Strong message sent to kids’ parents

Rick Devereux

The legal proceedings involving Corona del Mar High baseball coach

John Emme have been watched closely by others in the coaching

community.

A jury awarded Emme $500,000 in compensatory damages and an

additional $200,000 in punitive damages in his countersuit against

Newport Beach physician Marc Martinez.

Martinez filed two lawsuits against Emme alleging the coach hurt

his son’s chances of playing college baseball. Emme filed a

countersuit for $1 million, claiming malicious prosecution and damage

to his reputation and career.

“One of the main reasons why I pursued this is because

disappointment does not belong in the courtroom,” Emme said. “It

belongs in baseball, but not in the courtroom. This type of

litigation will not be tolerated in our judicial system.”

The issue began when Martinez pulled his son from CdM his senior

year because he thought Emme was damaging his son’s pitching arm by

leaving him in games for too long.

“I’m glad for high school sports and I think [the decision] is a

step in the right direction,” former CdM junior varsity baseball

coach Doug Deats said. “I’m glad [Emme] stood up.”

Deats has been a baseball coach for close to 20 years, most

recently holding the head position at Costa Mesa the last two

seasons. He resigned from the post in July in order to spend time

with his family. He said that he has seen parent involvement increase

at younger and younger ages.

“My daughter is 10 and played on a very good softball team,” he

said. “I have seen parents in that league who think their kid’s going

to go far, but parents really have no idea how incredibly hard it is

to get a scholarship.”

In the initial lawsuit in 2001, Martinez alleged Emme made

derogatory remarks to college recruiters about his son.

“As the economy has gotten tougher and the cost of education at a

higher level continues to rise, I think that is a factor [in parents

pushing for athletic scholarships],” University High baseball coach

Chris Conlin said. “A lot of parents send kids to private coaches and

camps and expect some sort of return. Only a small percentage of kids

get scholarships or even get to play at the Division I level. That’s

why there is a Division II and junior colleges.”

Conlin has coached baseball, girls track and field and football

for University since 1986. He started out as a baseball coach that

year and guided the Trojans to a league championship. He was fired at

the end of the year after a parent complained he was too tough on

players. He later was offered the baseball position again.

“I know what it’s like to be under the gun,” Conlin said. “You go

into coaching and teaching to provide a service for young people.

When you are under fire from parents you wonder if it’s all worth

it.”

Emme, who guided the Sea Kings to the CIF Southern Section

Division IV championship last spring and was named the Division II

Coach of the Year in Region 8 by the American Baseball Coaches

Association, believes the majority of parents are fine. It’s the

small minority that can make coaching difficult.

“The people that cause the problems are the extreme minority,” he

said. “I have amazing parents and the vast majority work so hard for

their kids and the program and accept the way things are. It’s the

squeaky wheel that gets noticed.”

Joel Desguin has coached with and against Emme as junior varsity

coach for CdM and varsity coach for Newport Harbor. He thinks that

some parents do not see the athletic limitations their kids might

have.

“At some point, you don’t run fast enough, you can’t throw hard

enough and you can’t hit the ball,” he said. “It always happens in

high school because it’s not Little League, it’s not [National Junior

Basketball], it’s not Pop Warner. High school is the first time when

everyone doesn’t always play.”

Desguin said he hopes the outcome will curb parents with a problem

from taking legal action. But he said coaches will always have

problems, especially in baseball.

“Most of the dads coached their sons in Little League, so they

think they know more than the high school coach,” he said. “I’ve been

doing this for 20 years. I don’t go down to the insurance salesmen

and ask him why he’s selling this type of insurance or that type of

insurance.”

Emme said that while the parents may have unrealistic expectations

for their sons or daughters, the athletes themselves often know the

limit of their potential.

“I’ve had some pretty unrealistic parents with realistic kids that

knew exactly where they were [athletically] and what their role was

on the team and were happy to be there,” he said. “High school is the

end of the line [athletically] for 95% of these guys. Only 5% play

any kind of college ball and even less get athletic scholarships.

It’s a long shot, and I’m not telling people to give up on their

dreams, but there comes a point where you have to be realistic.”