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Coaches Corner
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Sports Behavior Bill
Sports Behavior Bill
Sports Behavior Bill
The following article was taken from the August 26, 2002 edition of The Record
Sports behavior bill signed into law
The Record - Monday, August 26, 2002
By BARBARA WILLIAMS Staff Writer
LITTLE FALLS - Steven Esperon remembers having to end a flag football game when the parent of an 8-year-old came to blows with a coach. Esperon was 14, and refereeing the competition.
But a bill signed Sunday morning by Governor McGreevey will now allow local officials to banish such misbehaving adults from future games until they take a course in anger management.
The Athletic Code of Conduct Bill will permit a school board or youth sports organization to establish a code for all athletes, coaches, officials, and parents as a condition of participating in any sport.
"It's a shame that it has to be a law, but unfortunately, it really is necessary," said, Esperon, 17, of Union. "I've seen more and more parents getting out of control in many different sports."
Esperon, who plays high school baseball and soccer, was among a couple dozen people who attended the bill signing at a forum on youth sports at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center on the Montclair State University campus.
The forum was broadcast live during Rick Wolff's "Sports Edge" show on WFAN radio.
"This is a one-strike law," McGreevey said. "You misbehave once and you're out - we're not giving two or three strikes - just do it one time and you will not be allowed to come back to the games until you complete a counseling course."
Earlier this year, the governor also signed a law that calls for a charge of aggravated assault for physical attacks during a youth sporting competition. Those convicted can face up to 18 months in prison and $10,000 in fines.
"We want the people in the stands to demonstrate a model of conduct that our children will see," McGreevey said. "Children learn what they live, and if they see their parents screaming and yelling at the umps, they come to believe this is acceptable behavior."
The law can be applied to all youth sports events - from T-ball and flag football for small children to high school competitions. A model code will soon be developed for local organizations to follow, McGreevey said.
Most of the audience was composed of coaches and parents of children involved in sports programs.
"I'm a soccer grandparent, and I've seen a lot of verbal abuse hurled at umpires or even their own kids," said Doris Leib of Clifton. "One time a team's parents were so noisy and screaming that a parent from the other team pulled her son out of the game - and I really think she was justified - no child should have to play under those type of circumstances."
According to the National Alliance for Youth Sports, a non-profit organization based in West Palm Beach, Fla., the number of confrontations and violent incidents involving parents has tripled in the last five years.
The most widely publicized case of violence in youth athletics occurred in July 2000 when one hockey dad brutally beat another father to death in front of their sons in Reading, Mass.
Sunday's seminar also touched on such topics as giving youngsters time off between sports, and how to train in the off-season.
The panel discussion, which was led by Wolff, featured Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King, St. John's University women's tennis coach Kyle Copeland, and Yogi Berra's son Dale, who is a former professional baseball player.
They encouraged parents to listen to their children, encourage them to play a variety of sports, not to push them into doing anything they don't want to do, and make sure their children's schedules are reasonable. Members of the panel also stressed that parents need to remember that the whole point of youth sports is to have fun.
"I played all different sports - I liked them all and I was encouraged to play a variety," Dale Berra said. "But I think time off is just as important, and a guy who plays football for a good part of the year should take a month and ride the waves in Belmar."
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