Youth Hockey Coach Deserves More Than A Ban From Hockey
For further proof that we take youth sports too seriously, look no further than coach Martin Tremblay of the Vancouver Minor Hockey Association’s UBC Hornets.
You might recognize coach Tremblay from the below video of a post game handshake last week, where he decides to deliberately trip one of the opposing players and then follows it up by taunting him and the other coaches. By the way, the opposing player (a 13 year old boy) broke his wrist during the fall and is now wearing a cast.
Disgusting, right?
Tremblay’s original defense was that he slipped on the ice, causing the player to fall, but you can clearly see from the video that this was not the case. Not to mention the taunting afterward and the fact that so much more information has come out in the last few days.
Apparently the drama began when the injured player scored the opening goal of the game and celebrated as he skated by the Hornets bench. Coach Tremblay took offence to the celebrating and yelled at the player, who turned and gave him the middle finger. According to another parent in attendance, coach Tremblay then began yelling insults at the player each time he took the ice after that, leaving the player visibly shaken on the bench.
Did I mention that Tremblay’s team won the game to take home the league championship…..Not that it should matter, but it definitely adds to the idiocy of the incident. Tremblay was arrested but has since been released and awaits a decision about whether he’ll be charged or not.
I’m left scratching my head at the whole situation. What in the world was this guy thinking? A 40 year old man taunting a 13 year old hockey player and then deliberately trying to injure him?! Is he insane? Is this where we are as a society today when it comes to youth sports? It has also been noted that after the incident, Tremblay stayed on the ice and flipped off fans who were outraged by the incident. It has also been reported that his players also taunted fans as they left the ice.
Kids are kids, they do things that we don’t understand because they are still learning how to act in the world. Do you think this is the first time that coach has ever done anything like this? I’m guessing no. If this is the example we are giving our children, how do you think they are going to act as they grow and mature? Probably a lot like this idiot and that is completely unacceptable.
We all need to chill out a bit. Do you know how many of these kids ever go on to make it to a professional level of sports? Not many. Is it really worth it to show them that monsters are in fact very real, just to try and get yourself to that next level? I say no.
I hope Martin Tremblay gets charged to fullest extent that he can be. The RCMP said it plans to recommend an assault charge for him and The Vancouver Minor Hockey Association has suspended him already but that isn’t nearly enough. He should be banned from attending anything in youth sports for life and furthermore, he could benefit from some time behind bars for what he’s done. Seriously, he purposefully broke a 13 year old child’s wrist in a pre-meditated attack on the ice. If he doesn’t get charged, what does that teach these kids?
I don’t want to raise my kids in a world where they have to watch out for their coaches on the playing field as well. I know he’ll never read this but on the off chance that it comes across his desk, I’d like to say that you disgust me, Martin Tremblay, and I hope you realize what you’ve done here is humiliating and wrong and decide to seek professional help. You should be more embarrassed as a father though. I hope your son is smart enough to know what you did is wrong and abnormal.
What did you think about this incident? Is it just common place now or were you as enraged as I was upon reading/watching it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!