Forum: Flagrant Foul: The Growing Problem of Incivility in Youth Sports

 We have seen the headlines: 

“Parents brawl over a 13-year old umpire’s call at youth baseball game” 

“Incivility in stands is taking toll on youth athletics” 

“Incivility is driving high school coaches from the profession” 

“Dealing with unruly fans. Its not just a problem anymore, it’s an epidemic” 

Certainly, this is not a problem here in Idaho, right? Wrong! In 2018, a basketball parent from a Meridian high school was banned for a year after throwing a coat at a referee during the game. Local officiating associations are struggling to recruit new officials and keep them after the first year. Good coaches are choosing to hang up the whistle rather than deal with irate parents with unrealistic expectations. 

Fortunately, Idaho can be an example to the rest of the country. A few years ago, the Idaho Youth Sports Commission was founded to help build a community of coaches, parents and administrators who teach not only the value of winning and losing, but to a greater purpose of fitness, fun, and life lessons. City Club has assembled a great panel to discuss the issues that are being faced by coaches, officials and administrators and what can be done to improve civility. 

Panelists: 

Tim Brady – Idaho Youth Sports Commission Director 

Kim Brydges – Boise High School Girls Basketball Coach 

John Ruzicka – Boise School District Athletic Director 

Sean Weatherson – 3rd District Officials Association Basketball Director 

PRICING: 

$24  City Club Member price

$34  Non-member price

$5  Pre-registration Listen Only price

$10  Day-of Listen Only price

$350  per Table of ten ppl

City Club thanks our Premier Sponsor, Northwest Nazarene University and the NNU School of Business and our Annual sponsor, St. Luke's Treasure Valley Health Systems. The 2020 Forum Series is sponsored by the contributions made by AARP of Idaho, Bank of Idaho, Concordia University School of Law, Echelon Group, and Micron. We are pleased to welcome university students to attend our events thanks to our University partners,  Boise State University, Northwest Nazarene University, and University of Idaho. Our media partners include Boise State Public Radio, 670 KBOI, and Idaho Public Television, and Idaho Statesman.