Mathieu van der Poel's Assault Convictions Overturned After Appeal
After pleading guilty to assault charges related to an altercation with two teenage girls that occurred in late September, Mathieu van der Poel's convictions and fine have been overturned on appeal.
The incident took place at a hotel where Van der Poel, 27, was staying before the road cycling world championships in Wollongong, Australia. The two girls reportedly knocked on Van der Poel's door and ran back to their room multiple times beginning at 10:40 pm. According to court documents, he “waited for the victims to knock on his door and chased them into their hotel room, following close behind them.” He then pushed one of the girls against a wall and yelled at her, before pushing the second girl against a wall with both hands.
According to The Australian, “Judge Ian Bourke SC said while Van der Poel’s actions would have been 'disturbing' for the young pair, it came as a 'response to annoying and invasive conduct' which amounted to a 'significant degree of provocation.'"
Michael Bowe, Van der Poel's defense lawyer, said, “He didn’t need a conviction, he’s a dedicated sportsman and cyclist. It’s really important these matters were dismissed.”
With the convictions overturned, Van der Poel was sentenced to a 12-month conditional release order (CRO), which states that he must not commit any offense during that timeframe, and must appear before the court at any time if called on during the term of the CRO.
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What a dumpster fire.
Did anyone else have parents that taught them not to hit women, let alone children? Asking for a friend.
BUT, we aren't talking about little kids here either. The article says teenagers, and teenagers are at least smart enough to have a conceptual understanding of right vs wrong.
I'm not saying action should happen to the teens. Depending on law, they might still be considered minors, however it was still VERY disrespectful of the teens to act the way they did. Where were the teen's parents? Parents need to be held responsible for not keeping control of their kids
Let's make a comparison. You see some kids smash a big stick on your car, then run away. Come back, smash one rearview mirror. Run away. Come back, smash the window. Run away. Come back, puncture the tires. Run away. Best reaction: Call the police, inform them about the situation and wait for them to arrive at the scene whilst the kids drop by every few minutes and smash another part of your car. And you know you really need that car tomorrow for something important. Well, that car (or the repair if it isn't totaled) is probably still cheaper than the preparations towards that race. The training, the logistics, all the support people... Yet go ahead and have this experiment with the car. See how often these kids will be chased and when caught, might sense a bit of a push.
A lifetime of poverty is way better than a temporary physical consequence.
"Van der Poel chased the girls, causing one of them to run into a corner and crouch down while covering her face. The cyclist ran up to her and grabbed her by both arms, squeezing them and pushing her against a wall while yelling at her, causing her to suffer a minor carpet burn graze to her right elbow and redness to her left forearm.
Van der Poel noticed the second girl trying to leave the room and pushed her against a wall using both hands.
'The girl fell to the ground and the accused left the room and went to his hotel room,' court documents said."
Lol
I'm 64, and for sure I grew up in a different era, but kids today definitely need more discipline in their lives. I don't think you have any experience dealing with kids, judging by your comments. I don't think those girls got anything but a small lesson from MVDP, and hopefully they act a little less like the entitled a-holes their conduct proved them to be.
You want to rip someone, I'd start with those girls parents. If their kids are running wild at 2:00am they are not involved enough with their kids.
Next time your kid messes up, keep your anger in check, get on a knee down on their level and calmly ask them why they did what they did and then explain why it was wrong. Most kids act out because they want attention. If you would take the patience to learn how to reason with them you might find the root of the problem, and then you would learn how to help them in the future, and they would gain an understanding of why their misbehavior is wrong actually making them a better person; instead of their understanding being based on fear. There is a certain way to talk to kids, and talking to them like they are adults doesn't work. If your kid can't listen to reasoning then they are probably under 2 yrs old, and under no circumstance ever should you hit a kid that young.
I grew up in a very rural town, where spanking and other backwoods form of discipline were common to kids I knew. I can tell you first hand that those kids who experienced serious physical discipline mostly turned out to be bullies and a lot of them didn't amount to much in adulthood, or were even lucky to make it there.
Teaching through violence is not the answer, except for martial arts classes where the goal is to learn to be a badass to protect those you love from evil. There are few cases where I could see a good spanking being the answer, but those are rare. Those instances being if I ever found out my kid hit a girl, physically threatened/hurt another kid, or something extreme along those lines.
I'm not saying you shouldn't discipline your kids, but maybe reevaluate your methods. I remember when I messed up as a kid the worst punishment I learned from was having my snowboard taken away for an entire season. I didn't learn a damn thing from a slap on the rear.
In the case of van der poel, yes the girls were wrong to annoy him. But he is an adult and they are kids. Let alone girls at that. They were likely just flirting with him in the way that some teenage girls do. I was raised to respect women and my fellow man, and unless someone is trying to kill you or physically harm you there is usually no reason to lash out physically. When a fight presents itself, 9 times out of 10 it's better to be the bigger person and disengage from the situation. A grown man pushing teenage girls is disgusting. He could've handled it another way. Hopefully he learned from his mistakes. Maybe someone should give him a good spanking.
Also to all you people who think they had things figured out in the good ol' days, look at the world around you, things are going wrong too quickly. Obviously what you believed in isn't working out.
Just offering my two cents. Not going to tell you how to raise your kids, that's your problem. Maybe do some research though. There is a lot of good free information and tips out there. You can downvote me all ya want. Do better.
Sounds like the court got it right, justice system seems to work....
You have to wonder how many self righteous people are typing on devices that have used cobalt in there manufacture. Cobalt mined by African child slave labour. The hypocrisy is stunning.
I'm totally baffled and more than a bit worried about comments on here.
Half the comments essentially condoning violence towards minors.
With the excuse being it's because the guy is an athlete?!
3 years old? You are a bully. Seems good ol' unprogressive USA is leading the way in unprogressive parenting based on comment location and opinion here.
Wow, you’re a real hero!
Abusing your children is always the lazy bully’s approach to parenting, nothing to be proud about.
Any person with average intelligence can quickly research this and conclude there are no benefits to be had from abuse, the only result is broken and dysfunctional minds.
Here in Sweden child abuse has been banned by law since the fifties (with an extra clarification in the seventies explicitly stating that any abuse intended as disciplinary is forbidden)
This is also the case in most other European countries, but as usual USA lags behind a bit. Come on people, get with the times!
Either way, the publications appear a little single sided, which make it useless. It is clear what caused the rider to act the way he did and it is also clear that he acknowledges that he didn't make the best decision when tired, annoyed and stressed. Now, the other side. Why did they do it, what reaction were they looking for, what did they expect? I'd like to know. Because every kid of 8 years and older knows what spectrum of outcomes you can expect when you act like this. A bit older and you also know what's legal and what is not. If you consciously push someone in a direction where you know people are likely to pass the limits of what's legal (which already includes that the suspect verbally threatens with physical violence) and you have no other more sensible outcomes in mind, you're very wrong too. So that's the point where you're going to own it. You know you've been pushing someone to go a step too far. That kind of limit seeking definitely fits the age. But owning the outcome is part of that too.
But before I fill that all in, let's have their response. Why were they doing it and what outcome did they expect?
Why? Bacause the fear is good as a factor to keep them safe.
They don't understand consequences of a truck hitting them, or that intentionally harrassing strangers can result in a reaction that would harm their wellbeing.
Placing fear (even through pain/discimfort) as a factor for kids to think about before engaging in that activity again is an evolutionary factor.
It is up to parents to properly identify scenarios where to employ the fear.
And ir is up to parents to not allow others the opprutunity to have to parent their child.
Still, poel shouldn't have ran out of his room and pushed those girls. They weren't right to annoy him, but that's not how he should have reacted. Hope he learned his lesson.
We probably differ on the reasons why though.
Amnesting teenagers for provoking a reaction is completely inappropriate.
As I stated in a commwnt below, Van der Poel, with his reaction, may have saved those kids lives. If they pulled those pranks on a drug trafficer, abuser, or just a loose cannon, we would habe a different headline.
They will think twice, and that is part of upbringing. Having a connessour saying "calm down girls" probably would not have that effect.
He can't be a parent and take their snowboards, phones or ground them.
The teens don't deserve amnesty, they should have to face the consequences as well. Both parties were in the wrong.
Ultimately, the parents shouldn't have been absent and allowed their young teenage girls to run rampant in the middle of the night harassing people, but that doesn't mean they should be taught that through physical discipline.
Or how else would you get you kid to climb in your Z71 with out slapping the shit out of them.
Favorite past time is taking the kids to the bowling alley then beating them when they want to go home. I mean what other way is there to teach em? I mean what better way to prove your mountain bike skills online than to brag about beating your kids.
I'm basing this on the wikipedia article on the subject, which seems to clearly state that it is legal anywhere in the states?
"Despite opposition from medical and social-services professionals, as of 2022, the spanking of children is legal in all 50 states and, as of 2014, most people still believe it is acceptable provided it does not involve implements."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment_of_minors_in_the_United_States
Too many woke crybabies like Mike kazier have infiltrated into the lives of others and somehow set the standard on how to raise a child, without kids.
I'm forever grateful my mom and dad slapped the f*ck out of me when I needed it. Probably saved me from way worse.
So my mom and dad slapped me, I did drugs and drank alcohol as a teenager, I went to prison as a teenager and as an adult. Yet I've never been violent to anyone outside of a street fight.
Goes against all the woke propaganda. I should be out here drunk beating my kids and starting bar fights. Instead I haven't drank in 22 years, don't have kids because they are trash, and have never had any incidents of violence. How ironic
As well as most of the politician and the cops on the take
And all the mothers who wait till they get to K-Mart to spank their kids
And instead of showing what to do what's right
They just hit 'em for what they did
And all the daddy's who run off and abandon their daughters and sons
Oh, anybody who hurts a child is gonna burn until it's done"
Conversation With The Devil - Ray Wylie Hubbard
@olafthemoose: they're certainly on van der's pole
It doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, laying hands on a kid is rarely acceptable, except for very few reasons, and in my opinion the guy your trying to defend isn't justified in his actions.
I don't care if I get all the downvotes this site can dish out. Being soft is going along with the popular opinion despite knowing deep down that you're wrong. Real men stick up for those who can't defend themselves. There is a big difference between that and those who think they're "real".
But you do you and we'll see who's kid is more successful when they grow up. Cheers!
Well behaved children aren't born, they are made through good parenting.
Not spanking a kid doesn't guarantee them to be doomed to be a rule ignoring a*shole. I was never spanked as a child and managed to never get in trouble with law or drugs, got good grades in school and have good job making good money.
1. 13 and 14 year old girls alone in a hotel? Wtf where are the parents?
2. Vdp chased them into THEIR room and pushed them? Wtf Extremely bad judgement on his part. What if dad brother or friend wants to defend them and fight get way out of hand? Pushing a girl in her hotel room could have been easily construed as worse than simple assault.
Where I do seem to disagree with lot of us here (aside from the fact that we really need the girls' explanation and expectations as I mentioned a few times above) is that I don't think fear is a good guide to train someone to do the right thing. That's the lowest level of motivation. Ideally as you grow up and develop, you learn to overcome your fears. if it was merely your fears keeping you from doing bad stuff, then what will happen if you no longer have this fear? Do you think that criminals haven't seen enough punishment in their youth? It is funny, I don't punish my girls. Never have hit them, hardly raise my voice if they've done something wrong. We can just have this conversation. And a conversation isn't: just me talking. They need to reflect. What made them do it? What were they expecting? What could have happened? What was it like for the other person? What do they need from this not happening again? Kids can reflect on that. You can have this conversation with any kid of 7 years and older. Sometimes other kids come over and of course they sometimes do something they shouldn't. All good. I ask them what they're thinking and for my girls that's enough. Not rarely do you see the other kid think or whisper to my girl "oh, that wasn't too bad, I think we can try again." Which is where my girl goes "No, we really should stop now. We can't act like we don't understand."
I would even go as far as to say that possibly those parents were very strict. They would have punished their kids if they would have seen them act like that. Now they weren't in the hotel, there was no fear and with that, there was no reason to behave. Really, they're 14yo already. You can't raise them through punishment and then in few years time, dump them into the world and hope they'll do equally well when there is no fear for punishment. Yes it is a little late but they still need to learn to get beyond that lowest level of motivation.
If he ever makes it to snowshoe he’s going to regret the signs I’ll get people to hold on the broadcast.
Do you have any options then to run after them?
And face them/stop them from moving to tell them to stop?
Because, they repeatedly knocked, and ran away.
And then he waited at the door and ran after them.
but scolding an annoying teenager is somehow child cruelty and should be criminal... got it
Throw a rager to keep him up and boycott the fact you don't like what he did even though you don't know the details? Aka being passive aggressive - a grown male Alpha move, right? Jeezus.
If you take it too far with your kids it's going to seriously mess up their mental aptitudes. First they will see violence as the norm to get what they want, monkey see monkey do. They will probably suffer depression. Worst case they'll be a school shooter or kill themselves. I know harsh, tugging on hearts strings of anyone who has kids but your discipline methods is how that kind of thing starts to get molded. Playing baseball as a kid, one of the kids was subject to the belt almost every day. As a 10 yr old he threatened to climb the elementary school roof and shoot the coach and our entire team because he didn't like that he had to do laps after hitting another kid. Fortunately that never happened. Others subject to the same repeated violence are no longer here, either by accident or on purpose.
Not saying you shouldn't discipline your kids, but there are other forms of it where both you as a parent and your children will come out better people for it. Do some research, but I can tell you it works because my lil 2 yr old dude is the coolest lil shredder you could ever meet and I'm extremely proud of him. Already says please, thank you, apologizes to others when he messes up, and respects other kids by not putting his hands on them unless for a hug or high fives.
Being a batsh!t crazy conservative isn't any better than being a batsh!t crazy liberal. Put aside your differences, keep an open mind, and stop yelling at each other spewing vitriol. There is good and bad on both sides, and educated calm debate is how we come to the best solutions for our world. Sad to see the direction political brainwashing is taking our world. United we stand, divided we fall. Universal law of mankind folks.
And for all those who seriously think beating women and children to keep them in line is cool, Jesco has a special club in hell for you where you can all fondle each other and talk about the good ol' days. youtu.be/E4wEyiFZanA
Finally this is a mtb'n site! I'm sorry to say that I share the same hobby as some of you idiots. It should all be about spreading positivity through good times in the woods with your friends.
Peace y'all! See ya on the trails! "Sign of the horns"
He should've punched them in the face? Are you a neanderthal?
It’s not child abuse, it doesn’t really hurt, but it does create a mental reset. All animals do it to their young because it’s innate and it works.
I don’t condone beatings, repeated hitting, anything that leaves a mark; but I absolutely back every father’s right to hit his son when he sees fit as long as he’s not one of those sadists who just enjoys hurting people.
There are many different shades between the extremes. It’s a shame so many people see life as binary.
I also regularly fight my son for fun. I consider it to be a form of training so that when someone wants to start something at school he will be able to make a good account of himself.
Man skills. Men need man skills to get shit done.
Peace.
Ultimately absent parenting is the worst thing anyone can do, and to be a good parent requires a ton of patience to not stoop to low levels.
And yes some people in this thread were taking it farther than just a slight spank and needed to be called out.
Poel layed hands on two young girls to keep them in line, and that is wrong. I know they were also in the wrong, but that is the lowest level anyone can stoop to. The outcome for his trial on the wrist is laughable at beat. It sets a bad precedent that if someone just annoys you you're justified to push them too the ground.
But when it comes to raising our kids, nurture and reasoning should come first before laying down the fist. This is how we move forward as humanity for respecting each other in the future.
Also, I don't think MVDP grabbed those kids to keep them in line. He was pushed to the limit and it was a response out of frustration. What lesson did those kids learn? That they can push peoples buttons until they snap and then they can just call the police and have that person arrested? Is that right? Is that what we want kids to do?
Teach your kids that for every action there is a reaction. If you yank on a dogs tail is it the dogs fault if it turns around a bites you? Everyone and everything has its breaking point, its better to teach kids that early on.
"What lesson did those kids learn? That they can push peoples buttons until they snap and then they can just call the police and have that person arrested? Is that right? Is that what we want kids to do?"
That is exactly where thing are going these days, being a victim after initiating something.....it's sad, it's been a thing the last 5 or so years...
100% agree teaching for every action there is a reaction so kids can navigate risk throughout life.
Did you see the video and the marks left of the young teen girls? Yes the parents and the girls were at fault as well, but when real men's buttons are pushed by young teenagers they don't resort to pushing them on the ground or wall. Especially girls. He could have removed himself from the situation. MVDP is acting like a spoiled brat, and you just compared him to a dog which seems accurate in this case. I don't care if he is a professional athlete or not. The justice system tends to favor those with the most cash. It wasn't the right outcome, and after this he is a horrible example of a good sport.
I guarantee there is more to the story and many variables to be taken into account....maybe he called the front desk, maybe the girls dad was putting them up to it, maybe he tried confronting them but they ran off, do you think he knew they were minors, do you think he knew they were girls when he ran after them, maybe they tripped and skinned elbow, etc. etc.
The court knows more than we do and law is very grey and nuanced, I highly doubt the courts would just let him off for being an athlete, Australia is very liberal, I'm sure all facts were considered and they likely got this one correct.
Again, jumping on the woke train based on assumptions you state as facts.....running after somebody in a dark hallway doesn't immediately result in knowing gender or age, that is 100% a fact.
Go read all the reports if you are this vested in the story, lots of them, some in dutch....many of which don't paint the same picture EDUCATE yourself on the matter, it's more nuanced than you are making it out to be.
Do you really think a pedophile has any more choice in who or what they are attracted too than say someone who is gay or straight. Think of it from their point of view, they did not choose to be attracted to children it is just how they are wired. Can you imagine your whole life being attracted to a group but never ever being able to feel the same joy we as straight(and getting toward LGBQXYZ) can in our relationships. It must be a living hell. And yet they are vilified by society instead of given our sympathy.
Let the debate begin
To respond to you last sentence, this would require the younger generation currently growing up to have the same respect, which is what the heavy handed commenters seem to feel they are missing because of the lack of corporal punishment. We are in a weird loop here. While I don't believe spanking is the best answer I do understand where they are coming from.
How about open discussion on how we get past this point in history where children seem(at least on the internet) to have zero respect for others and toward this grand idea where there is no more war/violence/hatred/inequality.
Also to the people who keep saying where were the parents. At this age, at least in Canada they can babysit themselves.
Don't put this in the same context as homosexuality. Which is natural, people (and animals) are born with it and which is as harmless as heterosexuality.
So not the same but similar for the point of argument?
van der Poel waited for the girls to knock on the door of Room 930 again, between 10.40pm and 10.50pm, and then opened the door and chased them..."
Did some more research in articles. Sounds like he knew who they were prior to charging them.
It's sad if it's not their fault, but just because of that they shouldn't be let loose to the general public. It's like letting a dog loose in a hen house or giving heroine addicts free access to drugs. And if they are convicted of giving in to their pedophilia, then absolutely no second chances should be allowed. As hard as it is to accept, some mental illnesses have no chance of recovery. I hate getting those letters in the mail that say a convicted child molester is living up the street, but at least it's public knowledge.
Again, who knows, but taking a hard stance and making absolute judgement based on you filling in 50% of the story isn't fair.
I’m extremely disappointed in the toxicity in this comments section, more so than usual.
I'm extremely disappointed by the inability of supposedly functioning adults to consider more than one factor when forming a contentious opinion.
A little education goes a long way though and attitudes are slowly changing, which is good. Kids always copy their parents. If you hit your child, they will hit someone else.
Here in Canada, it is against the law to use physical punishment on kids under 2 and over 12. In Australia, where this all went down, it is lawful to use physical punishment, but only by parents or caregivers. Still no excuse for MVDP.
In this case, BEST excuse that everyone is making for MVDP is that he lost his temper and reacted out of anger/frustration, which isn't the time to use corrective/physical force in any situation.
NO ONE is saying what these kids did was okay or that they shouldn't face some kind of consequence, but MVDP reacted like a child.
Who is right or wrong we will find out in 30 years when their kids grow up.
Half the population blames poor child/youth behavior on not spanking and half blames it on spanking.
I think your kindness viewpoint trumps them all though. Always try kindness first.
I wouldnt be dissapointed. I would be inquisative. Why do people feel this way.
There is a stark difference between condoning MVDPs actions and understanding them. To acknowledge that provocation was a factor is not support for violence. To disregard that people's actions have consequences, rightly or wrongly, justified or excessive, is beyond stupid and will never solve the issue. You can choose to analyse an interaction and learn from it, or you can choose to finger point from your pedestal and change nothing.
This event should serve as a reminder that we can't control how every individual will react to a given situation. The best we can do is consider the potential outcomes and choose our behaviour accordingly. Just because something shouldn't happen, doesn't mean it won't if you encounter the wrong person at the wrong time. To teach children that they can antagonise people without fear of repercussion is not the solution. Thats not the world we live in. Teaching them that if you play with fire you might get burned, so choose your behaviour wisely, would be far more beneficial to their futures. Being a victim does not necessarily mean your choices didn't put you in harms way.
What is the general sentiment in Australia about this?
In NZ the general sentiment appears to be much the same as you see on here. Woke culture makes more noise than logic and reason so it is unclear whether the emotion trumps reality crowd is now the majority, or they just get more exposure.
The reason I ask is culture can drive a lot of outrage but context matters....something like this happening in Russia, lets say, would probably not make the news...
The general attitude shown on pinkbike toward personal responsibility and selective interpretation of a story such as this is well mirrored here.
There are a lot of youngsters commenting who have been little shits, copped a smack and didn't like it.
A lot of commenters have been hit by their parents/have hit their kids and believe it's done the job.
There is a time and place for smacking kids, but not other people's kids. He didn't smack them though and they weren't his kids, so I don't relly understand where the talk of smacking one's kids came from.
Those girls deserved some discipline from their parents though.
If Martin did that to my daughter I would have probably lost my shit with him... but she wouldn't have done it because she has been brought up to know better that to do something so c*ntish. Where were the parents anyway?
And by the way, he assaulted them, but they provoked him by assaulting his ears repeatedly. One could say they asked for it. It seems that common sense has prevailed because that's pretty much what was decided according to Australian law. Bravo, Australia.
Don’t f*ck with strangers. Or you’ll find out.
Sleep for race is essential.
I was a firefighter for 27 yrs in a big, busy city. We would get 911 calls from the same people several times a day. Try being in bed sleeping, then going to a call for a stomach ache at 10PM. No big deal its our job. But then you go again at midnight. And again at 3am. Same person. I wanted to do more than just push them, believe me. That bike racer is a saint if you ask me. Did the story say just how many times they banged on his door?
Where I grew up that type of $hit might get you killed. If I was every caught doing that as a kid it wouldn't be the push against the wall I would fear, it would be the back side of my dads hand.
Get off your high-horse.
Does anyone actually know the ages?
Two teenagers with a hotel room suggest they may be 18/19 to me and thats old enough to know what they were doing.
I thought I would ask here as I was sure someone would know.
If they were 12, 13 or 14 then he was out of order.
I had the greatest parents in the world, I thought that as a kid, I still think so. When I was punished the end result was that I was ashamed, both of my behavior, and even more that I had made my parents feel bad. I'd have walked through fire for Mom and Dad, and in retrospect I probably deserved a lot more punishment than I actually got. I for one, am very grateful that my parents cared so much about us kids that they spent all of their time and energy making sure we got the best start in life they could give. We were poor compared to most of the families I knew, but I was the only one who's parents really spent most of their time with them.
Loving your parents is not mutually exclusive with them showing you a little tough love when it's called for.
Shit night’s sleep: $0
I wonder if they were paid by one of his competitors. Has that angle been investigated?
In the United States, here is one of the examples given for the offense of "Disturbing the peace":
"Knocking loudly on hotel doors of sleeping guests with the purpose of annoying them;"
It is a misdemeanor, which means it carries a potential jail time penalty.
Responding to a crime with a crime is wrong, but you are minimizing the initial crime.
I didn't say the kids should go to jail, obviously they haven't even been charged or we would have heard about it. I posted this just to point out that society has deemed this sort of behavior to be quite problematic, and deserving of significant punishment. It doesn't fit the connotation of "prank".
Also, I'm sure you know your closing argument is BS. It is exceedingly unlikely that a hotel will station someone outside your door in the wee hours to prevent this sort of thing.
@mikekazimer :
Both parties behaved poorly. Unfortunately for MVdP, he had no good options. The first step when faced with this sort of behavior is to ask the offending party to stop, which his girlfriend did (according to reports). The only available next step is to call the police. Of course, if he did that, then he would have to wait for them to show up, if they showed up. Or, they would tell him to come to the courthouse or police station and file a report and an investigator will look at it when he has time. Nevertheless, MVdP should not take matters into his own hands the way he did. Yes, in the real world a pair of brats can ruin your season and you have no recourse. Having the misfortune of crossing paths with them is like having the misfortune of a tree falling and breaking your leg. Bad luck and there is nothing you can do about it.
And, really, the behavior and attitude of at least one family was bad. From one of the fathers:
“We went to the hospital on Sunday and I’m taking her to the psychologist because she’s scared,” the father told The Daily Mail Australia. “She’s worried she’s in trouble and has done something wrong because some people are blaming her and me, saying it was the girls’ fault and I’m a bad parent, but it was the school holidays. What kids at that age are going to bed at nine o’clock?”
Yes, sir, she has done something wrong, and there is a large gap between "not going to bed" and ruining other peoples' nights.
Anyone talk to the parents of the teen girls?
Parent's message to kids - do what you want, no worries. Until they knock on the wrong door, and then it is curtains.
“Those peashooter arms couldn’t beat a drum. And please, cover up those awful tan lines. My eyes can’t take much more.”
@YukonMog: progressive parenting? WTF is that, letting your kids do whatever they want without any repercussions?
This is the result of progressive parenting, two brat teens banging on hotel doors in the middle night. Two progressive parents instilling a sense of victim-hood in them.
Angela: OMW, I’ll take care of it, go back to sleep.
Lewis: Thank you.
8 hours later
Angela: morning, it’s race day.
Lewis: Good morning, how did it go with the teenagers?
Angela: Don’t worry about it, you want the Yellow helmet or the rainbow helmet?
Lewis: k, rainbow one please.
Angela: Got it.
Also MVDP has a full team around him, this is something that could be delegated to one of his perks or to his team principal with just a phone call. His job is to train and win races, not get trolled by kids.
MVDP was also staying seperately from his team. Remember this was World Champs, very different set up from the normal trade team situation.
I think that cussing them out, calling hotel security, or talking to their parents would have showed a whole lot more restraint.
I've been curious how NL and the hotel didn't coordinate complete separation of athletes from the rest of the guests. It can't be that hard, can it? At the very least a security human or two could have been put in place in the hallway to secure a quiet environment given the importance of the event, no?
I will say... we do have one rule with spankings, we never do it when we are mad. It's a tool, not a response. Also, its more the action not the force. Who don't need to beat your kid, just a quick slap to the butt.
You people are pathetic who support his actions. He’s a self entitled loser who will end up with worse kids then these if this is how he believes solving problems and discipline should be done.
Discipline: the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.
Mr. Vanderpool did in fact engage in a negative form of discipline. One that brings shame on himself and was totally counterproductive.
Of course everyone has lost their temper to varying degrees. I’m sorry but your just wrong that Mr. Vanderpools behavior was anything but destructive.
Somehow I highly doubt this.
“He didn’t need a conviction, he’s a dedicated sportsman and cyclist. It’s really important these matters were dismissed.”
Again, all the other discussion aside, this is one of the most myopic and narcissistic things about this whole debacle. In the initial article I tried to talk about perspective sprinkled with my own experience in the timeline, places and family I had. This update should be about "ok, we're done here" but somehow there's even more "violence is okay" responses. It's funny how even though it's done and many people have apparently had their views vindicated by the court, people still have to drone on about "deserve" and "that's how it was done so that's how it should still be done". This comment shitshow is just an online bar fight where no one wins. Good job everyone.
Folks need to be a bit more open minded about this, context matters, language matters, TRY to see both sides before jumping to conclusion.
We can acknowledge that these girls were also in the wrong without justifying this man’s behavior.
Contradictions aside, if teenage girls were assaulting another person that would also justify use of force by a grown man who was witnessing the assault. Now we've got two acceptable reasons without even having to put much thought into it. I'm sure we could dig deeper if necessary.
We can acknowledge that these girls were in the also in the wrong, while UNDERSTANDING, not justifying, this man's reaction. Learn the difference.
- faster than them
- tougher than them
- prepared for a lesson, however it may be taught.
People can play the game all they want, but to suggest to children it doesn't come with some risk is negligent. Dreaming that the world is puppies and rainbows doesn't make it so.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=J8TqhBIEbWA
The original sentence was too harsh imo, the new one is fine, sure seems to fit the crime more, I am sure MVDP will not make similar mistakes ever again.
Thanks a lot.
If you're so ready to engage in physical actions maybe the right place to start would be spanking your brat kids. I was a problem kid at a certain age but the discipline (some of it physical) my parents provided put me on the right path to being a responsible adult.
And one more time, violence isn't okay and I'm not about to react to ding dong ditchers by attacking them. I'm also a generally calm person, but I've seen violent individuals. They absolutely exist.