Bad Basketball Behavior

Madison had a basketball game this afternoon.  I saw something at her game today that made me cringe as a mom.

The opposing team's coach was young, possibly his first teaching job out of college.  During the first half of the game (when his team was ahead) he became frustrated at his players.  Remember, they are sixth grade girls around the ages of 11 and 12.  The coach got mad, stood up from his chair on the sidelines, turned around and raised his clipboard over his head and slammed it on the chair.  I was appalled.

A few minutes later was a break between quarters.  He gathered his players around him on the side of the court and proceeded to scream at them, with gestures and hand motions to match.  I could tell he was screaming because I could hear him from where I was sitting on the opposite side of the gym among all the commotion of the crowd.

Later in the game he threw his pen down with enough force to shatter it across part of the gym floor.

Am I over-reacting here?  I don't really like to see high school coaches act like this, but their kids have at least had some experience playing the game.  These are young girls just learning how to make plays and work together as a team!  What could they have possibly done wrong to warrant such extreme and outrageous behavior from their coach?

So, I wrote a letter to his principal.  It was a polite letter and stated the facts of the young man's behavior.  The goal of my letter was not to criticize as much as it was to encourage this young educator to mature in his coaching skills and choose more age-appropriate behavior.  Personally, I would have loved to have written a really nasty letter, but refrained because I really and truly want this young man to become a good coach, a good teacher and a good mentor to his students.  

I realize the principal may throw my letter into file #13, but at least I tried.