Parents, cheer FOR your kid, not AGAINST mine

I guess I wasn't clear enough on this one but I'm going to let this argument go since I'm out of the game soon.

But what I witnessed were overly invested parents running back and forth across the field urging their kids to "go get Johnny" and "you gotta go faster". My favorite was the mom sprinting around who stopped at mid-field and shouted with a double fist pump when her son took the lead. Moments later the boy in blue took the lead back and won as she dropped her arms and sulked toward the finish.

I prefer to give my son and other runners info related to their own effort like where they are at in the race or what's going on behind them. I'll say "that was a 67" or "the lead pack is five". I'll also encourage them relative to others but I'll limit it to "don't let go of this pack" but I never make it personal.

SOme kids respond well when you tell them to go after a certain kid that is in front of them. I see nothing wrong with that. But allowing parents on the infield is wrong, and parents running across the infield during a meet is a no no. Parents belong outside the track.

You must have a very hard time making through the day without bursting into tears at all the cruelty in the world.

Unless the race involved preschoolers or kids with disabilities, you've gotta be kidding. Every cross country meet I've been to, people are yelling some form of "go get that guy!" It's not rooting against a kid. It's a form of motivation and a way to get your athlete mentally focused on what's ahead of him/her rather than focusing on pain or drifting asleep.

what would/coild you do wrote:

I want to a tennis tournament once. It was a local low key event but a pro event none the less. The guy who was giving me lessons was playing and I was at his first match. At one point, after a long rally, my instructor hit a great cross court shot his opponent barely got to. The guy hit this ball out of bounds. I clapped after the point. The opponent walked toward me and yelled at me for applauding his mistake. I told him I was cheering his opponents good shot that made him miss. He said I should only clap at winners. I didn't listen to him and continued to applaud when I thought it was appropriate and when yelled encouragement when I thought he needed it.

.

Lol, I did this exact same thing before, I had no idea tennis players were such...you know. After the match when my friend won, the opponent came over to try to pick a fight, but then saw that one of my friends with me was rather large so he walked away.

To the OP: quit your crying, it's not like the parent said, "go get that little b****." Giving your athlete a target to aim for is meant to motivate them, not to take down the other kid. Besides, I would just laugh if I was in the race and somebody said something bad against me, or it would motivate me more.

pablonovi wrote:

I love that good sportsmanship in our sport.

So do professionals who aren't afraid to put on halfass performances because the fans don't know how to jeer. What few fans are left thanks to all the halfass performances.

Boxers that just stand around clinching get jeered immediately. Lousy races should be treated the same way. Those guys are getting paid to put on a show, they need to earn it.

Valiant Catholics wrote:

The worst trend were the parents that would point directly at an athlete and say "get this guy in blue" or something similar.

I certainly agree in cheering for good performances and not booing for bad performances, but unless there's more to the story "go get this guy" does not sound too bad. I coach youth basketball and soccer and I frequently am reminding players (in a sportsmanlike manner) to "stay on number 7" or whatever.

All you are doing is clarifying that you have no idea what is acceptable parental behavior at a track meet. None of what you describe should be a problem.

However...have another go at it if you wish.