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Disciplining Youth Sports Coaches: Lots of Factors To Consider

My March "Youth Sports Hero of the Month" column honored 12-year-old Matthew Marotta for his sportsmanship at the end of a hard-fought pee wee hockey tournament game in Winnipeg, Manitoba on February 16.

For readers who might not have read that blog entry yet, the Nanaimo Clippers edged Matthew's Prince George Cougars, 3-2, on a hotly disputed goal in the final moments of double overtime.Youth hockey player watching action from bench

In his March Youth Sports Hero of the Month blog, Doug Abrams honored 12-year-old Matthew Marotta for his sportsmanship at the end of a hard-fought pee wee hockey tournament game in Winnipeg, Manitoba.   In this post, the former youth hockey coach focuses on the factors sports leagues should weigh in considering disciplinary measures against a coach, using the Marotta incident as a jumping off point.

Youth Sports Hero of the Month: Matthew Marotta (Prince George, British Columbia)

 

On Sunday, February 16, the Nanaimo (B.C.) Clippers edged the Prince George Cougars, 3-2, on a hotly disputed goal in the final moments of a hard-fought double-overtime pee wee hockey tournament game in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The victory moved the Tier I Clippers into fifth place in the 43rd annual Vernon Coca-Cola Invitational.  

When a pee wee hockey team lost in controversial fashion in overtime, the coach decided not to go through the traditional post-game handshake line to congratulate the winners. Except for one player, who shook his head when his head coach called him to leave the ice with the rest of his team.

Youth Sports Heroes (One Year Later): Jonathon Montanez and Mitchell Marcus (El Paso, Tex.)

This column has always followed a "one and done" approach. I  tell an inspiring story, and then seek a new one for the following month. I have never recycled old "heroes" columns because the media provides a steady stream of positive stories for readers who are concerned about values in youth sports.

This column has always followed a "one and done" approach. I tell an inspiring story, and then seek a new one for the following month. I have never recycled old "heroes" columns because the media provides a steady stream of positive stories for readers who are concerned about values in youth sports. But this month's column is different because it revisits the story of Jonathon Montanez and Mitchell Marcus, who were last February's heroes, because the story has not grown old and continues to capture headlines.

Youth Sports Hero of the Month: Josh Zuchowski (Jupiter, Fla.)

 

Nine-year-old Josh Zuchowski and ten-year-old Reese Branzell are two of Florida's top swimmers in their age group. In fact, they've usually finished 1-2 in head-to-head matchups for the past three years, and each has a slew of trophies and medals to prove it. Josh Zuchowski and Reese Branzell

Nine-year-old Josh Zuchowski and ten-year-old Reese Branzell are two of Florida's top swimmers in their age group, usually finishing 1-2 in head-to-head matchups for the past three years, each with a slew of trophies and medals to prove it.  On December 7, with his rival Reese still in the hospital with a hip infection, Josh cleaned up at the Santa Claus Invitational, winning five gold medals and the all-around trophy as the meet's high point-getter. But it is what he did next that earned him honors as this month's Youth Sports Hero.

Youth Sports Heroes: Bridgewater (MA) Badgers Pee Wee Football Team & Valley H.S. Varsity/JV Baseball Teams (Elk Grove, CA)

 

December is the month when journalists across the nation tie up the year's loose ends. With that motivation, I write here about two youth teams that deserve all the accolades they have received. The teams play on opposite coasts, play different sports, and in different seasons. One team's players are younger than the other's, and neither team has ever met the other. Their only common thread is that on each one, teammates joined together to do the right thing at the right time.

In this month's column, Doug Abrams salutes two teams who, though they hail from opposite coasts, play different sports, in different seasons, and are different ages, have one thing in common: they acted as teams to do the right thing at the right time.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: Matt Labrum and Staff (Roosevelt, Utah)


On Friday night, September 20, Judge Memorial Catholic High School of Salt Lake City downed the Union High School Cougars, 40-16. Football games played in rural Utah normally do not make news outside the local area, but this matchup on Union's home turf in Roosevelt (population: 6,100) attracted national attention for the post-game bombshell that Union head coach Matt Labrum and his staff dropped in the Cougars locker room. Football gear in locker

The coaches assembled the team, suspended every player, and collected their uniforms.

Football teams in rural Utah normally do not make news outside the local area, but after Judge Memorial Catholic High School of Salt Lake City beat the Union High Cougars, the post-game bombshell Union head coach Matt Labrum and his staff dropped on his team in the locker room attracted national attention for the lesson they were about to teach about character.

Youth Sports Hero of the Month: Terrance Washington (Louisville, Ky.)

For West End Yellow Jackets football coach Terrance Washington, practice at Russell Lee Park in Louisville, Kentucky on the night of September 12 seemed just like any other practice. Then, as he was putting the Mighty Mite Division team through its paces, he heard parents yelling that a two-year-old girl had just fallen 15 feet into a dark abandoned well 50 yards from the field.

"We were scared, we were screaming, we couldn't get it together," the little girl's cousin said later. "Fortunately . . . , Washington didn't hesitate."

It started out like any other practice for Lexington, KY youth football coach Terrance Washington. But then, as he was putting his team through its paces, he heard parents yelling that a two-year-old girl had just fallen about 15 feet into a dark abandoned well about 50 yards from the field, and he didn't hesitate.

Youth Sports Hero of the Month: Pierre Garcon (Washington Redskins)


"I'm ready for a sports hero who doesn't treat the world like his spittoon," Golf Digest columnist Tom Callahan told the New York Times two years ago.

I think that Callahan was off-base in his blanket dismissal of professional athletes and their better instincts. Most pros recognize the responsibilities that come with being in the public spotlight; most obey the law, and many devote time and energy to community betterment. Pros make headlines when they stray, but most do not stray. Pierre Garcon with team that won uniforms

Most professional athletes recognize the responsibilities that come with being in the public spotlight; most obey the law, and many devote time and energy to community betterment. But few pros likely serve their community as earnestly as Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: Acts of True Sportsmanship 1200 Miles Apart


In early July, the clock showed less than three minutes to play and coach Brian Murray’s Ellicott Hawks were down by double digits in their Mid American Youth Basketball tournament game in Pueblo, Colorado. With the outcome apparent, the Canutillo (Tex.) Select Junior Varsity put 16-year-old Adrian Martinez into the game for the first time.

Adrian practices hard, but he sees little action in games because his mother says that the coach fears that someone will injure him. She is fine with her son’s limited playing time because “just the simple fact that he sits on the bench with the rest of the team as a player and not just as a manager means a lot to him.”

Fourteen years ago, Adrian Martinez was diagnosed with autism.

Letting a basketball player score points or a wrestler register a pin runs counter to every instinct of athletes who are trained to want to win.  True sportsmen care about the score, and they do not normally let up on the opponent during the game. But true sportsmen also care about respect for the opponent’s dignity, as we find out from Doug Abrams in this month's Youth Sports Heroes.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: FC Brossard (Quebec) U14 AA Soccer Team

 

Ordinarily, teen athletes do not assume the initiative to defend the civil rights of vulnerable minority children. Amid their other activities and interests, teens usually join sports teams to play, and not to take political stands. But when they faced Granby in suburban Montreal on Saturday, June 8, the previously undefeated FC Brossard U14 AA boys soccer team took a stand that helped make life better for dozens of other boys they had never met. FC Brossard soccer team

Teens usually join sports teams to play, and not to take political stands. But when they faced Granby in suburban Montreal on Saturday, June 8, the previously undefeated FC Brossard U14 AA boys soccer team took a stand that helped make life better for dozens of other boys they had never met.
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