Salem Hockey Mom Not Giving Up Fight Against Youth League
SALEM (CBS) - Her nine-year-old twin sons were kicked out of a youth hockey league after she complained about the coach. She broke her silence about the situation to WBZ.
Painted by her detractors as an over-the-top hockey mom, Holly Foglietta watched her twins unpack their gear Friday, not surprised the league had upheld the boys dismissal from Lynn Youth Hockey.
"I never swore at anybody, threatened anybody, I only came to the board with a complaint," says Foglietta."The only reason people have come to my side is because they are scared their kids will get retaliated against."
WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod reports
Last month, son Austin says his coach angrily rebuked him for being selfish when he scored his 200th goal and tried to keep the puck. Brother William says the coach then tossed a bag of pucks at him in the locker room. Volunteer squirt coach William Norcross says neither happened.
Things really blew up when Holly asserted to the league in an e-mail and on Facebook that the actions of her sons' coach amounted to "borderline child abuse".
"I would say it again," Foglietta told WBZ. "I didn't charge him with child abuse, I just wanted his behavior addressed."
The comment, however, got the twins bounced from the Lynn Comets when the league declared the accusation overboard, if not defamatory.
While supporters say she's merely a spirited supporter of her sons' teams, critics contend she's a big mouthed meddler. Either way, Holly Foglietta wonders how it became about her, when it should have been about her sons.
She plans to appeal her boys' plight to Mass. Hockey, insisting the move is needed to keep leagues from whitewashing future child complaints.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Rod Fritz reports
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"I was just their voice," she says. "I went to the board with their voice."
The twins have already agreed to play hockey with a team elsewhere next year.
