I got an extra minute with The Human Fund but blew my second question. If you do it again, I’ll study harder. d;^)
A lot of this is subjective. And you don’t need to yell to make new players head for the door. I virtually never have a reaction to a bad ball or game, although I occasionally will let out a quiet shit or F bomb. So quiet that you’d have to be right next to me to hear it. So if a TD reads my lips from 20 feet away, should I get a yellow card? Don’t ban swearing all together unless kids are there. And don’t hand out yellow cards if it’s a one time deal with no kids around.
When Josh occasionally goes off, it’s amusing. New players should be seeing us regulars smiling when this happens, which puts them at ease. As long as he doesn’t swear excessively or around kids, no harm, no foul in my book. That’s just how Josh plays.
We lost a player in league recently in a very subtle way. He was (randomly) grouped with two really good players and another player. One of the really good players, who is also a long time member of this league, was standing behind him and making comments as he played. The player didn’t say anything at the time, but I found out later the talking really rattled him. Enough so that he decided he wouldn’t come back to league. The incident happened in his second week of league. The player that was doing the talking had no idea that the talking was bothering the other player. He does it regularly, so most of us are used to it.
It’s not just yelling or swearing. We all need to be as welcoming as possible to new players. The friendliness of all the players I met when I first started competing is what drew me to the competive side. I’d name names, but I’m afraid I’d leave people out. I’ve tried to follow their example. We all need do our best to make the new folks feel as comfortable as possible. If you’re going to swear or yell, please do it with a smile on your face, because people will be watching.