What types of parents are the worst to deal with???

No question, swimming parents are the worst. Way worse than track, and I've covered both for awhile.

Gymnastics parents used to be really bad, but I think somewhere along the line they gave up.

Swimming and gymnastics are both usually 24/7/365 sports, and the only time our newspaper cares is the brief period the kiddies are representing their high schools. That leaves out the club-only kids. Even for those who do both, it's almost never when they're at their best, since the very few gymnastics facilities available at schools are are pathetic, and the major high school swim meets don't coincide with club-team tapers.

Thankfully, most of the non-school sports get passed along to the weekly sections during the school year. We just have to suck it up during the summer. Which reminds me of another group of frustrating parents: Little League!

 

Hockey mothers. Our sports section averages five pages, three of which are devoted entirely to hockey — four teams in primary coverage — for reasons I won't get into here. This email (excerpted) arrived two weeks after I started in this position, and close to six months since we'd had a full-time sports guy (another long story).

"What about an amazing crowd against [rival team] - or was the new sports guy too busy to come to know that there was amazing support for our local team? I am thoroughly disgusted with their article as are a few other people around town.

"I buy [your paper] only to read the sports and I used to look forward to it. I like to read how all the local teams did and who scored etc. Now I am lucky if they are mentioned. I buy it to cut out the articles for my children's hockey teams. The Atom Tier 1 team has barely been mentioned this year- these kids love to see their team and their own name in print."

 

Never had a problem with a swimming parent.... the races are timed.

 

live ones

 

He didn't win three straight titles. He won three consecutive titles. Or three titles in succession. Or three titles in a row.
Editing sure has gone to hell these days.

 

The ones who advertise in the paper.

 

Swimming. And I will not argue this.

 

Without a doubt in our area it's hockey. One prep hockey team out of 31 schools we cover just 11 youth hockey teams in our 6 county coverage area and they act like this is a hockey hotbed...it's not.

 

Do your correction to say it should have been said the first guy is the only one to have won three in a row and still not mention her kid.

 

It's softball/baseball.... not close.

All white, lots of money, success not as easy to divine.

 

I'm sure it would be hockey for me, too, if we had that down here.