We've all seen the bumper sticker on the back of cars that say, "My child's on the honor roll."
Well I think there should be ones made for kids like this one that says, "My kid just stood up to a bunch of 'little league' jerks who don't get it."
You'll get where I'm coming from when you read the following letter that was shared on Facebook earlier this month:
Hello my name is Billy Wheatley and I am 14 years old. Yesterday (on 7/12/15) my school Stephen Decatur High School Baseball was having a fundraiser where all the Stephen Decatur baseball team members were supposed to volunteer and help out with the pitching machine tournament being held this past weekend by Berlin Little League. I also was there volunteering Saturday with Coach Ken Pilarski, a former Berlin Little League coach of mine, and we umpired together. I was told that I was assigned to umpire the Willards and Berlin semifinals game on Sunday again with Coach Ken. So coming into the game I knew that the crowd and coaches would be tense. At the start of the game both sides were very respectful. But when the game started, and in particular when Berlin started to pull away in the second inning, after every call we made Willards Little League coaches and fans heckled us...just being completely rude and the Willards coaches were doing nothing about it. Fans were yelling things like, "You're pathetic," "You don't deserve to be on the field!" When the game was in the last inning the score was 8-4. Berlin was winning. At this time after every call, if it wasn't in the favor of Willards, the fans and coaches were not letting us live it down and argued everything. By this time of the game it was the last inning and Willards had to score 4 runs to keep the game going. There was 2 outs and there was runners at 1st and 2nd, when the ball was hit it went right to the short stop and he threw to 3rd base. The ball beat the runner well in advance but the Willards started arguing saying it was a close play, but it was not a close play at all because of it being a force out. After this had happened I proceeded to call the runner out. At this time the Willards Little League coaches go crazy. They were yelling at me, "You're crazy, no way obstruction," and everything. And then to make it even worse the Willards Little League fans started yelling from the stands, cursing and saying mean insults especially when you consider I am just fourteen years old. I honestly was scared to be on the field for my safety. It was completely horrifying that people were acting this way. I felt threatened, and I was verbally attacked! It escalated so bad that I left the field in fear of my own safety. So I decided instead of having fun today and enjoying my summer I would write this letter to you. I thought it was important to make you aware of this situation. Please, I would like you to write back and acknowledge you are aware of how you're Willards Little League coaches, parents and fans conducted themselves. As a Little League player I know the Little League Pledge taken by players, coaches, volunteers and parents has taught me that whether we win or lose we will always show respect for others in Little League! Perhaps this should be practiced even more when it involves players ages 7-9 and a 14 year old volunteer!
Sincerely,
Billy Wheatley
How amazing is it that a 14-year-old has to tell a group of adults how to behave?
The real question, however, is how league directors could let this kind of behavior go on. League directors need to take proactive steps to prevent this kind of behavior and implement a program whereby coaches and parents would go through training on the effects of this kind of behavior on kids. After 33 years of working with leagues, our non-profit has learned that simply saying a pledge won't get it done. Leagues need to hold coaches and parents accountable for their actions through a mandatory code of conduct that spells out the repercussions for this type of behavior; and we help them do that.