Parents of a Bethesda, MD (which just happens to be where yours truly's office is) soccer team have been ordered to come no closer than 100 yards to the field while their daughter's team is playing.

The Washington Post reports:

"The trouble began when a parent from the Springfield Youth Club's Xplosion working as an assistant referee raised a flag in the air and called an offside violation on a Bethesda player, according to the minutes of the disciplinary hearing. After the game, a Bethesda parent approached the referee and accused him of making the wrong call, the report says. The parent "started to raise his voice," according to the report. More sniping occurred, and "the tone and behavior of the parents was aggressive." Then another Bethesda parent allegedly yelled at the referee's daughter, "Your father should be fired!"

The league's disciplinary committee ruled that the Bethesda parents had violated the league's code of conduct -- which asks parents to refrain from questioning referees' calls -- through "egregious" behavior that "has no place in youth sports." They ruled that the parents could not be on the sidelines for the first two games of this season.

"There was a game where our parents were a little bit vocal about the refereeing. . . . Things can get emotional, but you have to keep up the sportsmanlike spirit," said Legacy's manager, Mark Lauda, an Olney resident. "We're not a problem team at all. It was just one thing that happened."

As anyone who has been to a youth sports game can attest, this is not an isolated incident. According to a Sports Illustrated Kids poll, 74 percent of children have witnessed out-of-control parents at their games.

Did you know that many courts accept home study courses for court ordered anger management? Think about how much easier that would make it for you to meet the requirements of your sentencing! Check out our court ordered course section for more details or go to www.CourtOrderedAngerManagement.com!

One of the oft overlooked effects of small anger aka chronic grumpiness is its effects on one's health. Scientific research has shown that recurring impatience, agitation, resentment, etc.. is associated with an increased risk for heart disease, stroke, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug addiction and high blood pressure. People who have have "small angries" also have been shown to have a significantly shorter life span than those without.

What is anger? Most people have a hard time coming up with a definition of it, some may say its yelling others may say its a feeling, others may say they can't describe it but know it when they see it.

The definition I use for anger is that its a protective response to a perceived hurt or threat. Think about it - have you ever gotten mad when something important to you (be it pride, a possession, a family member, etc...) wasn't being threatened or hurt in some way. Anger is a way to mobilize yourself for protection.

In my next post I will explore how this definition of anger may contribute to some of the mass killings that have happened over the past several weeks.

Very exciting to get this site off the ground. It seems like almost every day I turn on the news only to learn of another tragedy - 5 mass shootings around the country in the last four weeks, a father kills his family and himself, all this in addition to the "usual" stories we hear about violence in our country. Obviously, the upswing in the more dramatic stories is because of the state of the economy, people are scared and desperate and either look for a target to blame (as in the Police shootings in Pittsburgh or the Immigrant Center in Binghampton) or feel so deeply ashamed and like such a failure that they take it out on themselves and their families (as in the recent cases of fathers killing their families before taking their own lives). My entries over the next few days will look at the psychology behind some of these tragedies.