AURORA, Ont. - Sidelines across most soccer fields in Aurora will remain silent this week, in order to remind "obnoxious" moms, dads and coaches that the kids are on the field to have a good time.
"The game can be played without these sort of comments," said Dave Hilgendorff, Vice President of Aurora Youth Soccer. "They actually take things away from the game."
Hilgendorff told 680News that in his 15 years experience as a coach, he has see how negative comments can be hurtful to young players.
"It's like the wind is taken out of them. They'll slump down as soon as their parents make some negative comment towards them. It really, really affects their self esteem. It's not something that was completely out of hand, but it was an initiative we want to just reinforce to everybody to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand."
Hilgendorff said he got the idea for silent soccer after hearing about a club in New York giving it a try. Monday evening, they put the idea into practice and only clapping was allowed.
"It was an amazing thing to see just the kids out there. They're able then to think for themselves and communicate very well amongst each other, as opposed to trying to listen to 20 different voices from every angle."
Aurora is the first youth soccer club in the GTA to hush spectators. To visit their website, click
here.