Reinstate Cameron and Gabrielle Thompkins

1. On Saturday, September 8th of 2018, the Sanford Seminoles Pop Warner played Harmony. During the Pee Wee game, our oldest son Isaiah got into an altercation with a player from Harmony. One of the coaches decided to bull rush him instead of restraining his own player or simply separating them. He caused my son great pain. This situation also caused Cameron and me to get extremely upset. Our anger initially was directed toward the coach. Over a span of 20 minutes it was redirected toward the President, Equipment Chair and the Treasurer as they all failed to defend our son. Instead of ejecting the players and the coach, only the boys were removed. Not once were we addressed by the offender or his head coach. The President of Seminole called me childish for demanding the name of the coach so that we could press charges since they refused to come to our aide. We had to get police involved for anybody on the other side to cooperate. The Commissioner from Harmony admitted he directed the coach to leave after the game instead lf apologizing. Our President and the Equipment Chair did nothing but degrade two rightfully upset parents. Because they failed to protect and show compassion, we have been punished. We have been banned from all Sanford Pop Warner events for a full calendar year. They allowed us to attend practice with no incident or even the courtesy of a conversation. We were sent an email on the normal off practice day telling us the suspension is effective immediately. They sited the parent conduct stating that we failed to provide a safe environment for the kids to play. Our sons have not been removed from the teams but we cannot attend practices, games, fundraisers, banquets, etc for a full year. We have been punished for calling out those in charge for not doing their jobs. As this is not the first time they have failed our babies of the community - especially those of color - we are petitioning to have our rights reinstated.

Gabrielle Thompkins    Contact the author of the petition