At the age of 22, I can't even imagine what it would be like to settle down with a family. I already have friends who are engaged, some who are married and a few who have children. There is nothing wrong with that; in fact, I actually admire them for being ready to start a family and being able to care for somebody other than themselves.
Someday I see myself married and raising some little muskrats of my own. If they are anything like I was as a child, they will probably be running around and playing more sports than I can keep track of.
But then that poses some questions: How involved should I be in their athletic careers? How am I going to set the proper example for them from the sidelines? When will I know if my actions have crossed the line?
Every person who has participated in organized sports for a fair amount of time knows of or had a parent who interfered too much in their child's athletic career.
My father was my basketball coach for as long as I can remember, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Sure, he was hard on me and there were days when I couldn't even talk to him. But it was my father who helped me build character and my mother who cheered from the sidelines.
Yes, I had parents who were extremely involved with my athletic career. I am happy to say, however, that they never set a poor example for me. They never embarrassed me and I never felt like they took things too far.
Some children who will remain nameless were not so lucky. When I was younger, I played soccer through my city's recreation department league and the memory of one practice always sticks out.
I was in sixth grade and our team was doing a passing drill that required us to kick the ball far down the field to a teammate. I punted the ball perfectly and it hit the teammate I was passing to in the head.
As a result, her glasses fell off and she began to cry. She was not injured and her glasses did not break.
The girl's father was the assistant coach and he was not happy about it. He made me take several laps around the soccer field as a punishment for accidentally knocking his daughter's glasses off after doing the drill correctly. He then scolded me in front of the entire team.
It wasn't until later that I realized he was being an overprotective father who acted in an incredibly immature way.
A few years later, I found myself at my brother's flag football game. To this day, it still shocks me that one father could turn a kid's game into a nightmare.
My little brother's team was winning the game by a few touchdowns, and the father of a boy on the other team was not pleased. His son was the running back, and on one play tripped and fell to the ground.
The man grew so upset that no flag was thrown, he ran onto the field and started arguing with the teenage referee, saying, This is not the NFL!"" Then he grabbed one of the players, picked him up and threw him down to the ground.
""You call that flag football?"" he screamed.
Everybody at the game froze.
Now that crossed the line. The kid was lying there, rolling on the ground, crying.
I can only imagine how the man's son felt. The angry father was kicked out of the game and told not to return for the rest of the season. I doubt that the punishment was severe enough to compensate for the mark his action put on the memory of everyone involved.
It's amazing how far some parents will go when they get involved with their child's athletic career. It is, after all, just a game.
Do you have any interesting stories about parental involvement with sports? Tell Crystal all about it by e-mailing her at crowns@wisc.edu.
