Tammy Leavitt's answers on youth sports for parents, coaches and kids

More than 400,000 parents, coaches
and players here to help you.

Answers
All Questions & Answers by Tammy Leavitt

All Questions & Answers by

Tammy Leavitt

View Profile

Answered June 10, 2010 in Football, Parenting

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

I can not get a football rule book. All of the web sights say you have to belong to an association to access. Any advice?

Tammy’s answer:

I mean as far as coaches and board members and discipline procedures. Can they say they will bench a kid for poor sportsmanship, but kick him off the team instead, so their kid gets more play time? And if not, what is stopping them from doing this? ... Continue reading »

Great Answer!
Add Comment
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.
Answered November 20, 2009 in Football, Coaching, Weplay Support / Fortuna, CA

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

Does there exist a Rule Book, or Code of Ethics, or ANYTHING that a youth football league is required to follow?

Tammy’s answer:

12. A player may be benched or not allowed to participate in a
game or portions of a game for violation of Player's Code of
Conduct.
I
I copied this directly from the Code of Conduct that we signed. My son slammed the ball down in his second game, as ... Continue reading »

Great Answer!
Add Comment
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.
Answered November 08, 2009 in Football, Coaching, Parenting, Weplay Support / Fortuna, CA

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

Second game, first year playing football, first team ever, my 10 year old son is kicked off the team for poor sportsmanship.

Tammy’s answer:

I guess what I'd like to know is what rules they are refering to when they say if you miss a week of practice, you are off the team, or if you don't have all of your pads, you can't play in the game, etc. Are these rules they have come up with on thei... Continue reading »

Great Answer!
4 comments
1. tammy, please remember that all kids want to play. naturally, coaches have the unenviable task of having to decide who is deserving. kids that don't show up to practice on time, miss practice, or are not properly equipped give coaches an excuse for exclusion. it could be a safety issue, or an issue of motivation. remember, sports have rules and participants have to learn to play within them. perhaps the lesson for your son is that the outside world won't conform to him, he will have to conform to the outside world.
  
  Dwight Harris · November 30, 2009
2. I absolutely agree with everything you said, and have tried very hard to swallow this whole thing, and just cant. I knew he would have attitude issues, and agreed to him being benched as a consequence he could learn from, and that might help with teaching him to control his anger. I was SO SO hopeful that this would be our turning point, because I have been unable to control his anger on my own, or with counseling, or medication. He just needs a good male role model to show him. He had that with this coach. He is a really great guy, and could/would have made a huge impact on this kids life and future. A mother saw him act up, decided her son did not need to see this and think that it is okay, so she got rid of him. Plus, it was embarassing for her and her son to have a kid on the team that slammed the ball down in a game. That is why I cant accept it and try to take a good lesson from it, because everything about it was sick, disgusting, self serving and evil.
  
  Tammy Leavitt · November 30, 2009
3. one thing that i did for my son was to join the board of directors for the team i planned my son to join. football is very big here, as last year's state champ is from our area, and this area are always representing in the finals. joining the board of directors gave me familiarity with the coaches and the administrators. i also had my dad come, who recently moved here from los angeles (i think to see his oldest grandson play). the most important thing was that participating within the organization's leadership structure gave me the opportunity to ensure my son got a fair shot on his particular team. i found it amazing that going to an hour meeting every three or four weeks was "unique." regardless, my son got his chance to show what he could do (i made it clear that i was only going to make certain that the playing field was even, NO SPECIAL TREATMENT). the lesson is that this type of involvement paid huge dividends for me and my son and may pay huge dividends for you as well.
  
  Dwight Harris · December 03, 2009
4. How do you join a board?...esp knowing there's major resentment there now. I have made them very painfully aware how strongly I feel about their lack of morals, and the disastrous results of their refusal to follow their own rules, and not in those words...:>
  
  Tammy Leavitt · December 03, 2009
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.
Answered October 14, 2009 in Football, Coaching, Parenting

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

What is cause for a 10 year old (who has never been on a team of any sort) to be kicked off the team?

Tammy’s answer:

Great lesson in this for the kids: Just because a whole "Board" of grown ups doesn't follow rules, doesn't mean you don't still have to.

Great Answer!
Add Comment
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.
Answered October 14, 2009 in Football, Coaching, Parenting

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

What is cause for a 10 year old (who has never been on a team of any sort) to be kicked off the team?

Tammy’s answer:

What I'm getting at is everyone has their opinion. I want to know the rules. And if the rules say that there are no rules, why is this allowed? If they say certain things like not shaking the other teams hand is cause for removal, or slamming the b... Continue reading »

Great Answer!
Add Comment
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.
Answered October 12, 2009 in Football, Coaching, Parenting

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

What is cause for a 10 year old (who has never been on a team of any sort) to be kicked off the team?

Tammy’s answer:

There have been some misunderstandings, but that is to be expected I would think. If we understood everything, we would not need to be taught. One day at practice, he was assigned to be the kick returner, and got upset because he really wanted to be ... Continue reading »

Great Answer!
1 comment
1. I forgot to add that the contract we signed says any violation of the Code of Conduct may result in removal from all or part of the following game. It does not mention removal from the team. And following the ball slamming incident, the coach told me that he would have to suspend my son for the next week of practice and 1 game because it's the rules. He said he hates for anyone to miss practice, but rules are rules. He called me the next night with the new rules that say even the coach has no say over his team, "The Board" voted unanimously to over rule the week suspension, and kicked him out. So rules aren't rules, and kids are disposable.
  
  Tammy Leavitt · October 12, 2009
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.
Answered October 11, 2009 in Football, Coaching, Parenting

Report inappropriate

Tammy Leavitt asked:

What is cause for a 10 year old (who has never been on a team of any sort) to be kicked off the team?

Tammy’s answer:

That's great advice, and I plan to do just that, after the board meeting on Monday. I just really feel the need to meet these amazing God-like people. I'll let you know how it goes

Great Answer!
Add Comment
Log in or Sign up to post your comment.