By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching, Eastern New York Youth Soccer 
Association
It is hard to go more than one week as a sports fan or soccer fan without witnessing another meltdown from a coach or a player. We have all been there, that moment in time when it just all becomes too much, and we lack the emotional awareness, fortitude or discipline to just hold it together. We invent colorful phrases, meltdown, throw a tantrum, throw your toys out of your carriage to try and encapsulate for those participating just how bad it looks.
Perhaps understandably, dealing with the recent pandemic, people of all ages were spending less time together and therefore less aware of how their actions may be perceived by others and less concerned with how well they were applying their social skills.
Within the youth soccer world, the following acting out moments are common in their occurrence:
1. Kids fighting on a field.
2. Kids cursing out refs, parents or other players.
3. Parents verbally attacking refs.
4. Kids refusing to do the handshake at the end of the game.
5. Kids having some form of emotional breakdown during the process of a game.
Less common but far too frequently we see:
Parents fighting parents.
Parents fighting refs.
Kids fighting refs.
Obviously, many of us and even those involved in the above, fully agree that all behaviors noted are simply unacceptable.
I offer the following for coaches and all to try in the hope that we can all keep our toys in our carriages.