A soccer referee receives insults from some of the players' parents, and the 11-year-old goalkeeper stops the game to defend her

Respect for athletes and referees should not be based on gender, and thankfully a great deal of progress has been made toward achieving this high standard.

Nevertheless, there is still some seemingly willful bad behavior coming from parents who attend youth sports events—who are not respectful of other parents, the young athletes (including their own children), coaches, and referees, regardless of their proven sports or refereeing skills.

Let's take soccer, for example: Playing soccer is a sport that, theoretically, can be practiced by almost anyone - while also promoting values ​​of undoubted importance such as team spirit, respect, discipline, and friendship.

And it is on all these values ​​that the experience of any boy or a girl who decides to play soccer or any team sport should be based.

To counter the ignorance and incivility of those mothers and fathers who shout unrepeatable sentences against their opponents, or against the referee, when their son or daughter is playing soccer, we must teach young people by example, in the hope that in the future they will not repeat the same bad behavior.

via El Comercio