Proper Side Line Etiquette For Soccer Parents?

Chalklines said:
Help me become the model parent for my kids Club.

After selecting a club out here we received the 8 page player/parent contract for the upcoming season which includes mandating where you sit and what you can and cant say during a game........

My background. 12+ years, Texas High School football coach. (quiet will be new one for me)

How do I leave my coaching tendencies at home and become the ideal parent outlined in the contract?
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no verbs
 
TCD said:
I'll be honest (and probably catch sh*t for it) but I struggle with being quiet on the sidelines. I blame it on my Irish/Italian heritage + high school cheerleader + former soccer player. I should probably just take a Xanax before each game. However, to avoid drug addiction, I'll sometimes bring my camera and take photos as it helps me keep my mouth shut...most of the time. Or, I'll go and stand on the opposing team's parent sideline where I know I better keep my mouth shut. Or, I'll go and stand in the corner and mutter where no one can hear me. Wish I could say I do a better job of keeping my mouth shut...but at least I'm getting better...I think...
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Never go on the opposing team's sideline even if you are quiet. Follow the rules which are there for a reason. The only exception is if you are speaking with friends that have a player on the opposing side so in essence you are invited on the other side.
 
TCD said:
I'll be honest (and probably catch sh*t for it) but I struggle with being quiet on the sidelines. I blame it on my Irish/Italian heritage + high school cheerleader + former soccer player. I should probably just take a Xanax before each game. However, to avoid drug addiction, I'll sometimes bring my camera and take photos as it helps me keep my mouth shut...most of the time. Or, I'll go and stand on the opposing team's parent sideline where I know I better keep my mouth shut. Or, I'll go and stand in the corner and mutter where no one can hear me. Wish I could say I do a better job of keeping my mouth shut...but at least I'm getting better...I think...
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Bringing the camera and taking photos is a good idea. The great thing about being the photographer is you get a little more slack moving around the field and to the other side of the field if the light is better. Most coaches and refs are cool about it, as long as you don't cheer and work the game like a pro photographer.
 
TCD said:
I didn't know you weren't allowed to stand on the other side. I just thought you had to remain silent (how would they know you were with the other team if you're not cheering, etc?) Thanks for the info. Too bad, it was always an easy way for me to remain a silent spectator.
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Yes, different leagues and tournaments dictate where parents sit. Mostly on opposite side of sidelines from the team. After awhile you get you know players and their parents. All it takes is one unhappy parent to see you on the wrong side to start a chain of events. Plus, are you telling me that if your dd scored an amazing goal, you could and would remain silent? Not worth the possibility of upsetting someone.
 
MWN said:
Bringing the camera and taking photos is a good idea. The great thing about being the photographer is you get a little more slack moving around the field and to the other side of the field if the light is better. Most coaches and refs are cool about it, as long as you don't cheer and work the game like a pro photographer.
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Bring the camera and record the crazy people on the sidelines.
 
timbuck said:
Bring the camera and record the crazy people on the sidelines.
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I truly believe this is the best solution. Each team brings a camera and points it at the opposing sideline for each game. Then post the video on Youtube after every game, and have a site for each gaming circuit that links all the video.
 
Fact said:
Never go on the opposing team's sideline even if you are quiet. Follow the rules which are there for a reason. The only exception is if you are speaking with friends that have a player on the opposing side so in essence you are invited on the other side.
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Ive gone on the opposing teams sidelines to take photos of my DD who is a forward. I keep my mouth shut and make sure to go as far down toward the endline as possible away from parents. There is nothing wrong with that
 
Pace nervously away from all other parents, put something in your mouth, talk to yourself. Preferably on the side without an AR. That one always gets me.
 
Fact said:
Never go on the opposing team's sideline even if you are quiet. Follow the rules which are there for a reason. The only exception is if you are speaking with friends that have a player on the opposing side so in essence you are invited on the other side.
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If it is a public park or school, I will stand wherever I want. Who is going to move me.
 
If you are one of those parents that just has to make comments about the refs, at least sit/stand on the half of the field away from the AR. I see a good number of parents get in trouble because they make comments to other parents about the referee while the AR is standing in front of them. The referee crew is a team and if you insult one of them you insulted all of them. I know several teams that purposely pick their bench so their spectators across the field are away from the AR. Most of these clubs will not allow the parents to sit/stand in the AR's half of the field if the bench and spectators are on the same touch line.

Dads, don't try and coach your teenage daughters. At Blues Cup I had a 14y/o and 17y/o tell their fathers to be quiet. Actually the 14y/o was very blunt and loud with her dad, "Just shut up, I know what I am doing." The other parents got a good laugh out of it and the dad was quiet. I see this quite often with teenage players.
 
Surfref said:
If it is a public park or school, I will stand wherever I want. Who is going to move me.
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When a City or School gives a group (Club/League) a permit to use the fields, included in that permit is a bit of exclusivity to use the fields. Most permits state that the entire grass area is licensed to the Club/League, not just the area immediately surrounding the lined field and grant the club/league holding the permit the right to dictate who may enter the field. The guy with the dog playing Frisbee in the corner, the family holding a birthday party that spills over from the BBQ/Pavilion to the grass, the Dad and kid playing catch, can all be removed by any agent of the Club/League for just standing on the permitted area.

If this was an SCDSL game, then the following are the policies and enforcement procedure. From the 2017 Game Day Procedure Manual, which forms the basis of the rules and regulations all parents and their invitees (grandpa, Uncle Bob, etc.) must abide by:

Parents/spectators all sit on one side of the field. Home team coach will chose which side of mid-field the home team sits on. Each team parents/spectators will mirror their respective team/coach on the opposite side of the field. Parents are to stay on their side of midfield. PARENTS/SPECTATORS DO NOT SWITCH SIDES AT HALF-TIME. They are to stay where they are the entire game. Please make sure ALL spectators understand what is expected of them on the sidelines during SCDSL games. Clubs, DOC's and coaches will be held accountable for the sideline behavior of their spectators. I would recommend printing a copy of the SCDSL rules in case the referees do not know them. This is a learning process for everyone and the more prepared Team Managers are and the more information they have available to answer questions, the better things will go.
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The above is initially enforced by the Team Manager, then the Coach, then the Club/DOC. The procedure manual continues:

Managers should introduce themselves to each other prior to the game. If there are issues with parents/spectators from the opposing teams, parents/spectators are NOT to get confrontational with the opposing team. Managers should communicate with each other and each manager should deal with their own sideline issue. Parents/spectators are NOT to talk, criticize or bother the Assistant Referee on their side of the field. Referee Associations have been instructed that if this does occur, the AR will inform the center ref and the person causing the problem will be sent away from the field.​

The Referee is additionally empowered under the SCDSL rules to enforce all SCDSL policies.

Presidio and CSL have adopted a policy of parents sitting on the same side as their team, so I don't know if a similar rule exists for those clubs. What I can also say is US DA, USYS, Cal South all subscribe to the concept of parents on one side and players on the other side.
 
allstarsoccer310 said:
SCDSL is a toothless tiger. Sit where you want just be a good person.
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Great SCDSL is toothless. But do you really want to be that parent, even if quiet, that becomes an issue that the manager has to deal with? All it takes is for 1 parent from the other team to complain. Managers do enough without parents adding to it. Sounds like you are a teoublemaker.
 
Surfref said:
If it is a public park or school, I will stand wherever I want. Who is going to move me.
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I am surprised you will say this. Does it also hold true then that if I am at a public park, that I can yell at the ref crew and you won't do anything? Afterall it is free speech.

My rule is that if I can do anything to make the manager's job easier and not add to their problems I will do it. Sitting in the proper place is a no brainer unless you are a troublemaker (or taking photos).
 
I will say this is the first post I have ever ag
Fact said:
I am surprised you will say this. Does it also hold true then that if I am at a public park, that I can yell at the ref crew and you won't do anything? Afterall it is free speech.

My rule is that if I can do anything to make the manager's job easier and not add to their problems I will do it. Sitting in the proper place is a no brainer unless you are a troublemaker (or taking photos).
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This is the first post I have ever agreeded with you on. Agree make life easier for the people who work hard for all of us. I video the games and as long as I share the YouTube uplink both sides like me for the record. Respect goes a long way and I have yet to meet any manager who isn't reasonable when approached and treated respectfully.
Quit name calling it's getting old
 
MWN said:
Bringing the camera and taking photos is a good idea. The great thing about being the photographer is you get a little more slack moving around the field and to the other side of the field if the light is better. Most coaches and refs are cool about it, as long as you don't cheer and work the game like a pro photographer.
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Taking video is even better. All it took was a couple of times playing back and hearing myself comment and yell to make me realize what I sound like. I also find trying to follow the game with the video is difficult enough that often find I can't multi-task enough to say anything anyway.
 
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