A youth baseball coach who was also the director of Evans Youth Baseball in Angola, N.Y., was removed this week after he had an altercation with a 7-year-old player at a game over the weekend.
Teresa Hageman and Cathleen Traver's son Levi was playing in a game Saturday when he caught the attention of the opposing coach.
According to the local NBC affiliate, Levi was playing in the dirt and got dirt in his eye, causing him to rub his eye. However, the opposing coach took that as Levi mocking his player, who had just struck out.
The coach approached Levi and began shouting his number.
“He was screaming, face blood-red, blood-curdling scream with a bat in his hand,” said Hageman, who observed the incident.
Levi was scared and curled up in a ball and began crying.
“He made the whole field go quiet,” the boy recounted. “He yelled at me for no reason.”
Hageman posted about the incident, and within hours Evans Youth Baseball released a statement saying the league has a "zero-tolerance" police for such behavior, noting that man has been removed from his position as coach and director of the league.
Hageman and Traver say Levi no longer wants to play baseball, and they think the coach owes their son an apology.
“Just man up and say, ‘Hey, man. I'm sorry,’” Traver said.
Evans Youth Baseball released the following statement addressing the incident:
Evans Youth Baseball is deeply committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for all our players, families, and volunteers.
This past weekend, an incident involving one of our board members occurred. This behavior in no way reflects the values and standards of our league or our board as a whole. We have a zero-tolerance policy for such behavior and assure you that the board member was removed.
We fully acknowledge the distress caused by this incident and have taken steps to address it appropriately. To prevent such incidents in the future, Evans Youth Baseball is working towards creating a coach vetting system to ensure our players are in the hands of the right individuals on game days. Our focus remains on creating a supportive environment where every child can enjoy the game of baseball.
