Where you sit on the sidelines.....

I used to take photos and videos of my kid playing so that I can make highlight video for recruiting purposes. It required for me to be able to be on both sides of the field, since my kid is a forward.

For the most part, parents of the opposing teams never cared or said anything when I was in their half. I never said anything to provoke them either. But, I got tired of having parents jumping up and down, blocking my field of view, so I started talking to the refs prior to the game and nicely ask/told them that I'll be on the team side taking video/photo. I also told them that I would be quite and not get in the way. Never had a single ref say no or kicked me out of the team side touch line area. It probably helped that I have a professional level camera+lenses, and monopod to make it look like it was a business rather than just a parent wanting to capture images.

Now days, I just sit at the one of the field per half and switch sides at the half. I no longer take images or video. My kid is off to college this fall so all the recruiting is done. My younger kid has expressed no desire to play in college (yet) so I haven't done anything but I probably will starting this spring's National Cup. This kid is a defender so I'll probably sit near midfield and not change sides.

My personal view is that you should be able to sit wherever you want, as long as you can be quite and enjoy the game. Be considerate and respectful of others, and others who's on the opposing team. Occasional cheers and boos, is fine but belligerent screaming and behavior should not be tolerated on either sides of the field, including your own team's.
 
mirage said:
I used to take photos and videos of my kid playing so that I can make highlight video for recruiting purposes. It required for me to be able to be on both sides of the field, since my kid is a forward.

For the most part, parents of the opposing teams never cared or said anything when I was in their half. I never said anything to provoke them either. But, I got tired of having parents jumping up and down, blocking my field of view, so I started talking to the refs prior to the game and nicely ask/told them that I'll be on the team side taking video/photo. I also told them that I would be quite and not get in the way. Never had a single ref say no or kicked me out of the team side touch line area. It probably helped that I have a professional level camera+lenses, and monopod to make it look like it was a business rather than just a parent wanting to capture images.

Now days, I just sit at the one of the field per half and switch sides at the half. I no longer take images or video. My kid is off to college this fall so all the recruiting is done. My younger kid has expressed no desire to play in college (yet) so I haven't done anything but I probably will starting this spring's National Cup. This kid is a defender so I'll probably sit near midfield and not change sides.

My personal view is that you should be able to sit wherever you want, as long as you can be quite and enjoy the game. Be considerate and respectful of others, and others who's on the opposing team. Occasional cheers and boos, is fine but belligerent screaming and behavior should not be tolerated on either sides of the field, including your own team's.
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It's pretty funny how one's perspective and behavior changes as one goes from ULittle to college. Congrats to your player and good luck to her next season.
 
MakeAPlay said:
It's pretty funny how one's perspective and behavior changes as one goes from ULittle to college. Congrats to your player and good luck to her next season.
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Thanks but you forget. Its a him, not her.... You know, we're one of the few boys that play soccer and attend college on this forum.
 
outside! said:
I find it funny when parents yell "shoot" or "clear it". Sound does not travel at the speed of light. A shout will take about 0.15 seconds to travel 50 yards. So even if the players were actually listening to their annoying parents, by the time they hear "shoot" it is often too late.
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I do catch myself doing this as well as most of the sidelines but, IMPO it is more thinking out loud then really anything else...lol
 
Can I also add that any parent that says ANYTHING directly to an opposing player should be sent to the parking lot.
This includes:
"Come on number XX!!!" (at the opponents #xx)
"That should be a red card on number XX".
"Number XX is a dirty player."
I didn't hear any of these this weekend, but I have in the past.
This weekend I heard:
"One, two , three. That's 3 steps on a throw in ref!!! Come on. How many steps does she get?" While a player takes a throw in.
"Your legs are too long. You don't get that many steps." During a throw in. To a pretty tall girl that turned 12 two weeks ago. I'm sure she's heard it before and will hear it again, but I'm sure she gets tired of hearing it all the time. Some girls at this age have body issues as it is. They don't need some chunky soccer mom calling them out.
 
How about when the parents are yelling "keep kicking" when the goalie has it in her hands? Very easy for someone to get hurt. My daughter is much nicer than I am; I would not have taken it - repeatedly.
 
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