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Kill the umpire!
by Alan Bauer | Register http://www.siregister.com/news_story.php?nid=155&eid=39
Back in the day, a fan upset by a call might holler, "Kill the umpire!" Of course, nobody took him seriously.
These days, in some states, such an action might be considered a felony.
So it is with the phenomena of "Rec rage" – adults screaming at each other, children, officials, coaches and just about everybody short of the guy selling popcorn. And all too often, that verbal barrage turns physical, even deadly.
To take a closer look at the issue, Councilman James Oddo, R-Mid Island, last week hosted a conference designed to re-educate parents about the importance of modeling good behavior. The featured speaker was Islander John Gallucci Jr., athletic trainer for a number of professional sports teams, including the New York/New Jersey Metrostars of the Major Soccer League.
"If jurisdictions across this country have gone so far as to make sports officials a protected class by making the penalties for assaults on them much more stringent, then clearly we have a problem," Oddo said. "However, we have to go further than codifying penalties against this irrational behavior. The time has come to reintroduce a little civility into youth sports."
Oddo, who said the meeting was only the beginning of efforts to try to stem adult violence at youth sporting events, called for a committee of coaches, parents and league officials to continue to look at the issue.
The numbers presented at the meeting painted a grim picture:
70 percent of children drop out of organized sports by age 13.
45.3 percent of young athletes have been called names, yelled at or insulted while participating in sports.
21 percent of young athletes say they were pressured to play with an injury.
17.5 percent of young athletes say they have been hit, kicked or slapped while participating in sports.
15 percent of parents at youth sporting events display obnoxious, unruly or unsportsmanlike behavior.
8.2 percent of young athletes report that they were pressured to intentionally harm others while playing sports.
19,000 members of the National Association of Sports Officials are now offered assault insurance.
A number of states, including New Jersey, have passed stringent laws at the state level. For example, an organization in New Jersey can ban someone from a league for violating the code of conduct. Similar measures are being considered at the state level in New York.
Instead of relying completely on laws to keep the peace, those at the meeting heard Gallucci talk about the "Rediscovering Youth Sportsmanship" program, developed by the Saint Barnabas Health Care System of New Jersey. The program provides training, support and step-by-step guidelines to help keep sports a safe haven for kids.
Gallucci took the small crowd through a series of points, explaining how children develop and react at different ages. Not understanding, for example, that every 12 year old can perform at the same high level is one cause of parent frustration that can boil over into rage, he explained. Part of the solution, he said, is simply to educate parents about what they reasonably should expect out of their children who are athletes.
Along with education, parts of the solution include establishing boundaries for conduct, teaching conflict resolution skills and learning how to communicate and diffuse anger.
Oddo said this was just the first of what he hoped would be many events in which parents, coaches and league officials could discuss ways to reduce adult violence at youth sporting events. | 
