The images are stunning and disturbing, images of parents fighting with other parents, yelling and threatening coaches all while their kids are trying to learn and play sports.[/I]As Target 2 Investigates first reported Wednesday, a new study shows just how this problem is getting worse in high school sports across Wisconsin.[/I]
Jeff Alexander shows us how coaches and athletic directors are dealing with an increase of overbearing parents.[/I]
Let's look once again at the evidence, based on a St. Norbert College survey of high school coaches and athletic directors around the state.
Ninety percent of athletic directors and 83 percent of coaches say the "helicopter parents" -- so called because they're always hovering around their child -- are either a very serious moderately serious or somewhat serious problem in athletics today.
While the study points out most parents are not a problem, 63 percent of AD's and 46 percent of coaches say the number of overbearing parents has increased over the past five years.
And some worry they may be chasing coaches away from sports.
"I think there's definitely been an increase in that type of behavior, atmosphere that we've seen," Otis Chambers said.
Bay Port Athletic Director Otis Chambers says it's hard to attend a sporting event these days without hearing a complaint from at least one frustrated parent. And Chambers says due to social media, it's getting worse.
"When you used to have to get in a car and go talk to somebody you thought about it a little bit longer, you didn't do it or you had to talk face to face with somebody, but now in our era of instant messaging, Twitter, everything else, it's really easy to just fire off an email and complain and not have to back it up," Chambers said.
"Very rarely did I tell a parent how to parent, but I heard a lot of people tell me how to coach sometimes," Ken Golomski said.
Golomski spent 25 years as head football coach at Ashwaubenon, winning four state titles. He believes helicopter parenting is on the rise because because parents are investing more time and money in their child's sports.
"There's more camps and there's more involvement outside the school limits than there used to be -- AAU and elite teams, etc., etc. -- so I think that's kind of fostered the involvement in their child's career, if you want to call it a career, and sometimes they take that slant with it," Golomski said.
"I've had parents say to me, 'Well, my son or my daughters must be good because I paid $500 for them to play in this league this summer and the coach told them they were good.' That coach probably told everybody in that league they were good," Chambers said.
"Eventually there's only so many sports on a field or on a team and you've got to put those best athletes out there," Justinn Heraly said.
Denmark track and field coach Justinn Heraly says parents with unrealistic expectations are the toughest to deal with.
"As coaches, I think across all sports, we try and keep our sports competitive and we want to see the best athletes succeed, and sometimes parents' opinions differ from that of the coaches," Heraly said.
"I'm sure they always have the best interest at heart, but sometimes when you're so close to it the objectivity kind of goes out the window," Golomski said.
And that often leaves the student athlete caught in the middle.
"I think kids understand more where they fit than parents do," Chambers said. "When we talk to kids around here, I'll say, 'Well, your mom or you dad called. Well, that's their opinion.' He'll say to me or she'll say to me, 'That's not my opinion."
Coaches and AD's say the only way to deal with these parents is communication.
"The coaches need to let the parents know what they expect from their son or daughter before the season starts, and that will eliminate a lot of problems," Denmark Athletic Director Bill Miller said.
Chambers, though, worries the growing number of overbearing parents could threaten the future of high school sports.
"People always tell me a big fear in high school athletics is the lack of officials we're going to have in the next 10 years. My big fear is the lack of coaches we're going to have in the next 10 years. It's already very hard to get coaches because of parental involvement, because it's just more difficult for coaches to coach."
Research shows the level of concern about overbearing parents is about the same in big, medium and small school districts around the state.
Overbearing parents
