A Message From the League About Physical Play
First, thanks to parents for supporting your child (children) in the many way that you do (time, financially, care, and love) that allows them to participate in soccer. To the coaches, thank you for the many, many volunteer hours that you spend in behalf of the youth that you teach.
Secondly, parents MUST understand that soccer is a physical sport that does allow some physical contact between players that is permissible under the Laws of the Game. Soccer, like all sports, includes the risk of injury and you must understand and weigh this possibility in allowing your son or daughter to play soccer. You must NOT try to PROTECT your son or daughter at games by getting angry and yelling at other players, other coaches, opposing parents, or the referees because your son or daughter was "wronged" on the playing field and in your mind put at some physical risk. These types of angry responsive reactions are extremely detrimental to the game, to your son or daughter, and to the entire soccer community. Most serious adult negative events that we have dealt with in the past four years (involving coaches and parents) result from this concept of trying to "protect my players," or "protect my daughter from that dirty player," or "that larger boy was targeting my son," or "that team had larger players who played dirty soccer," or "that referee was calling fouls on our team but not on the other team and they were playing dirty," etc.
We MUST ask parents to carefully weigh the risks of soccer and to ACCEPT these risks as part of the sport and also accept that your allowance or denial of your child participating in the game of soccer is the only control that you have. If you cannot accept the risks of the sport please remove your child from the Team. If you DO accept the risks, relax and enjoy the game, cheer ALL good play, and control your anger and blood pressure!
Control of the game on the field is the joint responsibility of the:
- Referee
- Players
- Coaches
Further, all players and coaches are answerable to the League and are committed to the BRCL Standards of Conduct (as are parents). All Referees are answerable to the Referee Assignor and Assessor.
Coaches, do not lead your players with a "victim mentality" during a tough game, i.e. blaming the referee or the other team's dirty play for your team's shortfall in score. This is no way to be a role model for your kids. DO NOT yell at the Referee if things do not go your way. Do not get into the super-protective mindset and get angry.
PLEASE BE THE ROLE MODELS THAT YOU SHOULD BE - WE ARE THERE FOR THE KIDS AND IT SHOULD BE A POSITIVE LIFE LESSON THAT YOU PROVIDE TO THEM!