For my sins I coach Junior Rugby. I blow a whistle and teach the Under 8's how to throw and catch, and we play touch. In all the years I've been coaching I've always felt faintly irritated with super-enthusiastic dads, standing on the side lines, shouting impossible instructions to their sons. I have always had to bite my tongue to stop shouting, "If you want to play rugby, the training session for the Golden Oldies is Tuesday night..."
This year my son Rex moved up into a contact game and I've turned into the sort of parent I hate. In fact I'm worse than the average dad - today Rex was playing scrum half and I actually went on to the pitch to tell him he was standing in the wrong place; I told him to move to the base of the scrum.
They say, don't they, that it's your own bad habits that you cannot tolerate in other people.
I have had to remove myself a couple of times from Taekwondo class for just that reason! I also volunteer as a sideline judge for soccer so I have to keep my mouth shut for fear of looking impartial.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, not being at the base of the scrum is pretty egregious!