October 7, 2009

Tom Bergeron
Rivals High Senior Editor

OK, follow us on this one. After a youth football scrimmage was called off because coaches on one team refused to play a team that included a girl because their "moral beliefs" didn't allow their boys to hit a girl - the coaches had a fight about it.

In front of the kids.

The fight was watched by the 9- to 11-year-old players on each team.

Eaton (Colo.) coach Shawn Mills suffered a small bump and scratches over his left eye, the report said. Mills told officers he didn't want charges filed against Nate Hernandez, the assistant coach who punched him, according to a police report.

No police charges are expected according to thedenverchannel.com report, but the Boys and Girls Club of Weld County has suspended parent-coach Hernandez.

And Greg Kimbrough, the chief executive officer for the club, is scrambling to explain how this could have happened.

"It's ridiculous that as an organization we're here to teach youth character development, we're here to teach positive behavior and being accountable and responsible and then this occurs," Kimbrough said in the news report. "Sadly, we can't develop our parents at times. We work with youth and our goal is to help teach them to make good decisions and at times they don't always have the best roles models."

Here's how it went down, according to thedenverchannel.com, the web site for the ABC television station in Denver.

Hernandez, along with other parents, confronted the Eaton coaches at midfield before the scrimmage, demanding they tell the 11-year-old girl why she couldn't play. Hernandez apologized to Mills on Tuesday, but told thedenverchannel.com he defends his actions.

"I feel strongly about what I did," Hernandez said.

The girl, Mikayla Crespin, plays guard - and boosted to thedenverchannel.com reporters Alan Gathright and Tyler Lopez that she's good enough to play with anybody. She just can't understand why she didn't get the chance.

"I think that's kinda, like, harsh. That really hurt my feelings," she said of the other team's refusal to play against a girl. "Because girls can do the same as boys. There's nothing different."

The whole incident may have been a set-up.

Kimbrough told thedenverchannel.com that the fight should have been avoided, because Mills called Hernandez before the Monday scrimmage to explain some Eaton parents' opposition to boys playing football against girls.

"Their coach expressed to our team that they had several parents who wouldn't allow their sons to participate in the scrimmage if the girl was going to play, because of their belief structure," Kimbrough said. "They've taken it and made it sort of a team edict that they won't hit girls, therefore, they won't play teams that have girl players. ... I may disagree with their strictness on this, but I have to respect that we live in a society that allows them to have that freedom of choice."

He told thedenvernewschannel.com that he doesn't have respect for those who use their kids to further their beliefs.

"As an organization we don't approve of using children as a sort of a soap box," he said.

In the report, Kimbrough said Eaton coaches were left with the impression that the girl wouldn't play, because Mills had explained that his team would be forced to cancel because Eaton couldn't field enough players if the boys whose parents disapproved were pulled from the game.

Instead of notifying the Boys and Girls Club, Hernandez called the girl's mother, Nichole Esquibel, and outraged parents decided to call the Greeley Tribune, Kimbrough said. So, when Eaton arrived for the 5:30 p.m. scrimmage near Eaton Middle School, they were blindsided by a newspaper reporter and irate parents at mid-field.

"My understanding is the parents walked Mikayla out on the field and requested that the coaches of the Eaton team explain to her why she could not play," Kimbrough, who was not at the scrimmage, told the denvernewschannel.com. "And that is when the arguments ensued and ultimately led to the fight."

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