Youth coach bites player

Quote:

Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the girl's family said they wouldn't press charges if Leake Academy coach Doyle Wolverton resigned. The school said in a statement that Wolverton resigned Monday. "As far as we're concerned with that incident, it's done ... The coach decided to resign, and by doing so the family said they didn't want to take any legal action," the sheriff said by telephone. The alleged assault happened Nov. 12 at an away game against Columbia Academy in Marion County. Waggoner said his office got involved when a Leake County hospital, where the girl's father took her after the game, reported the bite as an assault. "When the coach called time out, he got up in her face and pulled her up close, but I can't explain why he bit her," Waggoner said. "It broke the skin. It didn't tear the meat out or anything, but it did break the skin." Reports from the Leake County Sheriff's office said the bite happened during a huddle, possibly after a bad play. "Victim stated the Coach Wolverton then grabbed her by the shirt and then bit her on the right side of the face. Deputies observed the victim to have a bruised bite mark on the lower right side of her face," the report said.

Source



Now for the sake of fairness, I'll put it straight out on the table that while I think youth sports are worthwhile in many ways, I also think many parents' and coaches' attitudes suck. I am not particularly fond of the fact that coaches are able dish out emotional abuse the likes of which might get a child removed from a home that was being evaluated by the local family welfare agency; and that's to say nothing of the occasional physicality that coaches are permitted to get away with which would get them criminally charged if committed against another adult, evidently because coaches have some kind of special relationship with players that makes this particular kind of interaction an okay thing. I'm glad that pendulum is slowly starting to come back down - I won't try to hide it.



All that said - biting a player's face? That's just insane; what was the guy even thinking??? I guess it's the family's prerogative to not press charges in exchange for a resignation, but...that fellow is just plain dangerous; I wouldn't trust him around another kid frankly.

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