A friend just sent me a video of a reality tv show style YouTube series about youth wrestling and told me to skip to a few parts with parents. I watched an 11 year old kid pin a former state champion and proceed to get yelled at by his dad because "he didn't spend all this time for a 30 second match." Cue to the kid balling and the parent yelling at him more.

I skimmed the rest of the videos and, surprise, surprise, that kid gets emotional in every match. And the dad sits on the mat, yelling at him. And they interview the dad and he's like "I don't know why he's always crying, he's such a Martha." He then explains he nicknames his kid Martha because he thinks he's a pussy.

Like gee, maybe the kid is under an intense amount of stress because he has no idea how to make your dumbass happy.

Youth sports is insane. When I was a kid, my parents basically forced me to go to basketball tournaments off season and I fucking hated it. You felt like you had to go because everyone else was going and then you get sideline coached/yelled at by your parents.

I love how younger generations are always classified by older generations as "lazy" or "wusses" or whatever. You're the ones raising them you fucks.

Maybe stop living through your kid and let them choose what they want to do. I quit basketball after sophomore year and was instantly happier. If your kid likes a sport they're going to end up hating it because of you.

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk.

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    At my kid's football club I saw a poster the football association in my country has found it necessary to make, containing the following information to parents:

    • They're kids
    • Football is a game
    • It's not Champions League
    • The coach is a volunteer
    • The referee is a human being

    Generally football parents here act normally and allow kids to be kids but there are insane people among them. We've heard a dad being angry at his kid for his teamonly finishing second and back when my GF coached a club with many brown kids parents from other clubs would often yell racist abuse at them.

    • TankieDukakis [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Funnily enough, your first and third bullets there are why I can only watch college/high school sports and can't stand professional sports.

      They're kids. They're going to make mistakes. And that's what makes the games more fun to watch IMO. Doesn't matter if you're the top ranked team in the state, kids won't always play to their potential and can be beaten. Insane parents don't get that.