As the coach of a small experiential school, we were trying to be "open minded" and "inclusive." What this translated to the parents sadly was "zero athletic ability required" I had this one kid who the first day ran backward around the track. I worked pretty hard with him, the poor little (and he was so short and tiny compared to the rest of the team which we all know could be a good thing for middle distance?) guy made some progress, he actually made it around the track in the right direction and for multiple laps before walking. (we had a few other walkers).
As the meets approached, he got fixated on the hurdles and while he had absolutely no shot of clearing one; especially given that jumping was off the table, staying in the lane was pretty difficult and the enormous amount of self doubt he possessed and most dauntingly his mother's attitude would certainly hold him back, but heck where there is a will...
Mom stood on the sidelines complaining. Every one was against her son, there were kids plotting against him at school, the other coaches of other sports had something or other in for him, no one gave him a chance. The administration of the school was trying to make him feel stupid and lied about his test scores. I even got to hear about her own problems too, from birth to I'd guess 45 her life was a series of disappointments and regrets...even to the point when I took the whole team out for Five Guys burgers she accused me of sabotaging her diet (no other parents were there, and no I didn't force feed her the 1000 fries she fisted smothered in ketchup). ...
Fast forward to the meet that yes after some hard work, begging and relentless emails from mom, I said he could sign up for the 100 hurdles. She was there as he lined up telling him she hoped he didn't come in last, that she worried some kid might trip him and the final blow came when she screamed at him that she thought some kids were teasing him from the stands.
This poor fella didn't stand a chance - fell about 4 times, scraped up barely crossed the finish in about 40 seconds.
Well mom blamed me of course for stacking the deck against her kid. It wasn't long before she pulled him out of school entirely and filed a lawsuit.
*the lawsuit had nothing about me, but about a bully. This "bully" was probably the nicest and best athlete at the school.