Coach, I too have been THAT PARENT at times even though knowing better.
Wouldn't it be great if others could learn from those of us that have made mistakes. Sometimes it is difficult to understand there are things much more important than baseball, but everyone will understand that some day.
I love stories like the one you told. Truth is it was you that helped that boy. You are the one that convinced me to help. I helped because you cared so much about that young guy.
I have lots of stories about parents, though most parents I have met are great, there are some that are a pain. Here is a story that might hit home with someone.
I got a call from a dad about two weeks before our big event in Jupiter. He was telling me had screwed up and never allowed his kid to play except on the HS team. He wanted to get his son seen because he had no college interest and he was in his senior year. He claimed his son was a pitching prospect and after awhile I decided we would put him on our team in Jupiter. I told his dad we would make sure that he pitched in Jupiter.
So they showed up, the dad did all the talking, the son never said a word. We gave him the uniform and went about the tournament. We scheduled his kid to pitch in the second game. During the very first game, the dad looked me up, started calling me a liar and some other choice words because his son wasn't pitching in that game. I told him that he was pitching tomorrow, but that wasn't good enough for him. I admit that I got mad and told him he and his son are not welcome. I told him I'm going to go get your son and you two are leaving. So I went to the dugout, got his son and told him what happened, I am sorry but they had to leave because of his dad.
I looked at that boy, who still never said a word, and I could see he was holding back tears. I thought, why am I punishing this kid, he hasn't done anything wrong. So I asked him... Do you want to stay? He finally said one word and it was a very emotional YES. I told him we were going to make sure he got his chance. I then saw some tears well up.
So back to the dad who was still pissed about everything and now I had to talk him into staying with his son. I finally got that done by telling him his son deserves the chance, but you are a problem. I think he actually figured things out very quickly.
His son pitched the next day and looked pretty good. 85-87 and could pitch. He ended up getting a nice offer from a very good NAIA program. He also got a few other offers but the NAIA offer was too good to pass up. When they left the park that day his dad was all smiles. But even more important was his son was also smiling from ear to ear. And to this day, many years later, the son has only said one word to me. But the way he said that one word... "yes"... might have well been an entire speech. I suppose it's possible dad remained a problem, I don't know. But I hope things changed that day. Because before that day the dad was "THAT PARENT".