I am requesting that all of this be put aside! Mark has apologized to the Westlers, our team, and coaching staff. I have watched the actual GoPro video over and over and truly believe this was the result of a 10U player that misunderstood direction from her coach. I can see where the coach may have told the player she wasn't protecting the runner good enough and asked her to get the bat closer to the eyes and ball path. As a 10 year old this was her way of doing what coach asked. After the game, both stingray coaches explained this to me, apologized and assured me this is NOT what they teach players. I'm good with that and only requested the player be provided an explanation of what would be considered appropriate. Mark assured me he had already spoken to the player.
What we need to keep in front of us is that these girls will play against each other for years to come. As parents and coaches we need to make sure that good examples are instilled into our players. For the sake of kids from both teams; I do not want the players to witness every game being a blood bath of hatred toward opposing parents and players. Some of these kids are already friends and I want that to continue. I have no child on this team and from watching my own children grow into adults know that eventually these players will have to put down their bat, helmet and gloves and will no longer have the Game to play. However, they will have the friendships that have been developed through the years as long as we don't ruin it for them. As parents and coaches; let's not seize that innocence from the kids and hope that what they learn from us will be taught to their children.
