Ridgewood youth soccer coach’s wife sues critics, citing complaints about tryouts
MARCH 15, 2014, 10:13 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The village once again finds itself at the center of a drama involving a youth soccer program and the behavior of the adults in charge. This time, however, it’s playing out in a courtroom.
In a lawsuit filed in a Manhattan court last week, Siobhan Winograd, the wife of a leader of a village-based soccer travel team, alleges that her husband is the victim of false complaints lodged by anonymous critics.
Winograd would not discuss the suit with The Record on Saturday. But according to a copy of the filing, anonymous complaints sent to the village soccer organization had falsely alleged that Michael Winograd had “fixed” tryouts for the team and “engaged in misconduct relating to sportsmanship during the season.”
In the suit, which identifies the defendants as “Ridgewood Soccer Mom” and “John Doe,” Siobhan Winograd alleges that the complaints made anonymously to the village soccer organization were designed to injure “her family’s reputation and standing with their small community.”
This is not the first time that youth soccer in Ridgewood has come under unwelcome scrutiny.
Village resident and independent film director Caytha Jentis released a film in 2012 called “Bad Parents,” which was based on a play — “It’s All About the Kids” — that she had written about her soccer-mom experiences in Ridgewood.
The film, a satire starring Janeane Garofalo and Christopher Titus, painted an unflattering portrait of the parental back story that at times pervades youth sports programs in suburbia.
In the lawsuit, Winograd argues that, since the summer of 2011, she and her family “have been subjected to a pattern of harassment and other tortious conduct.”