SAN FRANCISCO _ San Francisco parents who shout and cheer at their kids' soccer games are going to have to put a sock in it Saturday.
Officials of the San Francisco Vikings League _ 120 teams of children in kindergarten through eighth grades _ told parents they can't cheer, shout or even talk to players during games Saturday. They may only stand quietly and clap. Even the coaches of children older than 10 cannot shout directions to their players.
The Vikings may be one of the only leagues in the area to button adults' lips, but a smattering of leagues across the country are giving it a shot. It's just one new tool for reminding folks that youth sports are as much about good sportsmanship as athletic skills.
'I think we need to remember that this is about little children playing soccer,' said Dana Ketchum, league president. 'We aren't here for winning, but to let kids have fun and get exercise and learn how to be good sports.'
It's the league's second annual Silent Saturday, a one-day muting of adults that is intended to curb the trend toward overzealous coaches and parents who jeer opponents and shout at referees.
'Parents do have a lot of value,' said Tina Seyer, a program director at Stanford University's Positive Coaching Alliance. 'It's sad to think the only positive thing is to say nothing.'
Most leagues have tried other tactics. The South San Jose Youth Soccer League is one of many that require parents to sign 'codes of conduct' pledges promising to behave properly or be banned from games. New Jersey this year went so far as to pass a law allowing local officials to bar misbehaving adults from attending games.
The Palo Alto region of the American Youth Soccer Organization has a section on its Web site (www.ayso26.org) that offers such advice on conduct as 'Cheer positively for the things you like' and 'Never put down the other team or any of the players on either team.'
Other leagues, like the Rockridge Soccer Club, have made attendance by some of a team's adults at Stanford's coaching workshops a requirement for joining. What do they learn?
'We try to teach targeted cheering, like thinking of what to cheer for, and not just the easy things like getting a goal or a nice save,' said Seyer, adding that while a Silent Saturday can be a relief to children and referees, it's important for parents and coaches to learn what to say and do on the sidelines.
The alliance, which within four years grew to a nationwide organization with offices in five cities, held 329 workshops last year attended by about 16,000 coaches, parents and youth sports leaders.
Though they have not tallied statistics, the National Alliance for Youth Sports received about three times as many reports of misbehaving adults as it did 10 years ago, said alliance president Fred Engh.
It logged 12 violent incidents in the United States from January to July. In the most widely publicized case, Thomas Junta of Boston was convicted in January of killing another dad, Michael Costin, in a fight over how Costin was coaching during youth hockey practice.
Nothing nearly that dramatic has happened in San Francisco, but Ketchum said a small number of parents habitually shout orders to their children, berate players on opposing teams or threaten referees. Last year, one father walked onto the field shaking a big stick at a referee who made an unfavorable call, Ketchum said. Two years ago, a father began hitting a player he claimed had hurt his child.
Some parents see Silent Saturday as a one-day punishment everyone must endure for the sins of a few. But most take it in stride, even humor. Some parents last year zipped their lips with masking tape. Others sucked on lollipops to keep quiet.
'I thought it was not natural to stand there in silence,' said Stacey Pacheco, mother of a fifth-grade girl who brought a big bag of lollipops for parents at the game. 'It felt really weird not to cheer the team on. Sucking on a lollipop at 8:30 in the morning didn't feel natural either.'
It didn't help that her daughter, Haley, scored a big goal, she said. 'I think I bit the lollipop.'
The silent game lacked the usual excitement, she added, and parents were picking their nails or other things to put their energy somewhere. Some children missed the cheers, too.
'If I hear the parents cheering that a player's going to get a goal against me, it makes me steal the ball faster,' said Robhy Bustami, a 10-year-old who plays defense. 'It actually helps me.'
Robhy's coach, Keith Kuwatani, said the Silent Saturday events are reflective of the few and not the many.
'We look at them and go, `God they shouldn't be here,' ' he said. 'But it's painful for our parents who just want to root for their kids.'
It was the Vikings' coaches who voted to start the day of silence.
'One coach said he wanted to see how the kids would play if he wasn't shouting directions,' Ketchum said, but he wouldn't try it because some other coaches were shouting all kinds of things and he didn't want to put his team at a disadvantage.
'It was after that we decided maybe everyone should just be quiet and let the kids play.'
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