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Anyone who’s attended their fair share of youth sporting events knows there are sadly more than a few parents who take things way too seriously. That’s certainly the case with one man who was reportedly arrested after he was filmed assaulting two referees in their teens during a scary incident at a hockey game in Washington state.
You’d be hard-pressed to find many people who didn’t play at least one sport at some point during their childhood. Those pastimes not only provide kids with an outlet for their energy but can instill plenty of lessons that end up coming in handy in life by fostering the importance of sportsmanship, the roles you play as part of a team, and the ability to overcome adversity.
It’s only natural for parents to get emotionally invested in the successes (and failures) of their kids, and while most of them are able to realize it’s not worth getting too bent out of shape over games involving literal children, there are unfortunately plenty of bad apples who are unable to exercise the proper restraint.
There are far too many stories about underpaid refs and Little League umpires literally working for a burger and a Gatorade getting verbally and physically assaulted by Sports Dads and Sports Moms who’ve crossed the line, and there’s a new entry in that particular canon thanks to what unfolded at a recent Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association game.
On Sunday, the PNAHA posted a video of an alarming incident that unfolded at a 12U contest in Washington that was being overseen by the 13 and 14-year-old referees who were minding their own business on the rink when they were shoved down onto the ice by a parent reportedly affiliated with a team from Seattle.
PNAHA President Jody Carpenter issued a statement condemning the ugly scene while pledging to conduct an investigation; multiple people with knowledge of the aftermath said the assailant was arrested while chiming in on social media, and while the man is currently unidentified, it will likely only be a matter of time until that changes.