OK, to start off, I played football from age 12 through freshman year in college so I am pretty well versed on how coaches at different levels run hell week or practices in general. My youngest son signed up for pop warner football here in Arizona and he is 12 and hell week is this week. I have been to the practices so far and despite our 110+ temperatures this week, they are still running practices from 5pm-7pm with water breaks every 20 minutes or so, yet I am still seeing kids drop like flies. The coaching staff is very organized as far as drills, equipment(some of the gear they have for these kids rivals what we had at Tulsa), and 2 of the coaches played in the NFL for few years, they were special teams type players, so I don't question their football knowledge, but the way they are interacting with the kids, and the belittling style to me is over the top. The first 2 days I pushed my son as he wanted to quit after day 1, but I did the typical father speech of we don't quit, and it will get easier for you once you get used to it, etc, etc...

Well last nights practice was it for me. About an hour into practice at the water break time my son asked to use the restroom that was 50 yards from the practice field, the coach refused him and told him to wait. I was far enough away that I couldn't hear the interaction, but I could tell something was wrong. My son hustles over to water break so I walk over and see that he is almost in tears and I ask what is up and he says he needs to use the restroom and his coach said no. I tell him to go tell his coach he is going to the restroom and will hurry back. He turns and runs again out towards the coaches who all huddle 50 yards or so away from the kids during breaks to talk, and I hear the head coach say "what are you doing back, I didn't release you from your water break" to which my son explains he is going to use the bathroom and he will be back as soon as he can. The coach then yells out to the rest of the team that because of my son needing to go the restroom, conditioning will be doubled, and they all have to wait for him to finish. All this while he is yelling at him to run faster to the restroom. Well, because of this, my son had an accident in his pants, I guess you could say he was scared @#*%less and hurried in to try and clean himself up and rushed out to rejoin the team. At the end of practice he is crying in the car and it is at this point I realize that he crapped his pants and had used his time in the restroom to try and clean himself up, but the result is his legs, butt, etc were chapped to the point of bleeding, all because he was afraid of this coach. 115 degree heat, running 100 yard double gassers with a rash does not = what I would call a good experience.

Question for Cougar Board, I have been adamant that whatever we start, we finish, we don't quit. My wife is adamant that the coach is a jack donkey and if it were just this one incident, we could possibly get by, but all 3 days it has been by far the most negative, Bobby Knight wannabe coaches, I have ever at any level been around. We are going today to meet with the league president about this incident and my wife wants us to pull out of the league, while I am on the fence as to what type of message are we sending to our child. Need some advise. Thanks