I considering posting this in the Lavender Room, but it really does have implications in our sport.
A bill has been introduced that would create a state youth sports oversight commitee. This state commitee would mediate disputes between parents of young athletes in soccer and other sports and sports officials who officiate these. Here’s the link to the CNN story:
Now, this could be a wonderful precedent. Since we obviously can’t manage our own activities at even the most rudimentary level (youth soccer) we certainly can’t be tasked with decisions like whether or not we drafted at the last triathlon we did, some fellow wore fins in the swim, or what have you. We need a law… A Senate appointed endurance sports oversight commitee.
Am I alone in being amazed at this? Isn’t one of the lessons of sports learning the ability to moderate our own disputes in the spirit of sportsmanship? Will we need federal or state legislation to control drafting, wetsuit use and other rule infractions in adult sports?
I could very well be way off base here, but this lead the headlines on CNN.com today and it just seemed so… weird.
Not amazed Tom, other than the fact this actual made it to CNN. Must have been a slow day.
I see tons of weird proposal put forward in our state government (VA) that either die in committee or never see the light of day. Usually these folks have either their own personal axe to grind, or they have some constituent with power that has an axe to grind.
Maybe this guy was kicked of the field by a coach or something and not allowed to come to practice?
All in all, unimpressed and not worried about some random act of proposed legislation in Rhode Island.
Don’t worry Tom, it’s Rhode Island…if it was a real state or at the federal level your concerns may be warranted
How about we eliminate the parents from youth sports? Let the kids sort things out, they always seem to be able to do that just fine, it’s the adults the ruin all the fun.
Hmmm. Likely right. It just struck me as odd leading the headlines on CNN. Then again, over on the BBC World News yesterday’s headlines prominently featured a story about (not kidding) a man who found a skunk in his garden.
I should probably write them and let them know that I had three raccoons on my deck last night - and they were mighty aggresive!
But to be serious, here we are in economic termoil and government agencies are looking to spend money on crazy things. Yeah it drove me crazy and embarrased me when my father would run up and down the soccer field yelling instructions at me. Did it help make me the person that I am today? Yep. Am I a good person? I like to think so.
This idea of a council is just ludicrous. With states going bankrupt they want to waste budget on crap like this? I’m sorry but if Jonny isn’t getting enough play time perhaps the parent should spend more time with them and help them inprove their skills and not waste tax payer dollars.
Perhaps I’m being over sensitive to our dollar but all I have been seeing since our economic downturn is bailouts (states, banks, manufacturers, etc.) and then states putting things into place to spend more. For instance I live in is within California (the sixth largest economy in the world) and it is bankrupt. Yet they want to spend $20 million to improve an intersection where there is eleven fatalities a year. Sounds good, I’m all for protecting life. But has anyone considered educating drivers? Education would help in more areas than just that intersection.
I guess it’s all FOB. This is what we called it at a company I used to work with. FOB meant Friend of Bob. Bob was our CEO and Chairman and he would create jobs for his buddies. For instance, a buddy of his was in charge of mergers and acquisitions - in the four years of holding the position the company never acquired or merged with anyone and never had intent to. But he sure did pull in some serious $$ to hold the position.
Anyway…I digressed…If they are going to go this far why not create a license to have children. I think that would do a lot more good.
“If they are going to go this far why not create a license to have children”
Good point. We can apply for that license right after we apply for the license to become an adult. And once we have all those licenses, we can apply for the new federally mandated “sports license” to participate in sports.
