As a parent, how could you best help your child’s athletic success: A) Give them verbal encouragement; B) Hire the best coaches; or C) Spike their opponents’ water bottles with pills designed to cause drowsiness.

As reprehensible as answer C seems, to some parents, such as Christophe Fauviau, it sounds appealing enough to try.

Fauviau, the father of a rising tennis star in France, was sentenced March 9 to eight years in prison, when his attempts at gaining an advantage for his son caused the death of a young tennis player.

According to the Associated Press, Fauviau never wanted to hurt anyone. Unfortunately, other parents seeking to ensure their children’s accomplishments have not worried so much about the safety of others.

In April 2005, a Texas parent shot his son’s football coach in the chest.

In July 2000, the father of a pee-wee hockey player beat another boy’s father to death at their kids’ game.

In April 2000, a parent assaulted a coach right in front of his 11-year-old son.

The field of youth sports is littered with violent and unscrupulous acts by selfish parents at the expense of their kids.

These parents show up as clichés in movies like “The Program” and “Varsity Blues,” parents that raise their kids in extremely competitive environments because they either never got their big shot, or because they couldn’t let go of their faded athletic glory.

How does it happen?

Do these parents, who yell and curse at Little League games and edge dangerously close to the realm of the psychotic believe that they do these things out of love?

How do these people turn out the way they do?

Every parent who yells at their son or daughter for not giving enough effort, every dad who threatens a coach over a child’s playing time, every one of them were once people without children, without responsibilities.

They grew up and had kids, and somewhere along the way they lost their sense of perspective.

Does it happen to everyone? No, of course not. But it happens to too many, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping.

And maybe one day it’ll be you swearing at the kids on the field because that’s how it’s done. And maybe another parent will decide to use his fists to shut you up, because that’s also how it’s done.

Maybe that other parent will be me.

Who knows what we’ll be like in ten years? Who knows what kind of parents we’ll be?

One day soon, before we know it, we’ll be faced with the prospect of raising another human being and teaching it how to respect others. They will rely on us for their example, and it’s easier for someone with little or no example to act amorally.

No one wants to act psychotically, but sometimes people do and it affects the people around them, especially their kids. Remember that when you take your child to their first game.

Sports can be a terrific way to learn how to interact and work with others; they can also be a lot of fun.

For Maxime Fauviau, learning that his dad had caused the death of an opponent probably took away that fun.