To me it's when a coach uses criticism, hostility, ridicule and shame as part of his/her coaching philsophy...In my program as player devlopment director, I would have a long talk with any coach who used any of the above as part of his relationship with his/her players.

Correct. Parents have to understand a player/coach relationship

When perents are living thier child's dream. Let the coaches coach, let the players play, let the officials officiate. Parents just show unconditional love and support your child's sport in a healthy manner. I also hate it when people ask did you win today? Instead ask, how did you do today? There is always a postive outcome wheather you win or lose.

hmmm.. tough call. All parents think they know better than the next. As a coach i allow alot of parent involvement. As long as it doesn't undermind my orders i see no harm. I tell parents not to talk to officials during games as it might cost us some penalty yards. so they come to me when they are unhappy with officials and thats fine, as a coach it is part of my job to use diplomacy to deal with such problems. i can't tell parents how to raise thier kids. All i can do is coach and make sure my kids have a fair game and are as safe as possible. And to parents Who start yelling from the sidelines. they usaully stop when the refs start throwing flags and it starts costing the team some yards. I've even seen parents ejected from the field. It's up to coaches to nip that behavior in the butt, And refs jobs to reprimand any and all unsportsman like conduct.

As soon as anyone, parent, coach , player, is being disrespectful to others they they have crossed the line with me. Parents need to have a mirror so they can see their own outrageous actions. It makes things difficult when people can't demonstrate personal restraint.

I saw a parent march across the field after a soccer game and come just short of a fist fight with the coach of his daughters own club team. Why? Because he did not like the position his daughter played during the game.

Secondly, I saw a parent (parents) of a future very elite level athlete get pulled out of the middle of a game (around 10 years old) at half time when they noticed their young athlete being placed in the goal, a position they did not want to see them play. They not only pulled them from the game but off the team. Their child left in tears not wanting to leave their team or teammates. It was heartrenching to witness.