Sad day for youth baseball

[Scotty_Ump]

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20180411/parent-baseball-coaches-talked-of-beaning-daughter

DURHAM, NH -- Police said they are looking into allegations made by a parent of a baseball player in the Oyster River Youth Association (ORYA), who claims two coaches conspired on a plan to injure his daughter in an attempt to intimidate her and force her to quit the league.

Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelly said the department is aware of the situation, but as of Tuesday had not decided whether to launch an investigation.

In an email to ORYA board of directors Chair Ben Genes, Dan Klein, of Madbury, alleges that two coaches said they would instruct a player to “bean” Klein’s daughter -- strike her in the head with a baseball during practice -- in order to intimidate her into leaving the baseball program. The conversation allegedly took place during a draft meeting to assign players to team rosters. That meeting was held, according to Klein’s email, on March 21 at Libby’s Bar & Grill in Durham.

According to Klein, his 11-year-old daughter is the only girl enrolled to play on a team in her division. He said in the email he was informed his daughter was the last player drafted.

The email, dated April 7, was also sent to several members of the ORYA board of directors, the Madbury Select Board, Durham Town Council and Oyster River Cooperative School District Board, Lee town administrators, Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig and Durham Parks and Recreation Director Rachel Gasowski.

Klein said he was made aware of the alleged conversation by two other coaches who also attended the draft meeting -- Troy Brisard and Kirk O’Quinn -- who found the discussion about Klein’s daughter to be inappropriate. Klein said O’Quinn agreed to put Klein’s daughter onto his roster.

In a phone interview with Seacoast Media Group on Tuesday, Klein said he did not reach out to police, nor is he necessarily seeking any retribution against the accused coaches.

“I’m not on the board -- it’s not my place to say what’s right for them,” Klein said. “I hope that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again, and that kids will be protected from this sort of language and be safe.”

ORYA Director Matthew Glode said the association is conducting an investigation into the alleged comments.

“In fairness to everyone involved, we have no further comment until the investigation is completed,” Glode said in an email.

Klein said his daughter has played baseball and T-ball with ORYA since 2012 and has enjoyed it, mostly without incident. When she began playing, Klein said, she had several teammates who were girls, but that number dwindled over the years as many girls her age switched to softball.

Klein said he has served ORYA in various capacities over the years, including as a coach. He said he is not now involved in ORYA in any capacity other than being the parent of a participant. In his email, he referenced a 2015 quarrel he said he had with an ORYA board member that may have led to lingering animosity, and as a result, motivated the alleged threats against his daughter last month.

In a recent email chain forwarded to Seacoast Media Group, Genes wrote to Klein thanking him for coming forward with the complaint concerning his daughter.

“ORYA will immediately address the incident in our baseball program and move to ensure our program is 100% compliant with our policies,” Genes wrote in the email, dated April 8. “I will contact Troy (Brisard) and Kirk (O’Quinn) to followup on the details referenced. Please let me know if you have any questions.”

In an email to Selig dated April 9, Genes said that the ORYA board had already “taken specific action” related to Klein’s complaint, but it is not known what that action is and whether it is the investigation Glode said was underway.

″(Such) that all sports activities for his daughter are safe and welcoming,” Genes wrote. “We are now beginning a formal investigation into the incident as per our policies and procedures and will provide a summary followup to all our stakeholders.”

Email messages left on Tuesday for Genes, Brisard and O’Quinn, seeking further comment were not returned. Their phone numbers were not immediately available.

[beerguy55]

That's a sad day for humanity in general.

[blue23ll]

Youth sports are best played by orphans

[Mister B]

Last year, we played against a team with a girl. One of our younger guys said he couldn't believe they had girl on their team. One of our older kids said that he wished that she wasn't playing. I decided I needed to interject there and asked him why. And in a "I can't believe you don't know this" tone, he replied, "She's one of the best shortstops in the district." 

I smiled and told him that playing against really good players was a great way to improve our own abilities. No need to take it any further. 

She was really good and a favorite of all the moms.

In this case, the dad should have contacted the coaches and said, "If you keep this crap up, I will have my wife talk to your wives."

[JSam21]

Ok I'm going to play devil's advocate here and it might get me flamed. So he is being told by someone, that someone told them that these two coaches said that they might hit her with a pitch to get her to quit the league? The accusation is coming from the father, who wasn't there and apparently has previous issues with one of the accused? The laughable part to me is that he "didn't go to the police". 

[beerguy55]

7 hours ago, JSam21 said:

Ok I'm going to play devil's advocate here and it might get me flamed. So he is being told by someone, that someone told them that these two coaches said that they might hit her with a pitch to get her to quit the league? The accusation is coming from the father, who wasn't there and apparently has previous issues with one of the accused? The laughable part to me is that he "didn't go to the police". 

Yeah, you're right...it's double hearsay...which is likely why he actually didn't go to the police....though, it seems he e-mailed everyone else in town, so why not the cops too?

If he wrote such a letter to the board, they would have no choice but to alert the authorities.

Though he likely had the consent of the two coaches to use their name, the appropriate action for the two coaches would be to report the transgression directly to the board...I'm on the fence about whether they or the board are the ones to notify the parent...the parent needs to be notified because it is a threat to her safety, so I would lean to the more immediate alternative.   As a coach, if I heard that kind of statement, the Code of Ethics that goes with my certification gives me no choice but to report it, whether I'm doing it because I think it's right, or just to CMA.