night to say that her son was being bullied by a couple of teammates, both at the home rink and on road trips. Nothing physical, but teasing had continued for a … Read more
The Dilemma of Coaching One’s Own Kid
Annette Reiter was a top-flight HS and college basketball player, and after graduating from school, she maintained her passion for the game by coaching HS and AAU girls’ teams. She’s now an assistant coach at Rowan University. But like many coaches, she grappled with the dilemma of whether she should coach her own daughters in … Read more
Why Youth Leagues Should Encourage Older Players to Help Coach Younger Teams – and How to Do It
By Doug Abrams When I tell friends that I began coaching in 1967, they usually guess that I am a bit older than I really am. That year, I coached a Little League baseball team in the Central Nassau Athletic Association in East Meadow, Long Island. The following year, I also coached a youth hockey … Read more
Why A Teen Should Serve on The Youth League’s Board of Directors
By Doug Abrams In the spring of 1968, I was finishing my junior year at W. Tresper Clarke High School in Westbury, and I was also nearing the end of my Little League playing days with the Central Nassau Athletic Association. I had umpired CNAA games in the lower age divisions for three years, and … Read more
When Sports Parents Cross the Line: Writing Threatening Letters to Coaches
The recent incident involving a sports parenting mom, Janet Chiauzzi of East Meadow, NY, goes a little deeper than just her bizarre reaction to her 10-year-0ld son not making the local LL travel team. According to police and media reports, Ms. Chiauzzi was so dismayed by her son being cut that she sat down and wrote a … Read more
The “Lunacy Tax”
By Doug Abrams Last week’s column discussed how adults’ abuse of officials can endanger player safety, particularly in collision and contact sports. In youth leagues and high school programs alike, abuse dished out by parents and coaches leads officials to quit in droves, leaving some games to less seasoned replacements who might not yet be … Read more
Upset that his Daughter Wasn’t Named First-Team All County, Dad Threatens to Sue
Here’s a Father’s Day Special for you….when Ally Baskas, the Rutherford HS (NJ) soph softball player wasn’t named to the All-County first team last week, her Dad Mike was outraged – even threatening to sue the league and the coaches. Why? Not only did Mike Baskas feel that his daughter had been gypped by not being named first-team, but … Read more
How Adults’ Abuse of Officials Endangers Player Safety
By Doug Abrams From coast to coast, many youth leagues and high school conferences report chronic shortages of referees and other officials. In many places, the shortage can be so acute that some games must be postponed, rescheduled or even canceled. In other places, seasons may be shortened so that league schedules do not outpace … Read more
"The Sports Edge"
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Doug Abrams
