Fight Breaks Out At A Youth Basketball Game Between A Parent & An Official

The joys of youth sports seem to bring out the best in people. There's the valuable lessons instilled about hard work, teamwork and competition. Then there's the lessons about learning which adults are completely out of their minds.

These too are valuable lessons. Being able to identify who may or may not be able to watch a kids sporting event without throwing punches will help them throughout life. Many of these same people are prone to outbursts in other areas of their life.

Dad and official fight at a youth basketball game (Image Credit: Jeff Lytle/Twitter)

Kids attending a youth basketball game in Fort Wayne, Ind., got an up close lesson recently. A video that appeared on social media on Saturday night shows a couple of parents in a heated discussion with an official near the stands.

Now I've attended my fair share of youth sporting events and witnessed plenty of heated interactions between coaches and officials and parents and officials. I can't say that I remember any of them ending with punches.

This isn't one of those situations. You can tell early on in the video that this isn't going to end with just words. The man, presumably the dad of one of the players, starts off by giving his wife or girlfriend a nudge out of the way as he walks towards the referee.

The two parents are likely discussing a foul that went against little Jimmy Bob with the official. This foul is the reason that he's never going to make it to the NBA after all. So you can sort of understand the frustration on the part of the parents here.

Don't Be The Parent Who Fights At Youth Basketball Games

This an important moment and the official needs to know the impact of his call. That's precisely what the dad is doing before the clip jumps to mayhem breaking out on the court. At some point, it's unclear from the video, the words turned physical.

At this point the dad and the referee are mixing it up. The man gets off a punch or two as the referee stumbles towards him. When the referee regains his footing he puts a decent form tackle on the man and drives him into the ground.

It's at this point others step in and separate the two. Some of the kids who witnessed the action appear to be enjoying the fight, instead of learning anything about avoiding becoming that dad.

There's something about youth sports that drives some people completely insane. Add the fact that this is in a basketball gym, another place where people lose their minds on a regular basis, and this official didn't stand a chance of walking out of there without a physical altercation after that call on little Jimmy Bob.

The comment section weighed in to support the official. Someone wrote, "This is insane. That official is one of the best guys we have out there on a weekly basis."

The fact that this wasn't an all out brawl with other crazy parents attacking the official would seem to support that. This was not a fight supported by the other parents.

Yell and complain all you want, but don't be this guy who doesn't know when to walk away. It's a youth basketball game. Even at the highest of levels they're a long way away from earning a paycheck from the sport.