elliott70 wrote:INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — A St. Paul man is accused of attacking an assistant coach for his son's youth hockey team.
Forty-nine-year-old Thomas Angelo Tonda was charged with felony terroristic threats and misdemeanor fifth-degree assault.
According to the complaint, the alleged attack happened Dec. 6 in Inver Grove Heights. The assistant coach told police that Tonda's son was fighting with two other players before hitting one with his hockey stick.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the coach told Tonda's son his behavior was "unacceptable" and directed him to do a drill. Instead, the boy went into the locker room.
The complaint says Tonda began screaming at the assistant coach and put him in a chokehold. The charges say Tonda threatened to kill the coach as he left.
Tonda remained in jail Thursday
While reading this article, I cannot understand how anyone can result in any physical and/or verbal confrontation at a youth event. Lately, there have been a number of ugly youth sport incidences in the news. One this week in hockey and the other was last week when a father hit his son after a basketball game. There were two more that I know of this past year that did not make the news. At a youth football game last fall, the coach of one of the teams went after (fought) the ref who was 17 years old. And the other, was after a youth soccer game. Two dad's confronted there son's coach in the parking lot. One thing lead to another, well lets just say that both dads’ are now suspended from coming to any more youth soccer games.
As you can see, there are a number of similarities from each of these incidents; the big one to me is a parent’s negative involvement. Each of these parents needs a lot of help. I am not an expert, but they need to go back to parenting class. I do believe they missed a class or two.
When I hear on the news that there are 1800 homeless child just in this state of Minnesota, that sadness me. When I read about a parent hitting a child at a game, that angers me. We as parents have a number of responsibilities when raising our children. One of them is supporting our children and creating a positive and safe environment for them.
Remember, life is all about your legacy. How do you want to be remembered by your children? Make sure you give your child a hug today and tell them that you are proud of what they have accomplished so far in their life. Just an idea!
Merry Christmas