History Main / SportsDad

* ''Series/Stargirl(2020)'' has Larry Crock, a middle-aged man who runs Blue Valley's local gym and who's daughter is the Blue Valley High Football quarterback. Considering the eventual reveal in episode six that he used to be the sports-themed supervillain Sportsmaster (and subsequently comes out of retirement), it's very likely that the choice for her to join the team was mainly his choice. However, this is mainly fan speculation.

** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20141219084141/http://archive.apsportseditors.org/contest/2002/writing/over250/over250.enterprise.fifth2.html Bill Butterfield]] was a man from [[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex suburban Dallas]] whose athletic aspirations were cut short in high school [[TeenPregnancy when his girlfriend became pregnant]]. He then tried to mold both his sons into sports stars in his place, through a strict diet and training regimen and years of verbal and emotional abuse. His elder son Billy eventually just walked away, leaving his father to focus on younger son Lance, who was eight at the time. Over the years, Bill became [[AbusiveParents increasingly controlling, abusive, and crazy towards Lance]], dictating his life, recording his matches, giving him steroids, and eventually beating him daily. His wife sometimes tried to intervene, only to be cowed into submission herself. The final straw for both was Lance's relationship with a girl named Kim; for Bill, it was the specter of [[ICouldaBeenAContender his own downfall]], and for Lance, it was his father becoming downright obsessive with ending the relationship and keeping it ended. Eventually, on December 27, 1995, [[TheDogBitesBack Lance snapped]] and [[SelfMadeOrphan shot him dead]]. Tellingly, at Lance's murder trial, the crowd booed the ''prosecution'', who could not find a single person who would testify that Bill Butterfield [[AssholeVictim didn’t deserve to die]]. The defense, meanwhile, fielded dozens of character witnesses for Lance, including Bill's own sister and father, with the latter writing a sworn affidavit that Lance shouldn't be prosecuted. In the end, after a mistrial, Lance Butterfield pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served two years in prison.

Related to EducationMama, for a parent that pushes their child at academics and StageMom for one that does the same with acting, singing and other performance arts. See also BillyElliotPlot for when a father wants his son to do a sport or something considered "masculine" while the son wants to pursue something that's stereotyped as being feminine.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/KickinAndScreaming https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kicking1.jpg]]]]

** In a later episode, there is even a in-universe video game titled "Hockey Dad", in which two such fathers brawl, ''VideoGames/BladesOfSteel''-style, under the winner's son comes to prevent further legal repercussions.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Jack Drake wants Tim to play football. Tim ''hates'' football, to the point that he doesn't even like watching it. At one point Tim got out of his dad asking him why he was getting in late by saying he stayed late because of football tryouts, though he never said he tried out ''and'' if his dad knew the first thing about his son he might have though he was taking photos or something. Instead when Jack learns the football coach doesn't remember Tim trying out Jack tears apart Tim's room, destroying Tim's possessions and trying to hack into his computer until he wrecks the back wall of Tim's closet, discovers it was a false wall hiding the Robin suit and summarily goes to Wayne manor to threaten Bruce with a gun.
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': As a kid, Martin Mantle, Jr. was not interested in sports, which annoyed his father, who was a notorious scientist. Mr. Mantle developed a serum to improve his son's stamina and physical abilities and he used it against Martin's will. When his mother learned of this, she and Martin abandoned Mr. Mantle and moved away. Martin grew up and the effects of his father's serum became notorious when he became a top athlete. After getting his engineering degree, Martin's health started to deteriorate and the doctors diagnosed him with a deadly disease, which was caused by his father's serum. Seeking revenge against society, Martin adopted the costumed identity of Sportsman and started killing top sports personalities.

* In ''Film/BillyElliot'', Billy's father, Jackie, trys to push him into sports by sending Billy to the gym to take up boxing even though he prefers ballet. However, later in the film, Jackie realizes how talented Billy is at ballet and decides to support his dreams.

* ''Film/TheCatcher'': Johnny's father obsessively drives his son towards perfection in baseball.

* Andy's father in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is hinted to be one of these, judging by his son's tear-filled rant to the other kids about how he has "to be ''number one''!"

* Danny's father in ''[[Literature/NemesisSeries Dreadnought]]'' is noted as being this as one of his numerous forms of abuse, attempting to force Danny to play high school football despite [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} her]] lacking both interest and talent in the sport. He stops after Danny winds up with a female body as a side effect of gaining Dreadnought's powers, but only because his focus switches to finding a way to "cure" Danny.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' Has Russel Remington, a former football player with everything to show for it including his own videogame, a huge mansion and a helicopter he uses for transportation. Shortly after his son Remy was born he was eager to toss him a football and fully expected him to share the same passion for the sport. He serves as much kinder example in that after he discovers that Remy only pretended to like football to impress him, He apologizes [[SoProudOfYou and expresses that he's proud of Remy.]]

* Graham Carr was a professional footballer who became manager of the lower-league Northampton Town. His ambition was for his only son Alan to follow him into football as a player. He was, according to his [[CampGay son]], surprisingly accepting of the fact this was never going to happen. Creator/AlanCarr now makes his living as a comedian, actor and radio presenter and cheerfully acknowledges he would not be a good fit for football.
* In 2017, [[http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/dropped-footballer-loses-claim-over-post-traumatic-stress-1.3063341 an Irish teenager sued his former football club]] for allegedly causing him post-traumatic stress disorder by [[SeriousBusiness dropping him from the under-15 team]]. The boy's father was the team's former coach, and behind the scenes, he complained to the club's board and even unsuccessfully attempted to bring a vote of no confidence in the team's current coach. Unsurprisingly, the judge ruled in the club's favour, and he saw exactly what was going on, explicitly telling the boy's father to distance himself from his son's sporting career.

* Roy Jones Jr's father was an abusive man who was driven to mould his son into becoming a successful professional boxer, forcing him to fight grown men at the age of 8, train ridiculously hard at a young age, and encourage him into getting into cockfighting. Jones Jr has gone on record saying that he isn't afraid of any punishment he takes in the ring because what his dad used to do to him was worse.

* A similar situation that did not work out very well at all involved Creator/KennethWilliams, who was forced by his [[AbusiveParents father]] to take boxing lessons to "knock the poof streak out of you". At the earliest possible moment, Kenneth Williams, who had wanted to become a serious actor (arousing his father's ire) but who became by degrees a CampGay comedian and comic actor, left home. He never spoke to his father again.

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20141219084141/http://archive.apsportseditors.org/contest/2002/writing/over250/over250.enterprise.fifth2.html Bill Butterfield]] was a man from [[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex suburban Dallas]] whose athletic aspirations were cut short in high school [[TeenPregnancy when his girlfriend became pregnant]]. He then tried to mold both his sons into sports stars in his place, through a strict diet and training regimen and years of verbal and emotional abuse. His elder son Billy eventually just walked away, leaving his father to focus on younger son Lance, who was eight at the time. Over the years, Bill became [[AbusiveParents increasingly controlling, abusive, and crazy towards Lance]], dictating his life, recording his matches, giving him steroids, and eventually beating him daily. His wife sometimes tried to intervene, only to be cowed into submission herself. The final straw for both was Lance's relationship with a girl named Kim; for Bill, it was the specter of [[ICouldaBeenAContender his own downfall]], and for Lance, it was his father becoming downright obsessive with ending the relationship and keeping it ended. Eventually, on December 27, 1995, [[TheDogBitesBack Lance snapped]] and [[SelfMadeOrphan shot him dead]]. Tellingly, at Lance's murder trial, the crowd booed the ''prosecution'', who could not find a single person who would testify that Bill Butterfield [[AssholeVictim didn’t deserve to die]]. The defense, meanwhile, fielded dozens of character witnesses for Lance, including Bill's own sister and father, with the latter writing a sworn affidavit that Lance shouldn't be prosecuted. In the end, after a mistrial, Lance Butterfield pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served two years in prison.
* Marv Marinovich, father of former NFL player Todd Marinovich, tried to engineer Todd ''from birth'' to be the perfect quarterback. In high school and college, Todd earned the nickname "Robo QB", because he was like a machine. Nobody else had his training and diet regimen, so there was no one who could compete with him. That changed when he got to the NFL, where he was an infamous bust. Todd never especially ''liked'' football; he just couldn't tell his obsessed father he wanted to do something else. Once he got to the NFL, with no one to tell him what to do, he spent more of his time [[TheStoner getting stoned]] than maintaining his "Robo QB" talent.
* In 2017, [[http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/dropped-footballer-loses-claim-over-post-traumatic-stress-1.3063341 an Irish teenager sued his former football club]] for allegedly causing him post-traumatic stress disorder by [[SeriousBusiness dropping him from the under-15 team]]. The boy's father was the team's former coach, and behind the scenes, he complained to the club's board and even unsuccessfully attempted to bring a vote of no confidence in the team's current coach. Unsurprisingly, the judge ruled in the club's favour, and he saw exactly what was going on, explicitly telling the boy's father to distance himself from his son's sporting career.

* Roy Jones Jr's father was an abusive man who was driven to mould his son into becoming a successful professional boxer, forcing him to fight grown men at the age of 8, train ridiculously hard at a young age, and encourage him into getting into cockfighting. Jones Jr has gone on record saying that he isn't afraid of any punishment he takes in the ring because what his dad used to do to him was worse.
* {{Defied|Trope}} by former NFL quarterback Archie Manning. Despite knowing the ins and outs of making it to the NFL (having played himself) and having three sons (Cooper, Peyton, and Eli) with huge potential, he had almost no involvement in his sons' football careers. When the boys reached high school age, Archie and his wife sent them to a prep school in New Orleans with rigorous academic standards and a poor football program because he felt school was more important. Even after the kids became hot college recruits, Archie didn't force them to attend his alma mater Ole Miss and let them choose their schools (though Cooper and Eli picked Ole Miss anyway). Though the college coaches invited him to sit in on games and meetings and discuss offensive strategies, Archie declined and sat in the stands on game day as a regular fan. In the end, Peyton and Eli became NFL quarterbacks with Hall of Fame-worthy careers that surpass their father's, while Cooper may have made it as a wide receiver had it not been for a severe spinal condition that forced him to retire in college (he had to settle for being an extremely successful investment banker and TV sports broadcaster instead).

* A similar situation that did not work out very well at all involved Creator/KennethWilliams, who was forced by his AbusiveFather to take boxing lessons to "knock the poof streak out of you". At the earliest possible moment, Kenneth Williams, who had wanted to become a serious actor (arousing his father's ire) but who became by degrees a CampGay comedian and comic actor, left home. He never spoke to his father again.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''[[Literature/{{Orphans}} Butterfly]]'', Janet's adoptive mother is more concerned about her doing ballet, herself being [[CareerEndingInjury wheelchair-bound]].
* The young-adult novel ''The Perfect Score'' and its sequels, by Rob Buyea, have a rare female example. Randi's overbearing mother pushes her to compete in gymnastics. Randi likes gymnastics and is good at it, but often feels overly pressured by her mom.
* Prolific writer of 1960s youth literature Ethelyn Parkinson (author of the Rupert Piper books) centers the conflict of ''Today I am a Ham'' on this trope. The novel is more subtle than many other examples; the dad, a coach, is a genuinely nice, if busy, guy; the son actually wants to be an athlete, as well as a [[UsefulNotes/TwoWayRadio amateur radio operator]] -- the "ham" of the title, not an [[LargeHam overly expressive actor]] -- and the conflict is resolved in a clever and heartwarming way.
* Danny's father in ''[[Literature/NemesisSeries Dreadnought]]'' is noted as being this as one of his numerous forms of abuse, attempting to force Danny to play high school football despite [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} her]] lacking both interest and talent in the sport. He stops after Danny winds up with a female body as a side effect of gaining Dreadnought's powers, but only because his focus switches to finding a way to "cure" Danny.
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-->'''Tommy:''' Why?
-->'''Dick:''' Because it's important that you experience the humiliation of adolescent boys at the hands of bitter adults trying to rewrite the failures of their youth. It'll be fun!

-->'''Dad:''' You, stay away from my son!
-->'''Mom:''' You're a ''bad person''.

--> "When we lose a game, he whips my ass with his favorite leather belt
--> Last night he worked me over good, check out all these nasty weeeeelts!"

* ''Series/TwiceInALifetime'', episode Curveball. In this episode, the father was pressuring the son to be as good as possible in baseball, while boasting his success back in high school. For this episode, the teenage son gets the early episode death, and is sent back - witnessing his father's younger self flub that swing.

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* In ''Film/BillyElliot'', Billy's father, Jackie, trys to push him into sports by sending Billy to the gym to take up boxing even though he prefers ballet. However later in the film, Jackie realizes how talented Billy is at ballet and decides to support his dreams.

* ''Series/FridayNightLights'': With a show that revolves around athletes there are several.

* Discussed in ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''. Mara's parents are both professional athletes, with her Dad being an Olympic Gold Medalist, and her mother being a professional hockey player. So, in her own words, they were "pushy" about her playing sports, to the point where Patricia claims that Mara has been "living, breathing, eating it all her life" despite being a {{Nerd}} who doesn't actually enjoy athletics. This allows her to relate more to Mick, who has the opposite issue of being a LovableJock whose doctor Dad wants him to also be a doctor.

* Dan Scott is an overbearing Sports Dad in ''Series/OneTreeHill''. He is constantly on his son Nathan who is the star of the high school basketball team. He also harasses his illegitimate son [[AMistakeIsBorn Lucas]] who is also a talented basketball player because he sees Lucas as competition to the rightful "heir" despite Lucas being older. Dan is so intense that Nathan often expresses that he loves basketball in spite of his father rather than because of him. Later, we learn that Royal, Dan's father, was the same type of father and Dan eventually faked a career-ending injury to escape the constant pressure.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': In "Sports a Poppin", Dexter's father tries to teach him different sports (including football, basket, baseball and others), but Dexter doesn't succeed in any of them. Only after his dad gives up and Dee Dee sets free a monster, Dexter starts defeating it [[AccidentalAthlete using surprisingly good atheletic skills]] that his father doesn't see.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', the basketball coach's son Tucker is on the basketball team, and the coach's most important rule is "Pass the ball to Tucker". Tucker enjoys basketball and is a decent player, but he often feels overly pressured by his father which often causes him to miss free throws due to the stress.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill, who tries to push Bobby into sports despite him not being good at it. Hank later on accepts this.

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* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill, who tries to push Bobby into sports despite him not being good at it. Hank later on accepts this

* In a ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode, Springfield starts up a sports league after finding the young boys in town are overweight. After a series of events, Homer becomes the coach and discourages and insults Bart while putting him through TrainingFromHell. Homer eventually realizes his own father never acknowledged him either, so he amends his behavior and becomes overbearingly supportive of Bart and has him replace Nelson as quarterback, despite Bart being a terrible player and the rest of the team despising him for it.

** J D McCoy is a freshman phenom with a wildly overbearing dad. He's being groomed to be a future NFL star quarterback and his father forbids him to do things like drink soda, watch TV, or date. The one time J D shows signs of acting like a teenager, his father literally slaps him, forcing the coaches to intervene. Eventually, J D crumbles under the pressure.

%%List is alphabetised. Please keep it that way. Thanks!

The "Sports Dad" is a father who pressures his children to succeed in sports or other physical (or "manly" if he has sons) activities. The Sports Dad is often the father of the JerkJock; if so, he'll probably be a {{Jerkass}} himself. If the Coach Dad is the father of a LovableJock, he'll probably be more sympathetic. The father might be a former JerkJock himself who is living vicariously through his son.

There are also more extreme versions of the trope who pressure their sons into fighting or [[ManlyMenCanHunt hunting]]. Considering how scarring it might be to be pressured into fighting or killing, these dads can be viewed as [[AbusiveParents abusive]].

Woe be unto any {{Nerd}} who has a father like this, especially if the dad wants him to fight his bullies. See JockDadNerdSon.

While parents of this archtype are usually male, coach/sports moms do exist.

Related to EducationMama, for a parent that pushes their child at academics and StageMom for one that does the same with acting, singing and other performance arts.

See also BillyElliotPlot for when a father wants his son to do a sport or something considered "masculine" while the son wants to pursue something that's stereotyped as being feminine.

!!Examples

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!! Salvaged from the Sandbox/TropeIdeaSalvageYard. I will be stealing some examples from StageMom that better fit this trope