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Yer out: Overzealous parents could be fined at kids' sporting events
by Kate Hollencamp
March 12, 2009
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Bill S0169: Rhode Island Youth Sports Oversight CouncilChicago Public Schools' mens basketball fan restrictions
Frank Shuftan from the Chicago Public Schools office of communications said this year’s fan screenings had three components:
1. Every school that hosts an event must have a security plan on file. This details who is in charge of monitoring the students, restrooms and concession stands. The security plan has long been required, but in light of this year’s incidents, CPS more rigidly enforced its implementation.
2. Students attending their home team’s games must present a valid ID upon entry. Visiting team students must be screened and cleared by their own principal. The principal from the visiting school must provide a list of any students or adults who wanted to attend a game.
3. Varsity games were rescheduled to begin at 4 p.m. to discourage people from hanging around the schools late in the evenings. Prior to this rule, junior varsity games were played first, with the main contest beginning afterward. According to Calvin Davis, director of sports administration, 70 percent of Chicago Public Schools played varsity games first, but most of the incidents were happening at the 30 percent that started later in the evening.
The scene plays over at diamonds everywhere: A 9-year-old boy winds up for the pitch. The ball travels across the plate. The batter watches it sail by. A strike is called. Immediately, a parent storms toward the umpire in a profanity-laced tirade.
Incidents like this happen every day at youth sporting events in Chicago and across the country.
And now, one Rhode Island state senator is taking a legislative stand to keep parents sitting quietly in their seats.
Democrat John Tassoni Jr. proposes establishing a state-run youth sports oversight council. The council would provide professional mediators for parents, coaches and referees at youth sporting events in the state.
The proposal has drawn nationwide attention, but Tassoni said that while some conservative commentators vehemently oppose his legislation, there’s no denying the issue should be addressed in some way.
“I think if you go to any youth sports game, you hear the parents yelling and screaming,” Tassoni said. “Everyone thinks they have a Bobby Orr, everyone thinks they have a David Ortiz and everyone thinks they have a Brett Favre.”
Overenthusiastic parents that support their children through yelling at coaches, officials and each other are setting the wrong example for their children, Tassoni said. That’s why his constituents asked him to draft a bill addressing the issue.
“Parents are role models, but some parents aren’t really,” Tassoni said. “They’re doing things that trickle down to the youngsters and, because parents do it, the youngsters think its OK.”
A number of incidents in Rhode Island have spurred Tassoni’s action, and he said the problem is getting progressively worse in his region.
He hopes to hamper parents’ shenanigans with the proposed council, which would consist of seven volunteers, appointed by the governor and subject to senate approval.
The council would present no cost to taxpayers, Tassoni said. In fact, should the panel incur any basic startup costs, Tassoni said he would be willing to pay for them out of his own pocket.
While the bill would only affect Rhode Island directly, the issue has hit home throughout the country.
In Chicago, it’s not just the parents butting heads. And rather than relying on the state, Chicago Public Schools took its own initiative to try to resolve the issue.
At the end of January, CPS implemented fan screenings for high school basketball games in response to several citywide incidents, including fights in the stands and post-game shootings. Calvin Davis, CPS director of sports administration, said it wasn’t parents or even students involved in these incidents.
For the most part, he said, the troublemakers weren’t involved with the game in any way.
“The screenings took that away,” Davis said. “It discouraged people from coming who were coming for the wrong reasons.”
The fan screenings, which Davis said ran from January 23 until the season ended on February 22, required fans from visiting teams to attain their principals’ approval before attending away games. Davis said this kept people not affiliated with either school from causing trouble in the stands.
Additionally, a majority of varsity games were moved from their usual start time of 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. in the evening to 4 p.m.
“I think it was highly effective and I think it made a great difference,” Davis said. “We actually had zero incidents after implementing that policy.”
Davis credits principals and police throughout the city for this success. Even if a council such as the one proposed in Rhode Island came to Illinois, Davis said he thinks further oversight from the schools and police force would be needed to stop incidents from starting in the first place.
“I think having mediation is only a mechanism to solve problems or address issues,” Davis said. “You have to have these things physically in place for prevention.”
Still, Davis said he thinks there could be some value to a state-run youth sports oversight council.
“I think it would be beneficial,” Davis said. “The only thing I would say is that that person has to be well informed, very well educated, and certainly have the temperament of a diplomat.”
Much like the bill in Rhode Island, Davis’ policies drew sharp criticism in the media. But Davis said he always slept well at night knowing the restrictions, which he said would likely remain next year, were highly necessary.
“What’s more important,” Davis asked, “attending games freely or having controls in place to prevent a murder?”
Tassoni’s proposal, for now, continues to draw fire throughout the country. Though the bill was to be discussed in the Rhode Island legislature on Wednesday, a power surge in the state Senate forced the postponement of its discussion until next week.
