Dear Snarky,
A dad is ruining my 12-year-old daughter and her entire team’s rec volleyball experience. At games a parent volunteer from each team acts as an out-of-bounds judge and this dad always volunteers and acts like he’s Jimmy Fallon. He treats being on the court as a chance to be “hilarious.”
He makes faces, does hand stands, grabs the ball and acts like he’s pooping volley balls and just is an all around ass hat. Ha-ha right?
Not so much because it slows down play of the game and makes the game all about his ridiculous antics. It’s a total distraction away from volleyball.
Some parents have very nicely suggested he tone it down, but he just says, “The kids love it!”
How do we get this clown to not make a kids’ volleyball game a comedy club?
Signed Not Laughing,
Dear Not Laughing,
Yikes, there always seems to be the one parent who needs to be the center of attention in a look at me, look at me way, but this sounds like an extreme case. Since the parent-to-parent approach hasn’t worked I suggest that a written schedule of parent judges be established and pre scheduled for each game that way the Dad Clown can either be 1) not scheduled or 2) scheduled very infrequently.
And for anyone that thinks that the dad is just having fun and everyone “should chill” because it’s a “rec game” to that I say there is a time and place for everything and if he’s slowing down and interrupting the game than I would feel zero guilt in if not exactly shutting him down than reining in his performance opportunities.
*If you have a question for Dear Snarky, “21st Century Advice With An Attitude” email me at snarkyinthesuburbs@gmail.com or send me a PM on the Snarky FB page. 😉
Snarky in the Suburbs 