12-year-old boy dies after being forced to run in 90 degree plus heat

[MercyA]

"Family members say a teacher ignored a 12-year-old’s pleas for help before he died after being forced to run during sweltering heat at his Riverside County middle school.

Yahshua Robinson suffered a medical emergency Tuesday around 11 a.m. during his physical education class at Canyon Lake Middle School in Lake Elsinore. The temperature at the time was in the low- to mid-90 degrees.

Amarna Plummer said her nephew hadn’t dressed appropriately for P.E. and was told to run for not doing so. She said, according to other students, Yahshua started feeling ill.

'He was reaching out to the teacher, saying he needed some water. He said he couldn't breathe. He was telling the kids this,' Plummer said.

Yahshua’s condition got worse, and he passed out on the field, Plummer said. Emergency responders arrived a short time later, but Yahshua was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital."

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/lake-elsinore-middle-school-student-death-run-heat/3216265/

What a cruel and senseless thing to do to a child. Don't people have any common sense or compassion at all? The teacher needs to be fired and criminally charged and the school sued. 

Edited September 4, 2023 by MercyA

[Melissa Louise]

That's truly tragic, and having suffered a sadistic high school PE teacher myself, sadly not surprising.

The school does need to be sued and the teacher fired, at the very least. 

~

(We had an athletics carnival last week.

Those who planned it did not plan for shade.*

Multiple children ended up vomiting with heat and exertion. 

A teacher ended up with heat stress. 

Execs put an anonymous feedback sheet in the staffroom and were peeved that every single comment related to WH&S and the need to provide shade and cooling to students and staff taking part in an athletics event. 

My experience is that, no, people do not have common sense.

Multiple parents sent children without hats, sunscreen, or water. Teachers did not take action and cease the event when it was clear it was unsafe. 

*It is usually cooler than it was that day, but the higher temperature forecast was available at least two days before the event.)

~

That poor family. So utterly senseless.

 

[Rosie_0801]

Teaching kids when not to be obedient has been one of the interesting things about parenting.

 

Not sure how that isn't negligent manslaughter.

[Sneezyone]

1 minute ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Teaching kids when not to be obedient has been one of the interesting things about parenting.

Right at the heart of the matter, as always.

[ScoutTN]

19 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Teaching kids when not to be obedient has been one of the interesting things about parenting.

 

Not sure how that isn't negligent manslaughter.

Yes.

[Tenaj]

That's terrible.  I have a kid with exercise-induced asthma.  PE teachers should be more informed than this 

I was at a volleyball game for my daughter this week.  A coach of the school we were playing had a school T-shirt on.  The back was a list that included "passing out is permitted", "vomiting is permitted" and some other things I can't remember.  Last item "Quitting is not permitted".

I was kind of gobsmacked.  I know he coaches junior high girls basketball. 

[gardenmom5]

Not surprising.  Teachers think all kids are shirkers.
My friend let the school know, in no uncertain terms, if anything happened to their asthmatic daughter they would be sued.  This was after it was made known to them, and after the substitute PE teacher made her run.  She ended up in the ER.

[katilac]

I wonder what the "feels like" temperature was. I hope not including that, or a narrower temperature range, was due to time constraints. 

How do you live after being responsible for that? 

[EKS]

The appropriate response was to have the kid sit out and give a zero for the day.  Manslaughter at a minimum.

[mommyoffive]

Thanks for posting.  I had read about this poor boy's passing, but in the first reports of his death they didn't give any details.  I can't believe the teacher did this!! I am so sad for his family.  I hope the teacher and school are held responsible

[Heartstrings]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

What a cruel and senseless thing to do to a child. Don't people have any common sense or compassion at all?

Not for children.  So many adults don’t see kids as fully human.  Every word or action from a child is seen as a manipulation tactic, every utterance is assumed to be a lie.  

[maize]

32 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Not for children.  So many adults don’t see kids as fully human.  Every word or action from a child is seen as a manipulation tactic, every utterance is assumed to be a lie.  

I unfortunately agree with you that this perception is common. 

I fail utterly to understand it.  Do people not,  at a minimum,  remember being children themselves? Remember that,  as children,  they were persons?

Edited September 4, 2023 by maize

[mom31257]

Such a tragedy! I can't imagine what this family is going through! 

46 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Not for children.  So many adults don’t see kids as fully human.  Every word or action from a child is seen as a manipulation tactic, every utterance is assumed to be a lie.  

When my son was younger, he was accused of something he said he didn't do. The adult accusing him didn't believe him when he denied it. He asked me why adults always think kids lie, and I really didn't have a good answer. He emphatically said, "I DON'T LIE!"  I knew he didn't, even to keep from getting in trouble. 

[Harriet Vane]

51 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Not for children.  So many adults don’t see kids as fully human.  Every word or action from a child is seen as a manipulation tactic, every utterance is assumed to be a lie.  

Yup. I know someone like this and this person’s behavior towards their children and the way they talk about them makes me enraged.

[Faith-manor]

48 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Not for children.  So many adults don’t see kids as fully human.  Every word or action from a child is seen as a manipulation tactic, every utterance is assumed to be a lie.  

This is why I firmly believe there should be a bill of rights for children/minors added to the constitution. Once it becomes federal crimes and human rights violations, people are more likely to see children as something other than property, human livestock.

My heart breaks for the family. P.E. teacher can rot in hell forever as far as I am concerned.

Rosie is spot on, as usual! She has so much wisdom.

[Ting Tang]

The irony that his very own mother is a physical education teacher--and is one of the good ones---who warned about kids going out in that heat! 

I feel for the family dealing with this trauma and also the students who witnessed this student's excruciating death.

Physical education in schools doesn't seem to be solving the obesity epidemic, and I sometimes feel it is obsolete.  I never liked gym class.  

 

 

[Ting Tang]

14 hours ago, Tenaj said:

That's terrible.  I have a kid with exercise-induced asthma.  PE teachers should be more informed than this 

I was at a volleyball game for my daughter this week.  A coach of the school we were playing had a school T-shirt on.  The back was a list that included "passing out is permitted", "vomiting is permitted" and some other things I can't remember.  Last item "Quitting is not permitted".

I was kind of gobsmacked.  I know he coaches junior high girls basketball. 

No stupid game is worth it.  I don't care how many hundreds of dollars you dump into your kid's sport or activity, it isn't worth their physical or emotional health is they are just not able to perform.  I think of Simone Biles.  Look how the public has treated her---people who can't do a somersault still make nasty comments about her scratching.  

[chiguirre]

I live next door to a middle school. They are currently doing their cross country unit and I see kids out all the time when our highs are consistently above 100. So far, nobody's died but I imagine that we might be heading for that. I don't know why they schedule running in August in Houston, it's really stupid. 

[ScoutTN]

Someone we know recently experienced heat stroke. Very scary. Dressing and behaving appropriately for the weather is not a little thing. 

Edited September 4, 2023 by ScoutTN

[maize]

7 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

I live next door to a middle school. They are currently doing their cross country unit and I see kids out all the time when our highs are consistently above 100. So far, nobody's died but I imagine that we might be heading for that. I don't know why they schedule running in August in Houston, it's really stupid. 

I hope they are keeping the kids hydrated.

I did military training in San Antonio in July and August. It was brutal, but safety was taken seriously. "Drink water!" was among the most common shouted commands and we were required to keep two filled canteens with us at all times.

[maize]

28 minutes ago, Ting Tang said:

 

Physical education in schools doesn't seem to be solving the obesity epidemic, and I sometimes feel it is obsolete.  I never liked gym class.  

 

It's not obsolete, if anything it should be given more time. There's a ton of research that shows students perform better when they are given more time for physical activity.

It doesn't need to be something kids hate though,  although there's probably no way to please everyone.  An hour of physical activity in every school day but with activities kids can choose from would be fantastic. 

And it can be done safely. 

[Ting Tang]

24 minutes ago, maize said:

It's not obsolete, if anything it should be given more time. There's a ton of research that shows students perform better when they are given more time for physical activity.

It doesn't need to be something kids hate though,  although there's probably no way to please everyone.  An hour of physical activity in every school day but with activities kids can choose from would be fantastic. 

And it can be done safely. 

I think recess and free time/open gym would be fine.  Reading comments online under articles about this child's death has revealed many people have suffered abuse while in gym class.  One person chimed in about his own experience at that school.  They'd have the better runners physically push him from the back so that he wouldn't fail the mile run again.  There are videos circulating that children need to be taught to advocate for themselves in these situations.  That would require a lot of training with a typical child of that age/maturity, but for a child with neurodivergence, I think it would be extremely difficult.  ... teaching kids how to protect themselves from public school teachers...so sad...  

[TechWife]

13 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

Not for children.  So many adults don’t see kids as fully human.  Every word or action from a child is seen as a manipulation tactic, every utterance is assumed to be a lie.  

This. So much this. Kids who realize & act on their own agency are seen as troublemakers and treated accordingly. 

[TechWife]

1 hour ago, Ting Tang said:

The irony that his very own mother is a physical education teacher--and is one of the good ones---who warned about kids going out in that heat! 

I feel for the family dealing with this trauma and also the students who witnessed this student's excruciating death.

Physical education in schools doesn't seem to be solving the obesity epidemic, and I sometimes feel it is obsolete.  I never liked gym class.  

 

 

PE needs to be retired as a concept and replaced with health & well being. Teaching nutrition, exercise & stress management as a tool for good health should take precedence over kids learning specific sports skills. 
 

ETA: Many of the PE teachers I’ve had or met were frustrated middle school bullies. 

Edited September 4, 2023 by TechWife

[fairfarmhand]

5 minutes ago, TechWife said:

PE needs to be retired as a concept and replaced with health & well being. Teaching nutrition, exercise & stress management as a tool for good health should take precedence over kids learning specific sports skills. 
 

ETA: Many of the PE teachers I’ve had or met were frustrated middle school bullies. 

See for decades PE has equated with sports. But there’s so much more to wellness and physical health that sports.  I haven’t played a sport in decades but I stay active. I walk, run, garden, stretch, dance, lift weights…it’s like PE is only taught by jocks who think that soccer basketball and other competitive team sports are the only way to wellness. What about yoga? What about dance? Or Pilates or rock climbing? 

[Jaybee]

7 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

See for decades PE has equated with sports. But there’s so much more to wellness and physical health that sports.  I haven’t played a sport in decades but I stay active. I walk, run, garden, stretch, dance, lift weights…it’s like PE is only taught by jocks who think that soccer basketball and other competitive team sports are the only way to wellness. What about yoga? What about dance? Or Pilates or rock climbing? 

One of my best PE semesters ever was the one in high school when my PE teacher let me use the class time to walk around the track rather than participating in track and field events. I was either last or next-to-last every time I tried to run or anything, and it was basically an "exercise" in humiliation for me. I participated, I tried, but I am very slow and clumsy. I got much more benefit, both in physical and mental health, in being allowed to walk the class period. It made me think about how much more I would have benefitted through the years with an emphasis on personal health rather than competition. Back then, PE was required every year, all year, except for a possible semester of driver's ed. I absolutely hated it.

[maize]

8 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

See for decades PE has equated with sports. But there’s so much more to wellness and physical health that sports.  I haven’t played a sport in decades but I stay active. I walk, run, garden, stretch, dance, lift weights…it’s like PE is only taught by jocks who think that soccer basketball and other competitive team sports are the only way to wellness. What about yoga? What about dance? Or Pilates or rock climbing? 

We had a square dancing unit in my high school PE class, it was fun. 

There's certainly no reason schools, especially large high schools, couldn't offer a variety of PE options. Enroll in a pilates class for a semester,  or a dance class (certainly physical enough to be considered PE as well as performing arts!), or a pickleball class; have the option of walking around the track chatting with friends during class--it's physically active and gets the heart rate up. Certainly making kids miserable should not be the goal of PE, nor should it be to push everyone to perform like a professional athlete.

[Ting Tang]

33 minutes ago, TechWife said:

PE needs to be retired as a concept and replaced with health & well being. Teaching nutrition, exercise & stress management as a tool for good health should take precedence over kids learning specific sports skills. 
 

ETA: Many of the PE teachers I’ve had or met were frustrated middle school bullies. 

You are correct.  And I understand there are adults who truly enjoy coaching children and encouraging them to be their personal best, but let's face it, the person who killed this kid is a monster.  

Another thing I hated was changing in the locker room.  My nephew was very worried about that this year, entering middle school.  He's a perfectly healthy and athletic kid.   At least if you join a gym, it is your choice whether or not to undress in front of others.  No human being should be forced to undress in front of others.  

[MercyA]

17 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

That's truly tragic, and having suffered a sadistic high school PE teacher myself, sadly not surprising.

Yes. I vividly remember my junior high PE teacher telling a girl (loudly, in front of everyone), "That's why you don't have any friends!" 😞 

DH had a basketball coach who prided himself on running first workouts of the season until someone threw up. One kid threw up more easily than most so the kids counted on him.

[Spryte]

My heart is broken for that family. Broken. There is no reason any PE teacher needs to be cruel and bullying, but to take it that point—it’s unspeakable.

I hoped we’d left the sadistic PE teachers in the 1980s, but apparently not.

That teacher needs to be fired, and held accountable. And if there were other teachers outside witnessing the abuse without intervening, they are culpable, too.

[Ting Tang]

The teacher needs a court date and an orange jumpsuit for starters.  

 

[Clarita]

I liked my PE teachers and I wasn't athletic. The punishment for not wearing appropriate clothes was a 0 for the day, not run or a physical activity in the heat. 

I thought we were done with the sadistic PE teacher before I went to school or they were fictional characters in movies. 

A funny side note the way classes were scheduled at my high school the AP/honors students and the jocks had the same PE period. I thought it actually turned out pretty great in terms of cultivating relationships between the jocks and the "smart" kids. The PE teachers really worked on making that happen though.

[Arcadia]

My teacher in 5th grade treats everyone with contempt. I had to get a doctor’s note and sit out PE. My 8th grade PE teacher went to college on a sports scholarship and so was a slave driver for PE. Luckily she is scared of students landing in ER so if students look like they are going to faint, she would let them stop. 

[ScoutTN]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

See for decades PE has equated with sports. But there’s so much more to wellness and physical health that sports.  I haven’t played a sport in decades but I stay active. I walk, run, garden, stretch, dance, lift weights…it’s like PE is only taught by jocks who think that soccer basketball and other competitive team sports are the only way to wellness. What about yoga? What about dance? Or Pilates or rock climbing? 

PE in many elementary schools here, public and private, is very diverse and not just competitive games. More general fitness. 
 

Idk about middle and high school though.

Athletes who participate in a school sport get their PE credit from that at Ds’ high school, so the most athletic kids are not in PE at all. It is very health and fitness oriented and team-taught with adults with various backgrounds doing intro activities for their thing. So the kids get an intro to working out with the weight lifting machines, an intro to yoga, lots of general stretching exercises, etc. Charter school, so they have some freedom that the regular public high schools don’t.

Edited September 4, 2023 by ScoutTN

[fairfarmhand]

6 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

PE in many elementary schools here, public and private, is very diverse and not just competitive games. More general fitness. 

Thats progress!

[Murphy101]

18 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Teaching kids when not to be obedient has been one of the interesting things about parenting.

 

Not sure how that isn't negligent manslaughter.

I don’t see how it’s negligent. The kid was actively in distress and begging for help.  She knew he wasn’t dressed for it so she intentionally made this his punishment and offered no assistance when he was in distress. B—  should get straight up manslaughter. 

You can bet if a parent did this that’s what they would get.

 

[cjzimmer1]

Add me to the list of kids who grew up with horrible gym teachers.  I vividly remember my 7th and 8th grade teacher.  He was the basketball coach and loved sports and of course every else should too.  When we did track and field everyone had to run a mile.  Anyone who finished in under 8 minutes was "finished" with that activity and moved on to other track and field things and eventually group sports.  Next class anyone who didn't finish in 8 minutes or less got to run the mile again if they finish in under 8 1/2 minutes they were done.  And so it went, every class period it went up by 30 seconds.  I remember the last girl.  She had asthma and couldn't even run a whole lap before needing to walk and catch her breathe.  We had class 3 times a week and she was out there well over a month after everyone else finished.  I know her time was well over 20 minutes.  I always felt so bad for her like why couldn't the teacher just say good enough or bump it by a minute or anything to give her a break but nope.

 

Anyways, I coordinate a gym class for our homeschool group.  I describe it as gym class for couch potatoes.  The goal is for the kids to have fun while moving their bodies.  If too many kids complain about the scheduled activity, the teachers change it and we remove it from the schedule for a few years.  Even though we at times do traditional sports, there is a lot of leeway in the "rules" so that even the "worst" performer can be successful.  We had one family whose kids were in competitive sports leave because we were too casual on the rules and her kids didn't think it was fair that people got extra chances but everyone else loves the relaxed set up.  But yes much of the way it's structured is in backlash to the horrible gym classes of my youth.  There is no reason that schools can't make exercise fun and children should not be dying because of it!

[Clarita]

Not that sadistic PE teachers are reading this thread but one of my PE teachers coaches baseball too and turned out at least one MLB player. (🤷‍♀️ Just saying you can turn out athletes while being encouraging and positive influence.)

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, TechWife said:

This. So much this. Kids who realize & act on their own agency are seen as troublemakers and treated accordingly. 

Agreed. I have a grandson who will never be able to attend school. He has an intensely well developed sense of right and wrong, stands up for others when bigger kids around him are scared to do so, and will absolutely question an adult's judgment on safety issues and fair treatment. His parents have taught him to use an even, non angry tone of voice when questioning the adult, but seriously, this kid will never be an instant obedience kid even though he likes to please. He cannot stand hypocrisy, mean spiritedness, bullying behavior, adults who treat kids like non humans, people who will not abide by what is safe. He is hyper rational so he tunes into things that other kids do not because his brain can figure out quickly what the potential outcomes would be for doing x, y, z. He would be a nightmare for any teacher who demands shut up, do what I say, and if I bully another kid, it is none of your business.

I get along with him just fine. We have a great relationship. But I also worked on building that trust with him where he knows if I ask him to do something, I have a good reason to do so and have his and his brothers' best interests at heart. He knows I love him to my last breath. So he has no problem following my lead. No teacher is going to have time to build that relationship with him, not in today's insanely crowded classrooms and increasing bureaucratic nonsense.

I am wondering if the charge could be upped from negligent manslaughter to voluntary manslaughter. There was depraved indifference. the P.E. teacher didn't just set up a bad situation from a place of stupidity/ignorance, but over and over the child begged for help. At any time, the teacher could have stopped it, and assisted the student. Instead just kept pushing until the child collapsed and could not be saved. To me that seems like a willingness to harm the child to the point of death without premeditating murder. But, I don't know how prosecutors determine these kinds of charges. 

I also think that given one child died, there should be a reckless endangerment with depraved indifference charge for every, single student made to run. It was clearly dangerous conditions, and the evil monster had to have known it and didn't give an eff.

It is a good thing I am not a judge. I would be pro "Here is your teaspoon and mini pick axe, brown bread, and water rations. You'll be mining granite for the rest of your life on a mountain pass in Dengali. Good luck!" The whole "cruel and unusual" part of the punishment clause is utterly lost on me when it comes to doing evil to children. No. Mercy.

As for the poster who asked how someone lives with it. The answer is, it doesn't bother them that much, and they are generally pissed at being held accountable. They are just that depraved. You no...like kneeling on someone's neck until he asphyxiates. Too many people put into power that have zero empathy nor care for the other humans they share the planet with.

[vonfirmath]

3 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

PE in many elementary schools here, public and private, is very diverse and not just competitive games. More general fitness. 
 

Idk about middle and high school though.

Athletes who participate in a school sport get their PE credit from that at Ds’ high school, so the most athletic kids are not in PE at all. It is very health and fitness oriented and team-taught with adults with various backgrounds doing intro activities for their thing. So the kids get an intro to working out with the weight lifting machines, an intro to yoga, lots of general stretching exercises, etc. Charter school, so they have some freedom that the regular public high schools don’t.

Our middle school has a dance option for PE

And yes athletics takes athletics PE.

 

[Shoeless]

6 hours ago, Ting Tang said:

The irony that his very own mother is a physical education teacher--and is one of the good ones---who warned about kids going out in that heat! 

I feel for the family dealing with this trauma and also the students who witnessed this student's excruciating death.

Physical education in schools doesn't seem to be solving the obesity epidemic, and I sometimes feel it is obsolete.  I never liked gym class.  

 

 

That's because obesity isn't caused by sedentary behavior. It's because of the ultra-high processed foods we eat. It's really, really hard to exercise weight off. 

I hated gym class because it was all about tEaM SpOrTz being the only thing worthwhile. There was one year the gym teachers offered a program focused on the sort of exercise people did as adults: biking, walking, hiking, weights, aerobics.  It was the best time I had in gym ever, but the program was cancelled because the insurance company didn't like all those kids going off campus all the time.

[Terabith]

My elementary schools didn’t have recess. We had pe every day, and we did some neat things.  I remember tininkling and doing the patty cake polka in third or fourth grade.  Jump rope for heart was huge. We did things like kickball and softball and basketball occasionally, and a couple of times there were running units, but it was honestly a pretty decent experience, even the fifth and sixth grade pe teacher who had students who cleaned her car during class and students found drugs.  I didn’t like pe, but most of the time I didn’t hate it and it was pretty diverse in activities even in the 80’s. 
 

My junior high pe teacher was awesome and I genuinely liked her.  We had units on things like pickleball and speedball. There was a track unit but she let the genuinely not athletic kids like me make bulletin boards instead.  
 

I wish high school pe was like college, where you could select activities.  My oldest did dance in lieu of pe, but that was the only alternate activity. I’d like to see band and sports as alternative activities.  My youngest was able to do lame online Pe because of the pandemic.  

[Faith-manor]

I can't get past how traumatized the other classmates must be. My heart breaks. How will they ever trust another authority figure ever again? We can't blame them if they grow up to be adults who look at the people in charge with hatred, and the middle finger for being told what to do. The consequences here go far beyond just the horror for the family of the murdered child.

[Heartstrings]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I have a grandson who will never be able to attend school. He has an intensely well developed sense of right and wrong, stands up for others when bigger kids around him are scared to do so,

This kind of thing played a huge part in why we started homeschooling.  My oldest is very similar.  

[vonfirmath]

21 hours ago, Terabith said:

My elementary schools didn’t have recess. We had pe every day, and we did some neat things.  I remember tininkling and doing the patty cake polka in third or fourth grade.  Jump rope for heart was huge. We did things like kickball and softball and basketball occasionally, and a couple of times there were running units, but it was honestly a pretty decent experience, even the fifth and sixth grade pe teacher who had students who cleaned her car during class and students found drugs.  I didn’t like pe, but most of the time I didn’t hate it and it was pretty diverse in activities even in the 80’s. 
 

My junior high pe teacher was awesome and I genuinely liked her.  We had units on things like pickleball and speedball. There was a track unit but she let the genuinely not athletic kids like me make bulletin boards instead.  
 

I wish high school pe was like college, where you could select activities.  My oldest did dance in lieu of pe, but that was the only alternate activity. I’d like to see band and sports as alternative activities.  My youngest was able to do lame online Pe because of the pandemic.  

Marching band is already an alternative to PE  -- when I was a kid I chose an instrument in 6th grade and learned it to get out of PE in high school

AThletics is as well.

Edited September 5, 2023 by vonfirmath

[Kassia]

58 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

Marching band is already an alternative to PE  -- when I was a kid I chose an instrument in 6th grade and learned it to get out of PE in high school

AThletics is as well.

I was in marching band and it didn't count as PE.  Two of my sons were in sports in high school and still had to take PE (different state than I grew up in).  It must depend on the district. 

When I was a kid I was terrible at gym and my PE teacher separated me from the class to do the "Go You Chicken Fat Go" record over and over.  It was humiliating.  The elementary school PE teacher in the district I live in now was horrible to any kids who were overweight - she would single them out and embarrass them.  Many parents complained but nothing was done (she's retired now).  My dd's friend has asthma and this teacher made her run when the girl complained of struggling to breathe.  She was a terrible terrible person. 

Ds2 ran cross country and track throughout high school and he had a coach who was obsessed with winning to the point where he would sacrifice the kids' health and safety.  It was appalling and upsetting.  You'd think he was coaching Olympic athletes and a US medal was on the line.  My ds has a chronic injury due to this coach and so did some other kids because they were pressured to race while injured.  My ds is very active now as a young adult but he can't run because of this injury.  One kid got seriously hurt during a training run and his mom complained and said she would take it higher and the coach threatened her.  He was such an a$$ and I hated him.  As sad as I was when ds2 graduated from high school, it was such a relief to be done with this awful person for good.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Kassia

[Indigo Blue]

@KassiaI am so angry that happened to you. What a jack a$$. Surely he was a school bully when he was a kid. I wish I could punch that person. 

[Indigo Blue]

19 minutes ago, Kassia said:

You'd think he was coaching Olympic athletes and a US medal was on the line.  My ds has a chronic injury due to this coach and so did some other kids because they were pressured to race while injured.

Dh and I were riding our bikes near the ball field of the local athletic association little league last weekend. Right over the bleachers was a large sign that said something like:

This is a reminder from your child:

I am just a child.

It is just a game. 

The coaches are volunteers.

The umpires are human.

No one is handing out college scholarships today. 

 

We needed this sign when my older son played T ball. Played for one season. Never again. Last day, parents and coaches were screaming at each other. 
 

 

 

[Indigo Blue]

The only game the middle school around here seems to know is prison ball. It’s an indoor version of dodge ball, played with a heavier, more solid ball. Just so stupid and ridiculous. 
 

So many games and sports to choose from, and they seem to be obsessed with a game where the weaker ones get pummeled and the stronger ones get to pummel weaker ones. 

[Faith-manor]

My theory on P.E. teachers is that about 75% were school bullies themselves and then gravitated to a career where they are legally sanctioned to bully kids. They get off on the power.

I only ever had one decent P.E. instructor. College. And his concern was exercise for health and stress reduction so instead of doing anything remotely sports related, he guided us I to trying different types of exercise and just general movement and personal health and fitness goals. He taught anatomy and physiology as part of the course. I took up swimming. I was able to swim. Probably a Red Cross level 3, so I knew how to swim, jump in and surface, swim easily to side, back, side, and free style. But I had never done enough to have endurance. So that is what we worked on, and he was great. Lots of encouragement from his T.A. who was a sports medicine person. It was demoralizing at first. I would get in and just be completely out of breath after making it to the end of the olympic pool, and then J.T., a student training for a triathlon, would dive in, swim half the length in one breath, surface, and start doing laps like Flipper. Sigh. Oh so embarassing. But the day I managed a full lap, he was there, and came over, congratulated me, shook my hand, and told me he was so excited that I was working so hard to personally inprove. It gave me enough confidence to not switch after four weeks when we were given the option to try something else. I kept going, and was able to do 4 consecutive laps of the pool by the end of the semester. I was the most fit I have ever been in my life and that is saying a lot because I was quite fit in middle and high school.

Sadly, when I left college, I left a life of having access to lap swimming. We have never lived anywhere since then where there was open lap swim somewhere close enough and cheap enough to work with our budget, my jobs, and our family schedule.