2 Strikes and Your Out as a Spectator During High School Football in Texas

Enjoying youth sports in Texas should be a fun experience for everyone. Problem is, there are a select group of people who want to get overly competitive to put it lightly. Those people will yell at their own kids when they make a mistake, which is wrong. They'll yell at the coach for a decision they make, which is wrong. They'll yell at the referees for what they think is a bad call, which is wrong. They'll yell at other parents for whatever reason, which is wrong. For those fans who like to do any of the above things at high football games in East Texas this season, they'll have two strikes and then will be banned from any sports events at that school.

Bad Parent Behavior

Youth sports is designed to help build the character of a young person. It teaches the value of working as a team, the value of taking care of your specific responsibility and the value of good sportsmanship. Learning all of those qualities helps lead to a victory against the opponent. Winning is great, by the way, but is not the point of youth sports. That's where some parents take things to the wrong level, it's about learning, not winning.

Sadly, as we attend high school football games this season, we'll witness some behavior from certain parents and other spectators that is unacceptable during these sporting events. Because of that bad behavior, some school districts in East Texas have implemented new rules for those bad behaving fans.

District 21-3A

District 21-3A includes the East Texas high schools of Diboll, Huntington, Pineywoods Community Academy, Central Heights, Newton, Central and Woodville. For this 2024 football season, and any sport for the rest of the school year, a disorderly fan can be ejected from the stadium. If this happens twice during the year, that fan is banned from all extracurricular events for the rest of the school year (lufkindailynews.com).

I. Love. This. Rule. It's sad that it's needed but the rule is welcome. I hope that other districts in East Texas, and across the state, will adopt this rule and make it permanent. There is nothing wrong with being excited or passionate about your team and for the players. It turns wrong when that fan becomes unruly and disrespectful to everyone around them.

Youth sports isn't for that type of attitude. Leave it at home.

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