Girl's season ruined by squabbling parents

So the parents are at it again. It is the parents, mind you, not the kids. The grownups are the ones most obsessed with winning and who usually raise the biggest stink over issues regarding youth sports.

This time, several over-the-top parents are bickering about a 10-year-old star player from Oak Park who allegedly broke the registration rules of the AYBA (Agoura Youth Basketball League) and disrupted the teams' balance of power.

It's hard to know the truth about the girl's circumstances. Some believe her exceptional skill level made competing teams jealous. Others are critical of the girl's parents and coaches for aggressively promoting her into the league in the first place. The girl's family eventually pulled her out of the league to protest the treatment she received.

The girl just wanted to play basketball and have fun, but the adults who got involved had a different agenda.

AYBA officials should have held their ground and not been swayed by complaints that the star player posed an unfair advantage. Youth sports leagues will always have certain exceptional players who can swing a game, and the AYBA is no exception. On the court and on the field there are bound to be winners and losers.

But the girl's parents and coaches were also in the wrong because they didn't follow normal registration procedures and tried to play above the rules. In all sports there are teams that will do whatever it takes to get the winning edge.

None of the behavior above is to be commended. Although we teach our kids that winning isn't everything, we have yet to learn it ourselves.

Our volunteer coaches, parents and administrators give freely of their time because they love their sport and care about the kids. In the end, most of our youth leaders are fundamentally fair, but unfortunately a few bad apples can spoil the bunch.

We're confident the AYBA will continue its successful ways and move past this latest episode. Kids, after all, just want to have fun, and they will, if parents would just lighten up.

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