Exclusive | Inside youth sports sideline insanity: We had to call the police

When Reshea Bristol pulled up to a youth basketball gym in Chandler, Arizona, to referee a game between first- and second-graders, she knew something was wrong as police cars swarmed the entrance.But before the Tiny Tikes could take the court, the former WNBA player, who spent more than a decade playing professionally overseas, was told that an aggressive parent had come out of the stands and slapped the coach.While the incident wasn’t directed at her, the veteran athlete soon learned that the rules of fandom had changed — and her job as an official might not be so black-and-white.“You can’t just go out and ref the game,” Bristol told The Post.“You have to ref the game.

You have to ref the parents.You have to ref the coaches and the players.

It’s a full-on job.”And increasingly, it’s a job officials nationwide are deciding they don’t want.Youth sports have been hemorrhaging referees for years, and officials told The Post that one major reason is unhinged parents standing on the sidelines.What was once innocent heckling has graduated into unhinged screaming, threats, and occasional violence, making a part-time gig increasingly hard to sell — and even harder to keep people doing it.Data from the National Association of Sports Officials show that almost 69% of officials believe sportsmanship is getting worse, while about 40% cite parents as a major contributor.In Florida soccer alone, nearly 200 referee abuse or assault cases were reported in the past year, about half involving spectators.

“I was totally oblivious to what the atmosphere was going to be like,” Bristol said of the unruly parents, many of whom she believes are fixated on their child “going pro.”Those familiar with the sidelines generally agree that bad behavior is more common in sports like soccer or flag football than in volleyball.Even more so in youth sports, where parents may still dream of their kids going places because of their athletic abilities.“The louder pare...