Wednesday, October 18, 2000
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Wednesday, October 18, 2000 |
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'Silent' soccer here jeered, cheered By PAT NEWMAN Depending on which side of the field you were on, the observance of Silent Soccer Weekend in Peachtree City was either "infuriating" and "outrageous" or "silly" and a "nonevent." Dan Christensen, president of the Peachtree City Youth Soccer Association, spent Saturday morning handing out flyers to parents arriving for their children's soccer games at the Rockaway Road Soccer Complex and explaining the reason behind the move to keep parents and coaches quiet during play. PTCYSA members did the same at other fields around town. "We want to give the game back to the players," Christensen said. "This weekend provides each player one weekend that is free of all distractions caused by parents and coaches screaming or yelling directions at them, and provide an opportunity for them to play their own game," he explained. The majority of players, particularly the under-10 crowd, seemed unfazed by the quieter tone of the day. Polite clapping from the sidelines was permitted for recognition of a good play or goal, but some parents were indignant that they had to zip their lips. Jeff Carter of Fayetteville said he was "outraged that a government-sponsored agency was requiring a suppression of speech under threat of retaliation against my child." Carter said he thought the program should be voluntary, but bristled when he learned that if parents or coaches violated the policy, "the game would be halted and the team our children played on would forfeit. I was incredulous but in fact the game played prior to ours had been stopped and a team of under-10 players had forfeited by sanction of the PTCYSA." Carter added that the coach of that particular team was to be called in for a disciplinary hearing concerning his actions. Paul Dixon commented that he thought Silent Weekend went well, adding, "I don't think enough people understood the concept. I was pleasantly surprised how well it went with the under-6 team I coach. I have been telling them all year about how they have to talk to each other. It worked and we could hear them. It really was nice to hear the kids instead of us." Dr. Nick DeBonis, commenting on the PTCYSA web site, said. "As a parent, referee and longtime football [soccer] fan who has enjoyed the sport as a fan throughout the world, Silent Weekend was a pseudo-surreal experience. "I heard the parents discuss the experiment as knee-jerk response to everything from creeping hooliganism in American soccer to the softball coaches from Rockdale County who were indicted recently and from a risk management initiative proposed from some corporate bozo to another attempt by the government to stifle First Amendment rights. As amusing as some of these perceptions are, the Silent Weekend punishes all fan behavior rather than focusing on the inappropriate behavior." The decision to enact Silent Weekend came in September after the Georgia Youth Soccer Association risk management group suggested that soccer teams across the state observe a quiet weekend. PTCYSA agreed and posted guidelines on their web site, along with handing out the information flyers. The observance has been handled successfully in Ohio, Connecticut, Wisconsin and other states.
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