Tired and sweaty, the boys of the AYSO Palmdale Eagles and Chino Hills Chiefs had just finished the customary end-of-game handshake when the adults started throwing punches.
In what authorities said is another example of the parental violence that has increasingly marred youth sports, more than 30 parents and coaches clashed in a fight that ended in the arrest of three adults at a San Juan Capistrano soccer field Sunday.
The violence broke out after an assistant coach for the Chino Hills team, which won 2-0, allegedly tried to pick a fight with a Palmdale player, officials said. In reaction, parents from the Palmdale team rushed onto the field to "defuse the tension," said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. But that caused more parents to spill onto the field, with one swinging a metal rod.
One parent needed treatment for minor cuts and a swollen eye, and another suffered a 2-inch bite on his arm, Amormino said. Deputies arrested one parent on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and a brother and sister for resisting arrest.
"It was a free-for-all," Amormino said. "This is just a kids game. Youth sports should teach sportsmanship and character, and the parents should be learning from that."
Jesse Elizondo, head coach of the Palmdale Eagles, a boys' 14-and-under American Youth Soccer Organization team, said tension mounted toward the end of the championship game when a Chino Hills assistant coach began berating one of the Eagle players, cursing at him in an attempt to intimidate him.
When the game ended, Elizondo said, the opposing coach approached the player aggressively. Thinking the coach was going to strike the player, Elizondo, 45, rushed onto the field and stepped between the two, he said.
"I told the guy, 'Don't even think about hurting my player,' " Elizondo said.
Soon, about 30 adults from both sidelines were on the field, he said.
"I don't know who threw the first punch, but I saw someone from their side kick someone from our side," Elizondo said.
"The fight started. It was a big deal, people were throwing punches and everything. I was in the middle of things trying to hold people back," he said.
The melee was short but vicious, with one adult wielding a long metal object, possibly an umbrella, Elizondo said.
Sheriff's deputies, called by tournament organizers, showed up moments later, but most of the other team and its supporters had left, Elizondo said. Authorities eventually arrested two Palmdale supporters--a brother and sister--and one man from the Chino Hills sidelines.
