I think it should be mandatory that all coaches & DOC get drug tested twice a year.

All very interesting responses and some eye opening points of views. I think this topic should be something that should be addressed county wide and brought to the attention of the correct people so that they can set out to set a new standard in youth sports across the US starting with SD County!
I love it when a social media platform like a talk forum can hash through a topic like this and get the tools needed to make something happen for the children. This is a great way to do research on how to prepare for the proper way to address such an important issue.
Lets see how far this can really go.
 
sandshark said:
All very interesting responses and some eye opening points of views. I think this topic should be something that should be addressed county wide and brought to the attention of the correct people so that they can set out to set a new standard in youth sports across the US starting with SD County!
I love it when a social media platform like a talk forum can hash through a topic like this and get the tools needed to make something happen for the children. This is a great way to do research on how to prepare for the proper way to address such an important issue.
Lets see how far this can really go.
Click to expand...

So far you are off to a flying stop.
 
I would be in favor of drug testing...if there were a specific reason to do so. And "Oh, but what about the children?!?!" isn't a good enough reason for me.

Here's how the conversation has gone so far.

- I think coaches should have mandatory drug tests. FOR THE CHILDREN!
- People disagree
- I can't BELIEVE that no one agrees with me!
- People ask for examples or reasons why you want drug tests.
- BUT THE CHILDREN! ARE YOU ALL ANIMALS? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN!

Still waiting for a reason that doesn't involve liberal use of CAPITALIZATION and appeals to protecting the children.

Sidenote, I think the reason you aren't getting the response you expected is because California is a marijuana-friendly state and I'm betting that quite a few posters here either spark up or don't care if legal adults spark up. Also, if you partake in the hippie lettuce you are by all accounts a drug user. And if you have been labelled a drug user and you know that you yourself are no danger around children and can hold down a job, pay your bills, pay your taxes and call your mom on her birthday, why can't a coach?
 
I think a lot of parents and coaches could use a little more weed in the system. I think this would probably be a good thing for the sideline atmosphere.
 
I learned long ago that people don't have your back in club sports. Most people are only interested in their kid's best interest. If a coach is verbally abusive to a kid and the manager hears it but the manager's kid is getting playing time, chances are that the manager is not going to say anything about someone else's kid.

So even though people should say or do something, they won't. That is a fact of life. I applaud you for your passion on this issue and wish you luck.
 
sandshark said:
Let's clear something up here. We are talking about drug use in any form, all illegal drug use it wrong! We are talking about drugs in the USA and yes their is a drug epidemic in the US. So it doesn't have to be an addict to be a problem when dealing with children. ZERO tolerance should be the rule.
No such thing as OK or acceptable on anything illegal if your chosen profession is anything to do with children.
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Something being legal or illegal doesn't make it moral or immoral.

If the soccer coach was to bang your wife, it would be legal but most likely immoral, no matter how much better he was at it than you.

Cutting hair without a license isn't legal but claiming it is immoral is silly.

I have a much greater fear my kids will hurt by a drunk driver than ever be harmed by someone under the influence coaching a sport.

The greatest problems caused by drugs is not the people that use them but the crime that gets committed because of the black market that is created to produce and distribute them. Billions of dollars wasted fighting the drug cartels that only exist because drugs are illegal. Your war on drugs if futile; people who want to use drugs will use drugs whether illegal or not. All you are doing is making the bad guys more money and streets more dangerous. If you want to reduce the crime associated with drugs the best thing we could do is start legalizing them.
 
sandshark said:
All very interesting responses and some eye opening points of views. I think this topic should be something that should be addressed county wide and brought to the attention of the correct people so that they can set out to set a new standard in youth sports across the US starting with SD County!
I love it when a social media platform like a talk forum can hash through a topic like this and get the tools needed to make something happen for the children. This is a great way to do research on how to prepare for the proper way to address such an important issue.
Lets see how far this can really go.
Click to expand...
As others have well stated, good luck with that. Pot is legal, alcohol is legal, and no sports (or other) organization even if they had a drug testing policy is going to make the results public. Will. Never Happen.

You may not want or like that, but its reality. Look at every drug program in place: strictly controlled access to results, not made public, etc. Even if a club were to random drug (alcohol??) test all its coaches (never happen), they would keep the info private for their own use, and you the parent would never see it. There are varied legal, social, and other reasons for this.
 
I'm bringing a drug test to practice tonight and making the coach pee in the little cup while I watch just to make sure he doesn't cheat

FOR THE CHILDREN

Really though I appreciate the general feeling that we need to keep our kids out of harms way. I just don't see a coach drinking or smoking pot in his time off a reasonable threat if he is sober at practices and games. No harm, no foul.
 
Actually I have had some PM in support about this, I'm guessing most don't want to get involved because they don't want to get on the wrong side of their clubs and coaches?
I am far from a hovering, overbearing, worried parent but I see a flaw in a system that has way to much free time with children and I think it needs to be addressed. Its just as simple as that.
I truly believe that every small step towards children's safety is worth the effort. Examples could be as simple as the US has a drug problem as a society and there is no doubt there are coaches across the US with substance abuse issues. Just in our own back yard at SURF soccer club there was a confirmed issue. I guess we can all put our head in the sand and say its not worth addressing until it is proven and I child pays the price. Not my style when dealing with children.
 
zebrafish said:
I think a lot of parents and coaches could use a little more weed in the system. I think this would probably be a good thing for the sideline atmosphere.
Click to expand...

Field marshaling a tournament a couple summers ago I got a report from a very offended parent that another parent had just hotboxed the porta-potty! She was not happy when would not investigate, tried to explain that was not on the list of duties for a field marshall!
 
sandshark said:
Actually I have had some PM in support about this, I'm guessing most don't want to get involved because they don't want to get on the wrong side of their clubs and coaches?
I am far from a hovering, overbearing, worried parent but I see a flaw in a system that has way to much free time with children and I think it needs to be addressed. Its just as simple as that.
I truly believe that every small step towards children's safety is worth the effort. Examples could be as simple as the US has a drug problem as a society and there is no doubt there are coaches across the US with substance abuse issues. Just in our own back yard at SURF soccer club there was a confirmed issue. I guess we can all put our head in the sand and say its not worth addressing until it is proven and I child pays the price. Not my style when dealing with children.
Click to expand...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you watch Fox News
 
chargerfan said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say you watch Fox News
Click to expand...

For me this is not about politics this is about a flaw in a system. I could care less who it offends or who it ads an extra work load to. Keep fishing buddy, I wont get personal on this topic.
 
sandshark said:
Actually I have had some PM in support about this, I'm guessing most don't want to get involved because they don't want to get on the wrong side of their clubs and coaches?
I am far from a hovering, overbearing, worried parent but I see a flaw in a system that has way to much free time with children and I think it needs to be addressed. Its just as simple as that.
I truly believe that every small step towards children's safety is worth the effort. Examples could be as simple as the US has a drug problem as a society and there is no doubt there are coaches across the US with substance abuse issues. Just in our own back yard at SURF soccer club there was a confirmed issue. I guess we can all put our head in the sand and say its not worth addressing until it is proven and I child pays the price. Not my style when dealing with children.
Click to expand...
People aren't buying it. You ignore questions about other (much more personal and important) areas of your child's life, saying "all we can talk about here is soccer."

You aren't accepting reality. Why would people who don't see a need to random drug teachers, police officers and fire fighters, do it for soccer coaches? It it just silly, actually.

Now, I presume your real answer to the above questions based on your posts, is that they all should be randomly tested! Which many feel is punitive, presumptive, a violation of personal and constitutional rights, and equally as silly.
 
sandshark said:
I guess we can all put our head in the sand and say its not worth addressing until it is proven and I child pays the price. Not my style when dealing with children.
Click to expand...

What personal liberties are YOU willing to give up in exchange for other people to feel comfortable in your presence?

If no crime has been committed, and there is no documented or anecdotal evidence (outside of one publicized incident) what clear and present danger does this pose to the children? If you don't want drug users around kids, I get that, and I'm not going to argue against it because I think that's a reasonable opinion.

Bus drivers and commercial drivers get drug tested and have their driving records examined because those factors have been shown to affect how he/she does their job.

Can you show a correlation between drug/alcohol use and coaching youth that would necessitate a drug test?
 
If I chose to be in the business of teaching, training or mentoring children I 100% think that drug testing me is reasonable.
 
BeepBeep Boop said:
What personal liberties are YOU willing to give up in exchange for other people to feel comfortable in your presence?

If no crime has been committed, and there is no documented or anecdotal evidence (outside of one publicized incident) what clear and present danger does this pose to the children? If you don't want drug users around kids, I get that, and I'm not going to argue against it because I think that's a reasonable opinion.

Bus drivers and commercial drivers get drug tested and have their driving records examined because those factors have been shown to affect how he/she does their job.

Can you show a correlation between drug/alcohol use and coaching youth that would necessitate a drug test?
Click to expand...


Random drug testing without any sort of reasonable suspicion that a coach has been abusing drugs is a clear violation of privacy. There is no club willing to open themselves up to that lawsuit.

If you think your coach is drunk or high during a practice or game, pull your kid out of the situation and notify the doc. Problem solved.
 
sandshark said:
When working with children I think it should be mandatory for all soccer coaches be drug tested every 6 months to keep their coaching license.

Why would any club NOT want this for the sake of the children?
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With California's marijuana laws, you cannot fault the coach for getting high with the soccer moms.
 
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