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Monday, Oct. 8, 2007 | Ian, this is my 6-year old son’s second year of playing in the Coronado Youth League’s Micro Division. While I have yet to see the behavior you wrote about regarding adults cursing out refs and screaming over coaches, I have seen some very mean-spirited and poor sportsmanship on the part of the players and or their families. Note: Micro players range from four to six years of age. For example, last year our son’s team was taking a real beating from another team. But, our players were troopers about it and kept on playing despite their visible frustration. But, I nearly blew my stack when one of the older siblings of the kids on the opposing team kept on playing “Who Let the Dogs Out” on her iPod boom-box each time her brother’s team scored (which was quite frequently). And, then in a game earlier this year, my son told me after the game that some of the kids on the opposing team taunted him during the game, telling my son that he was too slow and that their team was beating my son (and the other kids would repeat the score to my son). My son, in response to these boys, told the kids that he didn’t care what the score was, that he was playing soccer for fun and exercise and teamwork. The other boys then laughed at my son as they ran away from him. So, it does not come as a surprise to me that when so many adults behave in such a shameful manner at their child(ren)’s sporting events, that eventually the child(ren) will behave poorly as well. What a crying shame.