Mom speaks out after coaches say 11-year-old daughter is too old to compete
An Oregon mom is speaking out after two softball coaches were caught on camera questioning her 11-year-old daughter's age and height in an on-field incident that left the girl in tears.
The coaches accused the child of being too old to compete mid-game and in front of an audience in the stands.
"I want to see birth certificates or this game's done!" one coach said.
Tracy Burchfield said the incident, which involved her daughter Brinley Stephens, was hard to watch.
"I was holding back my tears because I was like, 'Oh my gosh, she's out there by herself. There's these two adults confronting her.' Thank God that our coach was there to step in between," Burchfield recalled.
Brinley Stephens is an 11-year-old softball player and fifth-grader. Brinley stands nearly 5 feet, 10 inches tall, and she and fellow players in the league had proven their ages previously before they joined the team.
But during a May 11 game, Brinley had just hit a line drive for her team, the Astoria Future Fish, before the opposing team's coaches stormed the field and began questioning her.
"It was like, scary, like, him coming at me," Brinley recalled. "And I was just looking at him like, 'What the heck was going on?'"
Brinley's family said she is used to comments about her height, but this experience was unlike any other.
Following the verbal exchange, Burchfield claimed the opposing team's coaches continued making obscene gestures towards parents when the game ended.
"We were upset, but we took it to the association and hoping that they do better and reprimand and hold him accountable for his actions," Burchfield said.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 70% of children quit playing organized sports by the age of 13, often due to pressure from adults who they say stop making games fun to play.
Brian Barlow is the creator of Offside, a Facebook page that calls out bad behavior among adults at youth sports games.
"We're not making room for our kids to be successful. We're not making room for our kids to understand that it's OK sometimes to lose, and in fact, sometimes when you lose, there's a victory in the loss," Barlow said.
Since the on-field incident, one assistant coach has been suspended for the year while another was suspended for 10 days with probation for the year.
Tournament organizers told ABC News they are looking into the incident.
"We are still investigating the incident … The player did nothing wrong as she is just tall … and skilled for her age," Benjie Hedgecock, the executive director of North American Fastpitch said.
Meanwhile, Burchfield said she has heard from other parents with kids in similar situations and who have thanked her for sticking up for her child and speaking out. Burchfield said she hopes the incident can serve as a lesson to show more kindness.
"It doesn't take much to hurt a kid that much and make them just stop believing in themselves. These kids deserve better. We as adults need to do better," Burchfield said.
