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Michael J. Goins
May 10, 2011
Mistreatment of Child Athletes
This is a tackle football league for student athletes up to 12 years old, or 6th grade, in the Spring Cypress area of northwest Houston. In the fall season of 2010 the owner/ operator of the league, Elizabeth, organized an "all-star" game between the soon-to-be champion varsity Vikings and a team of unknown origin from the Katy area. The "Katy all-stars" were supposed to be made up of a group of same-age kids from a rival league. Most of the 12 players that showed up for this game were clearly not. They were obviously older, and at least one was positively identified afterwards as an 8th grader. Many were also clearly over the league-mandated weight limit. Elizabeth assured the Vikings coaches that these were the right kids, and that they should stop whining and start the game. The game started, and the Katy boys proceeded to clobber the Vikings boys both during and after plays, with both clean and dirty techniques. The Vikings boys fought through the mismatch and nearly won the game in the end, but were banged up and only narrowly avoided serious injury. Elizabeth cackled through the whole thing, obviously enjoying the dangerous situation she had created. Of course in the end she denied all the accusations and refused to present any documentation to show that she had done any due diligence whatsoever. The Katy "team" disappeared, calls to Katy league coaches showed that no one even knew there was supposed to be an all-star game, and the whole thing died down as if it had never happened. I can't speak to this woman's motives in 2010, but I will say that without a doubt I will never leave my child under her supervision or in the care of WePlayFootball.
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