When I was 17 I worked as a soccer referee to earn money in high school. I witnessed child abuse on the field. A coach threw a 12 year-old player against a fence during a game, held him off the ground, and shouted at him. Then repeated it a couple times. I almost stopped the game, but second-guessed myself because there were parents around seeing the same thing, and no one did anything.
I found out that the coach was the player’s father, and decided to talk to a police officer friend of mine. I went to the local police station, told him what I saw and thought, he gave me a phone and number to call CPS. I called them, and a case officer said it wasn’t a big deal, but if I had names, addresses, phone numbers, school attended, and a lot of other info he’d look into it.
I went back and talked to my friend, and he was pissed. He made me call back. I got another officer. She was much more receptive. All I had was the father and players full names, and area the team was from. She asked me if I could get any other info, and I told her I would call her back.
The next day I found out what school they went to and that other players on the team said this was normal. I called the CPS Officer back, and she had already found the coach in the system and that this was an ongoing problem. He was coaching a small boy’s soccer team and abusing his son. I wondered if any of the other parents knew, or cared?
CPS spilled the beans on who called and I ended up having to write a report to the soccer league about what happened. Even got a threat from the coach to sue me through the league. Never heard anything else, but I hope the father got the help he needed and wasn’t a coach anymore.
Help when and where you can.
Stay Safe,
Ben
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