The angry parent shouting from the sidelines is a sad cliche in any youth sport, but one parent at a local Grappling Industries BJJ tournament took things to a whole other level by swearing at a little girl. It’s not uncommon to see parents react badly when decisions don’t go their child’s way, or specifically in BJJ parents often complain about matches being stopped either too early or too late. In most cases this anger is directed solely at the officials in charge of the match or tournament itself and while this isn’t any better, at least that’s a heated altercation between adults.
In this most recent example, the parent took his anger out on the young girl who had just beaten his son in a match. The girl is declared the winner and she approaches the parent, who is sitting in the cornerman’s chair, and appears to reach out to shake his hand. The parent then rubs his eyes in the classic mocking fashion that symbolises crying, before raising his middle finger at the girl. The behaviour itself is very clearly out of line, and a man that appears to be either the coach or parent of the little girl immediately approaches the parent to confront him.
The parent himself has since commented on the video and apologised for his behaviour, while giving an explanation for it:
Obviously there’s no situation where swearing at a small child is acceptable behaviour as an adult, and the BJJ parent now seems to recognise that at least. He isn’t the only one who has spoken up about the interaction either, as his son represents Dante Rivera BJJ academy in competition and their take on it has emerged also. They have been very clear that it’s not something they condone and they’ve also extended their apologies to the little girl and her parents:
The original footage of the angry parent swearing at a little girl at a BJJ tournament was uploaded by Jits and Gigs podcast and has since been shared to Reddit:
Grown man mocks and gives the finger to a little girl at Grappling Industries
byu/RRSC14 inbjj
