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The adults in a child's life are models. They are who kids will learn to emulate. They put down the footprints that are followed.
That's what makes incidents at youth sports events so upsetting. These are not the kinds of things kids should be learning.
The Pittsburgh area is used to appearing in the news around football. Aside from molten metal and flowing rivers, it's the brand the region is built upon.
But when a video of the Aug. 29 game between Keystone Oaks and Carlynton at the Honus Wagner Football Field in Carnegie hit the internet and rapidly spread through social media and onto network news, it was not the kind of gridiron hits we are accustomed to seeing.
It was the kind of thing that might happen on the ice at a hockey game with a couple of NHL players primed to explode over hard checks and low blows. Instead, on the grass around players half their size, grown men resorted to pushing and shoving. There was some tackling, but not the kind young players should repeat. It was an effort to keep the main combatants apart, and it didn't really work.
On Thursday, charges were filed against three coaches. Carlynton Little Cougars offensive coach DaQuay Canton, 24, of Crafton faces one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and a summary count of harassment. Two Keystone Oaks coaches -- Joseph Kubiak, 35, of Castle Shannon and Frank McGrath, 37, of Green Tree -- each received a summary count of disorderly conduct.
We do not make assumptions about the criminal cases. Every defendant has a right to due process.
But even if there were no charges filed in this incident, it would be a disservice to the communities involved, especially the children.
These were third- and fourth-graders. The typical age range is 8 to 10 years old. It's the start of the school year. This is an age and a season when kids are learning not only the rules of the game but also the way to behave in a team and on the field.
Is that what they learned last week?
Or did they get a lesson in how to handle a disagreement in public, in full view of family and friends and strangers? Did they learn to stand up for themselves, or did they learn that the rules might matter on a bad call but not on a bad decision? Maybe the takeaway was not to accept the ref's ruling, which can end up putting you in front of a judge.
The Steel City Youth Football League did not wait for criminal charges to be filed. It suspended two coaches, saying conduct that compromises sportsmanship, integrity and safety "will not be tolerated." The teams' organizations took similar but broader action, suspending a total of five coaches.
Good for the league. Good for the teams. This is the kind of accountability the children deserve.
Kids need good coaches and good role models as they figure out not just the positions they play on the field but the people they want to be as they grow up.
Football can have a part in that. Brawling shouldn't.