Code of Conduct

Playing sports in the 78 Youth Sports organization means:

  • Learning the many difficult skills of the game
  • Understanding how to play the game
  • Respecting the coaches and decisions of umpires
  • Being a team player
  • Following rules
  • Striving to be a good sport

Winning, though definitely a goal and something all players want to achieve, is secondary. If each player learns his or her part well, winning will occur. If commitment and respect are required, important life lessons will be learned.

Unfortunately, some parents and fans lose sight of these goals and priorities. Fortunately, it is not a pervasive problem. However, the few occasions have been enough, or of sufficient emotional content, to convince us that we should set forth the following explicit rules of conduct.

All parents and fans must respect our goals and support our coaches, players, and officials. In addition to any rules that may apply to conduct at each field for practices and games, the following shall apply:

  1. Foul and abusive language and conduct are strictly prohibited – by anyone: parent, fan of any age, or coach.
  2. Rooting should be for your team, not against the opposing team. Trash talk, taunting, and heckling of the other team is not acceptable, regardless of the unsportsmanlike conduct of opposing players or coaches.
  3. Only the coach should question calls of the referee/umpire – and only calls relating to the proper interpretation of a rule, not judgment calls. Parents and fans shall refrain from outbursts against the referee/umpire and shall let the coach handle all referee/umpire issues. The coach is ultimately responsible for the behavior and placement of his/her team’s players and parents. Note that only coaches are the only ones permitted to be on the bench or in the dugout.
  4. Parents and fans should respect the proper requests made of them by the coaches, referees, and umpires.
  5. Parents and fans should inform us of any improper coach conduct. With close to 200 coaches and teams, the feedback of parents is an important means for us to assess the quality of our coaches. Although there may be circumstances that properly warrant discipline of a player, a coach should primarily resort to employing positive motivation. In addition, coaches must fairly distribute playing time amongst the players and should never place a player in harm’s way – physically or emotionally. We rely on you to report any issues, infractions, and constructive comments. All feedback should be made via our contact form.

For additional information on codes of conduct, please refer to the New York City Law relating to behavior on public fields.

Questions? Please use our contact form.