When a person makes the decision to become a sports official, that decision can impact thousands of people in their community, in their life, around the country, and in some occasions, around the world.

Becoming a sports official can impact the opinions of people everywhere, whether that be a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, or another official; it can change someone's opinion in a matter of seconds.

As a sports official, the decision to do your job or not do your job can impact how someone views that person, what they think of other sports officials, or how the parents, communities, friends, neighbors, and even the children view the game.

When a person makes the decision to officiate sports, whether one sport or a dozen sports, they are taking on a responsibility. They are not only taking on the responsibility to show up to the events on time that they are going to officiate, but they are taking on the responsibility of acting like a professional and behaving in a mature manner.

They are also setting themselves up to be a positive role model, not only for the children they are working with, but with the communities they work in, the parents they encounter, the coaches that they will officiate for, and the schools that are paying them. Not only are the officials setting themselves up to make a huge impact in the lives of many, but they are setting themselves up for failure, for insult, for criticism, and for behavior that most people on a regular basis would not tolerate, regardless of how much money they are being paid.

The responsibility that goes along with being a sports official is huge. It involves working in a community that they may not have been to in the past.

It involves talking to coaches, kids, parents, and people in the community that the official may have never met (and may never meet again). It involves going into a school system they may be unfamiliar with. It involves being surrounded by anywhere from ten to five thousand people.

It is unpredictable. It is never the same game from one day to the next.

The community may behave one way at a game, and act entirely different the next day. It involves going into a community and not knowing what to expect. The official never knows what they are going to encounter. They just don't know how someone will act, what they will say, how they will respond, or what might happen before, during, or after an event that they are officiating.

This is a thank you to the parents out there standing next to their kids, filling the bleachers, watching from the stands during the pouring rain, driving in the snow storms, and braving all sorts of ungodly weather, temperatures, and conditions to support their kids.

This is a thank you to the parents who give their kids positive words of encouragement and pats them on the back and telling them how good of a game they had, even when they lost by a dozen points or more. This is for you.

As a sports official, conversations are heard that most people wish they wouldn't hear. Things are said in the stands, in the audience, in the gym, on the football field, on the soccer field, and even overheard at the ice rink that most officials wish they hadn't heard.

The parents go crazy, the fans go wild, they insult the officials, they yell at their kids when they aren't winning the game, they yell at them if they don't catch a ball, hit a ball, dive for a touchdown, or score a goal. They get angry, upset, and they act immature, childish and foolish when their kid ends up in the penalty box, when their kid ends up with a yellow card, a technical foul, or whatever the case may be.

Thankfully not all parents are like this.

Not every child's parent acts in this type of manner. And this is for those parents. The ones that support their kids through the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is for the parents who are positive, encourage their kids, pat them on the back, give them a hug when they lose, and tell them how great they did, even when everyone including God knows their team absolutely sucked that day.

This is a thank you to the positive parents with kids in sports.

As a sports official, parents have been heard to say some of the worst things. Not just to the officials but to their own children. They insult them. They tell them they are horrible. They tell them that they hope they never plan to do this as a career. They tell their own children they are an embarrassment. They have told their children that they should get a day job when they get older because they won't make a living in sports.

Officials have overheard parents telling their kids that they must belong to some other parent, because "their kid" wouldn't suck that bad at playing a sport. Everything has been said. Everything has been heard. And the sports officials have been right there all along to listen to some of the ugliest, nastiest, and meanest things a parent could say to a kid.

Thankfully there are parents who are positive and support their kids in sports, no matter how well they perform.

Imagine yourself as a sports official. Little Tommy, Joey, Jimmy, or Julie comes up to bat, gets on the soccer field, skates onto the ice at the hockey rink, or whatever the sport may be, and somewhere during that game, match, etc., the kid screws up.

Maybe they miss a goal that anyone could make.

Maybe they miss a basket that anyone could have shot.

Maybe they don't catch that ball.

Maybe they strike out to end the game with bases loaded in the last inning.

And then you hear it. The mom, dad, uncle, aunt, or someone else in the community yells at the kid.

They tell them they suck. They tell them they should quit. Give it up. Walk away. They tell them they should find another hobby. As a sports official, they hear it all and they see it all. They've even thrown parents out of games for behaving that way towards their own children.

The ones they brought into the world. The children they feed at night, drive to school in the morning, help with homework, or take to the dentist. The same child they sit with at the movies, cry with when their cat or dog dies, and the same child that they hold and cuddle when they are sick.

There are those parents out there who are perfect parents when it comes to having kids in sports.

They stand there during the pouring rain.

They watch basketball games in 90-degree heat inside a gym with no air conditioning.

They watch a soccer match even though they hate the game.

They sit through gymnastics or some other sport they know nothing about.

They talk to their kids about what happened.

They ask them questions.

They support them, give them words of encouragement, and tell them how proud they are for being so active, for being a team player, or for doing something good.

The supportive parents tell their kids "It's not about winning or losing. It's about playing the game, and giving everyone a chance." Even if their kid's team lost by 20 points at the end of the game, they are positive and continue to encourage them and tell them how proud they are of them. They also let them know that they are glad their kids are such good role models for the others.

This letter is written by a sports official. I am that official. I have been officiating sports for 14 years now. I have officiated softball, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, soccer, and ice hockey. At one time, I was officiating six sports. I truly love being a sports official.

But on many occasions, I am utterly disgusted and I despise some of the parents that I see watching their kids play. These parents insult me if I call their kid out on strikes. They yell if I call a foul on their kid on a soccer field. They call me names and insult myself or my partner if we stick their child in the penalty box at the ice rink.

I gave up lacrosse officiating because I could not condone 8 and 9-year-old children beating each other half to death with sticks on a grass field. Hockey is difficult enough.

As a sports official, I am disgusted, angry, and disappointed at parents when they tell their kid that they suck, that they should quit, or that they are angry because they spent so much money on equipment that won't be used for more than a year because they will get frustrated and quit because they're so horrible.

I am disappointed at parents that behave this way, and I am thankful that not all parents are immature, childish, pathetic fools who belittle, badger, call names, and insult their children. I am thankful that there are positive parents out there with kids in sports.

I have seen it all. I have heard a parent tell his kid that he was stupid. I have heard a mother tell her child that they wouldn't be going on vacation that year because the family spent all their money on the stupid sports that kid wanted to play and that they (the child) won't ever make anything of themselves playing sports.

I've heard a parent tell a kid that they are embarrassed to call them their own child. I have seen a 14-year-old drop her mitt on the pavement after winning nine games in a weekend as the team's only pitcher, look her father in the eye, and tell him in no uncertain terms what he could do with himself, and then learn the following spring that she quit, hadn't walked onto a ball field again, and moved in with her mother.

I stood and watched the conversation unfold, and I knew from the look on the 14-year-old's face that she meant every word of it--all in the name of sports. But on the other end, I have seen a team lose by 20 goals on the ice. And I have seen the dad come up, hug his kid (the goalie), and tell him that no matter how bad the score was, he was proud of his kid because HIS KID never quit.

He kept trying no matter what. He never gave up. And regardless of how bad the score was, he wasn't a quitter.

As a sports official, so many things happen, and many things said should be taken back, like negative statements, insults, and criticism that never should have been said. It happens. It's going to continue to happen. It doesn't matter what the official says or does. The parent may stop at that time, but it will happen again.

They will get angry.

They will get frustrated.

They will get upset.

They will yell, scream, insult, criticize, call names, or tell their kids things that no kid should ever hear.

But in the meantime, on the other side of the bleachers, there will be parents that will clap, cheer, and tell their kids how amazing they are doing, even if their team is losing by 50 points.

One day, I will close out my career off as a sports official. When my sports officiating career ends, I will remember so many things: the good times, the nice fields, the beautiful facilities, the hotels I stayed at, the people I met, the games I officiated, the millions of miles I traveled (I have traveled over a million miles in 14 years), the states I saw, and the teams I watched.

The one thing I will always remember? The positive parents with kids in sports.

This is a thank you to the positive parents with kids in sports, because you deserve it, all of it. Everyone should know just how amazing you really are.