I talked to the coach (who is a teenager herself) before practice, before the rest of the team showed up. I explained what happened, and she agreed that it was a problem the other day. I asked her to please have a team meeting and talk about respecting your team mates, and she did.

however, I don't think it will do any good. From what I noticed today during practice, the coach has no control over them, and this team doesn't have the best sportsmanship in the league.

But I'm not going to let her quit, nor has she said she wanted to. Right now, I'm planning on just riding it out. We will see if there are any more problems and if so, well, I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm a firm believer that quitting doesn't solve anything. If there is something we can take away from this, it's that she can see first hand what bad sportsmanship and rudeness is.

What's really a shame is that my other daughter's team is wonderful. The kids really work together as a team, and the coach has control over them AND they mind him (I mentioned before that he is a student in our small school. In fact, he was a reading buddy in DD7's preschool class a few years ago, so she has grown up with him. As does almost all the kids do in our school. That is the great thing about a rural school. The older kids always watch out for the younger ones. When the school was evacuated last year when a huge out of control grassfire came to the back doors of the school, the high schoolers came to the elementary to help evacuate the younger ones).

I'll keep ya'll updated on what happens the next few weeks. I think part of the problem with getting this problem fixed is a coach who is too young and non-assertive to take control of the situation. While race may not be the sole reason, it is the main one. They were teasing DD9 today about going to our rural school, and she stood up for herself well today.

too bad there isn't an all girl league. I think she would really enjoy soccer. But until she hits 7th grade and can play Junior High volleyball, this is the only fall sport offered in this area.