Day 8: Your Kids Don't Play for the Furacão

Many of you will have seen the image below that was doing the rounds on Twitter last year. Pretty great.

I've discovered that being a 'bad' sport parent is something soccer organizations in Brazil have to deal with too.

We had a talk yesterday from Ricardo Silva from Clube Atlético Paranaense. He is in charge of their soccer school franchises and social development programs. Here's the list of  'Do's' and 'Don'ts' for parents (roughly translated):

Clube Atlético Paranaense Rules for Parents

• Don't shout
• Don't yell at me
• Don't yell at my coach
• Do respect my teammates
• Do respect the other team
• Do respect the referees
• Don't lecture me after the match
• Laugh and have fun. 
• This is just a game and I will do my best
• You and your kids don't play for the Furacão *

Here's the photo taken while he was talking about it. Unfortunately you cannot see the slide, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

* I added the last one myself. Furacão is the nickname for Atlético (it means 'the hurricanes'). The irony is that these kids DO play for the Furacão, but the same rules that should apply to parents in Canadian youth sport also apply here.

And Finally...
No class today. British weather this morning, so trying to learn to pronounce the word for umbrella, then go buy one. Going on a bus tour later, then to a World Cup exhibit just down from my apartment.