Sideline Parents

You're right parents. It's not a rule that you have to sit on your side of the field. It just common courtesy.

If you want courtesy, try golf. You won't find it from NTX soccer parents.

Did you try asking them politely to sit elsewhere? I imagine that if you were polite, and have a good reputation with those people, that they would have moved without much complaint.

If the parents were sitting inside the allotted space for the coaches' box, which is marked on some fields, just explain that to them. Some parents probably don't even realize that the restriction exists on the sideline for the coaches.

I've never had a problem with parents staying on the coaches' sideline as long as they act accordingly. My families know to behave. If your space is being unfairly interfered with by families from the other team, politely ask for help from the officials AND the opposing coach before the game or during halftime.

Or was your space being infringed upon as an effort by the parents to keep your behavior in check? Are you potentially a victim of your own reputation?

People do need to relax over this "rule" as well. Especially as you get up to select ages more and more parents know each other from being associated on other teams, school, etc. We had a parent sitting chatting with a neighbor on the bleachers on the "opposing" sideline and just said "Go SUZY" when her kid was dribbling by with the ball. One of the other parents turned around and said, "Why are you over here? You need to go to the other side." She was pretty ugly about it and made another comment as well.

The neighbor had to tell her own team's parent to chill out and that our parent was just fine where she was. People just need to use common sense and be respectful.

Yes, common sense and respectful are key. Unfortunately, there apparently is no handbook on these things. In recent tourneys, we've had 3 different opponent's parents spread out over the entire touchline. And there is that loud group who switches ends at the half, as if little Suzy just couldn't possibly perform without their incessant prodding. Rude.

bigtex75081 wrote:Did you try asking them politely to sit elsewhere? I imagine that if you were polite, and have a good reputation with those people, that they would have moved without much complaint.

If the parents were sitting inside the allotted space for the coaches' box, which is marked on some fields, just explain that to them. Some parents probably don't even realize that the restriction exists on the sideline for the coaches.

I've never had a problem with parents staying on the coaches' sideline as long as they act accordingly. My families know to behave. If your space is being unfairly interfered with by families from the other team, politely ask for help from the officials AND the opposing coach before the game or during halftime.

Or was your space being infringed upon as an effort by the parents to keep your behavior in check? Are you potentially a victim of your own reputation?

Have you ever given this strategy a try?

Shotshagger wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:Did you try asking them politely to sit elsewhere? I imagine that if you were polite, and have a good reputation with those people, that they would have moved without much complaint.

If the parents were sitting inside the allotted space for the coaches' box, which is marked on some fields, just explain that to them. Some parents probably don't even realize that the restriction exists on the sideline for the coaches.

I've never had a problem with parents staying on the coaches' sideline as long as they act accordingly. My families know to behave. If your space is being unfairly interfered with by families from the other team, politely ask for help from the officials AND the opposing coach before the game or during halftime.

Or was your space being infringed upon as an effort by the parents to keep your behavior in check? Are you potentially a victim of your own reputation?

Have you ever given this strategy a try?

I don't know why I assumed the original post was written from a coach's perspective. It wasn't until after I read the other replies that I reread the original post and thought, "Oh, this probably wasn't a coach, this was probably just an irritated parent."

If it was written by a coach, then I stand by that advice. A coach can tell their parents to clear a sideline if they’re causing a problem.

If it was a parent interacting with other parents though, then I do agree with you. Asking them to move will just cause new issues.

If it was written by an irritated parent, my advice would be to move somewhere else and leave those people to their own devices. Why sit there for an entire game getting irritated? (Or at least irritated enough to want to come to this forum and start a string about it.) Why turn it into a this-is-my-space-so-YOU-need-to-move-instead-of-me pissing contest? Just scoot away because that other person is probably too self-absorbed to realize what they're doing is offensive.

Just move to a quieter space and do what you're there to do... enjoy watching your kid play a fun game.