Dear Editor:
I was visiting from Wilkes Barre on a recent weekend and I attended the Palmerton Booster Club's midget football game for the 5 and 6 year olds and it caused me to be compelled to write this letter.
The coaches behavior was appalling!!! I may have overlooked the fact that there were many litle kids who never even got into the game, not ever for a play; I also may have overlooked the fact that the coaches continually screamed at the officials and at their 5 and 6 year old team. What I could not overlook happened at the end of the game when the head coach stormed off the field and yelled this is f_ _ _ ing ridiculous!!
And yes, he definitly filled in the blanks loud enough for everyone including those little kids on his team to hear, these coaches need to set an example for children. Is this the example Palmerton wants set for their children? I think not.
Please parents, community do something to rectify this situation and help our children learn good sportsmanship and love for the game. Winning at this age should not be everything!!
Nancy Evanish
Wilkes-Barre
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I was just informed about this and thought i would put a little more background to this issue. My son plays for this team and i have been complaining since the first week of practice. I have written on more than one occasion to many of the members of the booster club. The conduct of SOME of the coaches is appauling. Unfortunately nothing has been done to rectify this issue. These individuals have failed to realize why they are there. Fighting, pointing and yelling at other coaches in front of each other and a team of 5 and 6 year olds is unacceptable. One week the coach yelled at one child "what the HELL are you doing" as the child came walking of the field crying. The next week the coach was out of hand again and the league finally took action suspending him for a game. Didn't stop the coach he was at the next game, when he was supposed to be suspended, running up and down the sidelines yelling at the official untill that official kicked him out of the stadium. What will it take for this booster club to rectify this issue? Will we wait till he grabs a hold of a child? I sure hope not.
Please to the booster club and to the coaches, please remember why the kids are there and please evaluate why you are there, for our childrens well being.
First off, the Booster Club has already taken care of this issue. Second of all, he was allowed to be at the game per the league. And since you brought it up, the coach from the other team was also suspended. He yelled at the official because of the 2, count them, 2, hits in the back on our kids right infront of the official and they refused to call the penalty. He had every right to be yelling due to the fact that he was defending every kid out on the field including yours. If he didnt care, he wouldnt be yelling at them. He has never grabbed a child or threatened them in any way so dont blow things out of proportion. I know for a fact he has a lot of support because most everyone sees what he is doing and approves of how he is with the kids. If there is a problem, please come to a booster club meeting and bring it up for discussion and let him defend himself. Or you could choose to keep putting little tid bits on here that happened in a 2 week period and not leave your name. Like I said, everybody has at one time or another, lost their temper and wishes they could take it back. The important thing is that it was taken care of. And please remember why he is yelling at the officials, who are obviously not there to protect your children. I have been at every booster club meeting for the past year, and if you or any parent has been complaining, why havent you come to a meeting to express your complaints? We could continue this but I think points have been made and I am done shooting a dead horse.
Jason Haydt
I understand your concerns but you cannot make an assumption about the coach when you are just visiting for a game. I am a parent of a child that played 2 yrs. for him. He is a good man despite what you saw or heard. He loves theese kids and coaching them. You werent there last year to see him carry an injured child off the field. You arent there during practices when theese kids are having a good time and laughing and learning about the game. You werent there last year when he had a Christmas party for the players and parents and paid for Santa to come and sit with them and read them a christmas story. You arent there to see how much time he puts into the Booster Club and the league with the field prepping, meetings, and football camp. So to judge a man based on 1 time is not fair. He has an undefeated team now for atleast 3 yrs. and has a bullseye on his back from every other team. My son no longer plays on the flags and has moved up to the 85's. I personally saw this happen. There was a kid from the other team running in a touchdown. Two of the flag players were chasing him down and they got hit from behind right in front of a referee. The ref. reached back to throw a flag and as he did so, looked at the head ref. who shook his head no. The first ref. never pulled the flag and the other team scored. Now that was wrong. Theese kids wear no pads other than the foam helmets on thier heads and can easily get injured like that. For a ref. not to call that penalty is absolutly showing that the bias they have against a team that has dominated for 3 yrs. In my opinion as a parent, if that was my child, I would want the coach to scream at that Ref. to protect my child from getting hurt from something like that. If he didnt, I would be screaming at him and chocking that ref. So yeah, he may have used poor judgement when saying that, but we dont know what had happened for him to say that. But, I am sure that every now and then we all let our emotions get the best of us. Especially when you think everyone is out to get you.
Nancy,
This is terrible. I guess it's not all about the kids having fun. Once the district administration reads this they will hire this person to coach the High school Varsity football team. This is exactly the type of person they hired to coach another varsity sport at the high school.