Ohio Champions League /Central Ohio Premier League
Parent's Code of Conduct Contract
As a parent, it is important that you:
Respect
the game, including your child, his or her teammates, opponents, and
coaches. This means ensuring that your children attend and come prepared
for all practices/games; treat teammates, opponents, and coaches with
dignity and respect. It also means that parents and spectators show the
same behavior. The apple very rarely falls far from the tree.
Demonstrate to your child you are a good tree. Good sportsmanship means
playing fair and safe; controlling emotions; and keeping the spirit of
competition a healthy and enjoyable endeavor. Parents and spectators
should help their children understand the value of patience and hard
work in their soccer development.
Respect the referees. A soccer
match cannot take place without one or more soccer referees. Referees
are humans and therefore will make mistakes. Some will be mistakes in
judgment, others will be mistakes caused by a lack of rules knowledge
and/or experience. Just as our players are working to become better
players, our referees are doing the same to become better referees.
Unlike the players, referees don't get to practice instead attempting to
improve during games. Each of our referees was required to take a 15
hour course to become certified. They attend a minimum of an additional
five hours each year. While this results in a considerable time
commitment, our referees - particularly our youth referees - are bound
to make mistakes. In lieu of chastising the referees, thus giving your
child(ren) an excuse for failure, teach them to learn to deal with
adversity and play through a referee mistake. No referee has ever called
a perfect game. Similarly, no player has ever played a perfect game.
Teach the value of owning up to not capitalizing on chances and/or not
playing your best being the reason for a loss instead of blaming it on
the referee.
Respect the opposing players, coaches, parents and
other spectators. Never address a player, coach or parent of the
opposing team in a demeaning or critical manner. Applaud a good play by
the opposition. Be quiet about a play with which you dislike. Adhere to
the OCL rule concerning spectator viewing areas (five feet from the half
line and touchline and above the top of the penalty area facing your
teams' bench in that half of the field.) If at any time you are not in
that area and there is ANY type of confrontation with an opposing parent
and/or spectator, it is incumbent upon the parent to immediately return
to their proper viewing area.
No inappropriate or threatening
language. There is never a place in youth sports to use vulgarities,
threaten, intimidate, or use physical aggression.
Let the coaches
coach. While it may be easy to second guess your child's coach from the
sidelines, most parents forget or overlook how challenging it is for
coaches to both win games and at the same time make sure that all of the
players have an opportunity to develop. The job of being a coach is an
incredibly challenging task, so be sure to support your child's coach as
much as possible. This means do not yell any directional instructions
to the players. For example, "shoot, boot it, kick it" just to name a
few.
Watch for the safety of all players at all times, including
physical and emotional dangers. Be sure to pay attention to injuries,
including concussions, and respond to them in a timely manner.
Additionally, pay attention to signs of youth sport burnout and be sure
to respond to your child if he or she needs help.
Cheer whenever
possible, and stay away from booing and other negative fan behavior.
Youth sports provide a great opportunity for positive fan support,
including cheering. Booing and other negative gestures and language from
the sidelines are never appropriate, so be sure to stay focused on
positively supporting your child's team at all times.
As the parent(s) or guardian(s) of ,
I
(we) agree to follow the above listed principles. Further, we
understand that by signing this document, we are subject to the OCL's
Disciplinary rules which include suspension from one or more games if I
(we) am (are) dismissed from a contest due to my (our) failure to abide
by the above principles.
Thank you for your support of the OCL program.
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