This story really made me smile.

Because it reminds me of pushy and ultra-competitive sports coaches from my youth.

And, looking back on it, all I can say is, what the hell was wrong with these guys?

They were losing their minds in public over 10-year-olds playing sports.

Anyway, enjoy this story from Reddit about a guy who deserved to get put in his place.

Okay, you win. We will practice and play on the other field.

“Several years ago I coached a kids soccer team, it was a community recreation league with volunteer coaches with a focus on fun and equal playing time.

There were two fields next to a school. The third field is a 2 minute walk away and hidden behind a thick stand of trees invisible from the 2 fields.

One would never know it was there but did have a small parking lot next to it accessible only by a rarely used, poorly maintained back lane. Most people would park in the school lot and walk the 2 minutes along the path through the trees.

The two fields next to the school were typical school fields, not particularly well maintained, uneven and definitely not regulation sized- typical school fields.

The third field was regulation sized, perfectly maintained, had new bleachers and was maintained like a professional field with regular waterings, cutting and seeding.

It was the groundskeeper’s pride and joy.

There was a mix-up.

It was the first day of a new season and my team of 10 year olds- the Brown Pandas (our Tshirts were brown with pandas on them) showed up for our first practice.

Except there was another team on our assigned field, a team of talented players with matching socks and shorts, were all wearing cleats and in their late teens.

I approached the coach and explained that he was on our field and that his field was a 2 minute walk away down the path. He politely told me to take a hike- he was there first and that was that.

So not looking for a confrontation I took my team to the really nice field, the parents had bleachers to sit in and we had a great time on the ‘big boy’ field.

After the practice the groundskeeper/convenor asked me why we were practicing on this field. I told her what happened with the other coach. She told me she asked the other coach to switch field also, he told her to get stuffed and that was his field.

Here we go again…

Two days later at our second practice his team was on our field again.

The convenor called me over to talk to her and the other coach.

She stated “just to confirm for the rest of the season you are switching fields with the Brown Pandas on the far field and your team on this field here?”

“Yeah, this is our field and the little kids will be on the far field.”

He looked at us arrogantly.

“Fine by me.” I stated grabbed my big net sack of balls and trudged over to the professional field.

You know what’s coming next.

Two glorious weeks passed when during practice the other coach came over with his team and saw our field. He approached me and told me that we needed to switch fields.

I laughed in his face “go get the convenor over so we can discuss.”

I turned my back on him and probably did something like tie a kids shoe or dry some tears (remember they were 10 year olds.)

His team started trying to use our field, one of the brown pandas was scared of the bigger kids and started crying. A couple of parents stepped in and started shooing them away before one of the 10 year olds got hurt.

Victory!

He returned with his entire team and the convenor, she was beaming.

She asked him if he remembered our conversation of two weeks ago, he started to argue.

She told him that we were keeping with the terms of that agreement and to go back to his own field.

“Go on! Scoot!” I remember her saying.

We had our first game the next week. All the brown panda parents were in attendance watching their children playing soccer on a beautiful field with semi-comfortable seating and a working scoreboard.

As we left we walked by the other team playing on a muddy, undersized field. They eventually changed their game dates and times so they could use the big field but had to practice on the old field.

The brown pandas never had to set foot on the older field all season.”

Check out what folks said on Reddit.

One person loved this story.

Another individual misses the old days…

This Reddit user was a big fan!

And this person thinks they need to get even pettier…

That guy sounds like a total jerk.

I’m glad he ended up looking foolish!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.