many of you (not really sure why i say “many of you” since basically only two people read this thing, but it still makes me feel better to say “many of you”) have heard the stories about parents being way too involved in the sports lives of their kids. you’ve heard of the football parents who started yelling fights with parents from the other team over a call made during the game, the baseball parents who beat up an umpire over a call they disagreed with, and the hockey dad who killed another parent over how his son was playing. these are all terrible events and awful examples of parenting. yet, i think i have found the worst. my kids, adam (9 – almost 10) and noah (7), joined a bowling league for kids. it’s allot of fun to go and watch them. they’ve gotten quite good. i think either one of my kids could probably beat at least half the members of the youth ministry without cheating. of course, there are 10 and 11 year olds there that are much better than either my kids or myself. i regularly bowl in the 160s and 170s. these kids are bowling 180 without breaking a sweat.
their parents are the ones i really enjoy watching because they get into the games more than the kids do. just like at baseball, football, soccer, and all the other kid sports you’ll have parents shouting out encouragement and others who are just shouting. the shouting is the same, but what is shouted is quite different.
“count your boards!”
“which point are you staring at?”
“remember your thumb is your steering wheel!”
“get serious! do you think this is a game?” (my personal favorite one)
it’s all fascinating to watch. on a whole most of the parents are very supportive of everyone and a great deal of fun to be with. it is a just a few of the parents who think this is the pro-bowlers’ tour. their the ones i try to egg on. i figure we’ll get on network news if we get a fight during a kids’ bowling league. then i can jump in front of the camera and say “i knew there was going to be trouble as soon his son aimed three boards off the first point rather than two boards off the second. rather amateurish. when the other players pointed it out the dad just went bezzerk. some people just can’t take the pressure of competitive bowling.”
it’s a dream i have. maybe one day.