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I feel like sports for kids has probably gotten easier since I played way back in the day as far as bullying, but it sounds like it’s still going on on some level.
The girl who wrote this story on Reddit is having a hard time with her hockey career and she’s thinking about quitting the team, even though her mom is the coach.
Take a look at what happened.
“I’m a girl who’s been playing hockey since I was about 5.
My mother got me into it early because she played adult league. She’s also been my coach (mostly assistant) for years. My mother isn’t your average mother and she’s not very nurturing. If I’m being honest she’s like my coach most of the time which I’m fine with.
This all started about a year ago when I first join the AA co-ed team (it really only became co-ed when I joined though).
She’s been through a lot…
The previous year was a nightmare as I was bullied and ignored a lot by my teammates.
I went into this year with thoughts of a fresh start of making friends. This year I was injured for the start of it as I had fractured my back and was still healing. I couldn’t play for the first month but made an effort to go to every game.
I had thought at first that I was making friends until my only friend on that team, the other girl, told me that I was actually being bullied behind my back.
You see, I would often not have a spot to sit in the locker room because I was not “a part of the team” and standing hurt my back so I would just sit on the ground.
What a bummer…
Apparently they would take pictures and send it into a group chat I was not in to make fun of me. Throughout this year it just got worse and worse and I started shrinking into myself and losing any confidence I had left.
When I told my mother, she often blamed me for not being open and shutting the boys out. When I told any adult they would also say I was too aloof and closed off. Why would they want to be friends with someone who didn’t even try?
Her advice was usually to get better at hockey because boys only admired skill and strength. I was so happy to be rid of them when the season finally ended.
She wanted this year to be different.
So here I am trying out for a new team. This time it was an all girls team. I was following my only friend from that past team who had also gotten sick of the mistreatment.
I knew I would get on the team because my mom had already accepted the coaching offer (not saying that I’m proud to be the sports equivalent of a nepo baby).
She was recently talking to me about the team and what tournaments they might play in. I told her pretty out of the blue that I hoped that the team would be nicer and that I would quit at any hint of bullying.
They’re not seeing eye-to-eye.
My mother was pretty upset at that. Her argument was that I had to stop letting the mean boys dictate my love for hockey and that I needed to get over something that ended months ago.
I told my mother that I was trying to get over it and that I had started losing my love of hockey BECAUSE of how terrible they were.
We got into a huge argument and like most arguments with my mother, she eventually shut it down and stopped talking about it.
I don’t think I was in the wrong at all but I still want to know if my thoughts were reasonable.
AITA?”
Here’s what people had to say on Reddit.
This person said she’s NTA.
Another reader agreed.
This Reddit user shared their thoughts.
Another individual didn’t hold back.
And this person had a lot to say.
No kid ever wants to get bullied, so can you blame her for thinking about quitting?
If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.