Another player/parent here. I've taken Wilf to a bunch of tournaments where I've been playing, and like to think that I am a responsible player/parent. Info: the boy's nearly four, and has attended tournaments from about 10 months old.
Here's two statements: 1) I really don't want someone to land on Wilf and kill him. 2) I really wouldn't want to kill a child (accidentally at a tournament). Thinking about that, here's some rules of a fun game that me and Vicky play: 1) If one of us is playing, the other's got the kid 2) If you're in charge of the kid when he dies, then you lose. 3) If Wilf goes on the pitch, then you lose. 4) If the action is near Wilf, then move him away from it. 5) If you're inbetween two sidelines and there's action on both sides, then move down a little. 6) If we're both on the pitch, then it's someone else's job to supervise Wilf. 7) If he dies when we're both on the pitch, we both lose. That's why we pick good supervisors. 8) At the end of the game Wilf gets to do slapsies with members of the other team (if he's still alive). If he renege's on you, then you lose. He can smell evil. I've seen plenty of little kids at tournaments, and even seen some "run" into dangerous situations. Then they genearlly get chased and beaten/punished/cuddled. I've not noticed any parents or supervisors doing bad jobs. I've not seen any babies sleeping in buggies inside the 2m death zone. If I saw one, then I'd ask for it to be moved to a safer place. Someone mentioned once that they once saw a player destroy a buggy near the sideline once. It wasn't "luck" that there was no kid in it. It wasn't a 50/50 chance that a child was killed. Again, if you see something you think ain't right - speak up. Players should not have to be worrying about kids on the pitch any more than dogshit, broken glass, used condoms or hypodermic needles. But if you spotted my kid on the field, I'd expect you to treat him accordingly. Laters yt ps - on the rules thing: it's good to discuss the "interpretation" with the other players. If you are a player that's "always called a stall on the 'n' of ten" - and someone else looks at you like you like you're an idiot when you tell them this, it could be that you are wrong. Being wrong is totally fine - but not listening to people that are right is not. Even I have got calls wrong before (admittedly not very often) - but when I do I remind myself of those mystical words: "score bev, score". __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed
