THE STRIKE ZONE
Sometimes Sports, Sometimes Sportsmanship
By Katelyn Mulligan COO Recently, I experienced a milestone: a nice high school reunion. I enjoyed catching up in person with my classmates about what’s occurred over the last two decades since we all walked the halls together. We all somewhat knew the answer to that question as we’ve been following each other on social media. I was more interested in finding out what was between the lines and rekindling connections.
However, one person made a lasting impression on me that night. This particular classmate was a true jock, excelling at wrestling and capturing awards and championships that span beyond just a high school athletic career. During high school, I never had a less than positive interaction with him. At the reunion, though, his first words to me contained an apology, explaining that he was genuinely sorry if he was ever rude to me, made fun of me, or did anything inappropriate while we were growing up. He has grown to become a successful person with two sons and a nice family. But the humbleness and humility he showed during our chat at the reunion was a nice complement not just to where he is now in his life, but to the value he places on relationships and humanity. It’s an odd feeling to receive an apology when you don’t feel you need one or are even expecting one. But I was touched by the overtones of sportsmanship that emanated from him. Essentially, we were on the same team: we both wore the same uniform as student-athletes at the same school. But we also continue to be teammates in the game of life. He wanted to be a better teammate, not just to me, but to everyone he thought he may have wronged.
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By Tom Finn Member, Board of Directors My daughter started playing volleyball three years ago when she began high school; this year, she was fortunate enough to make the varsity team. I always enjoy watching her play, and I go to her matches as often as possible. Varsity tends to be a little more intense, as the stakes are seemingly supposed to be higher. I find myself cheering for my daughter and her teammates in her varsity matches just as I had done in her first two years, encouraging them in a positive manner to do their best. However, that changed halfway through her first varsity season.
A rival school was hosting my daughter's team for a match on a random weekday afternoon. I attended the match and cheered for her and her teammates as I usually do. Being that my daughter is one of the taller girls on the team, she plays on the front line quite a bit, making her responsible for defense near the net. One of my usual utterances of encouragement for my daughter in this position is to shout, "Block, block, block, block, block!" which is what I did as the opposition prepared to set someone for a kill early in the match. Such an exclamation would probably be akin to what a coach might shout in the same scenario. It didn’t appear to be negative, intimidating, or threatening. There was no reference to race, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or religion in anything muttered. And my intent was certainly not to purposefully disconcert someone, like what basketball fans sitting behind a basket might do while free throws are being shot by the opposing team. From what I can recall, I have been doing this for as long as my daughter has been playing volleyball, including during her club (non-scholastic) seasons, without any complaints or protests. At this day's match, however, a player on the opposing team took great exception to my encouraging utterances to the point of tears. The officials stopped the match, and the opposing coach insisted that my daughter's coach tell me to leave the gym. My immediate reaction, and that of the parents sitting around me, was to ask, "For what?" Out of respect for my daughter's coach and to avoid embarrassment of being asked to leave, I agreed not to make any further utterances in support of my daughter or her teammates, although I felt like I was being bullied for something that had been normalized over a two-and-a-half-year period. To add insult to injury, the opposing team sent an administrator to stand near me to make sure I stayed in line for the remainder of the game. I politely asked the administrator if he was sent to make sure I didn't hurt anyone else's feelings. He gave no reply, perhaps out of embarrassment that he was forced to guard me. However, one of the opposing players, overhearing my comment to the administrator, started shouting at me, yelling, "Shut up! You're, like, fifty!" (I took this as a compliment since I will turn fifty-five next month, so I'll take a five-year haircut off my age anytime.) I admit that these student-athletes are technically children, which can invoke a new set of standards. However, the lesson I took away from this experience is that the upcoming generations may not be properly prepared to handle the adversity that they will face in the real world. I was told that my utterances, which I viewed as encouraging for my daughter, were "distracting" and "annoying," not rude or unsportsmanlike. If that was truly how members of the other team felt, wouldn’t it be a smarter move for the coaches to quietly and politely conference about the situation and choose words properly? I still may not have agreed with it, but I’m sure my defenses wouldn’t have gone up the same way if my daughter’s coach had approached me in the spirit of compromise after a civil conversation with the other coach and said, “Tom, for today, would you mind toning it down a bit? That girl is apparently struggling with some personal stuff, and we’d like to show a little empathy as a team.” If we attempt to remove every possible distraction and annoyance from interscholastic competition, how are these student-athletes being prepared for a future filled with those very things? Yes, outstanding sportsmanship is paramount, but the pendulum can't swing too far in the other direction, or we risk raising a generation of individuals unprepared for the true obstacles one can (and probably will) face. By Mark Gola VP of Marketing and Publicity There are moments in nearly every sporting event when a player, coach, or fan encounters a fork in the road. Do I take the path that allows my emotions to get the best of me and fall victim to a display of poor sportsmanship? Or do I take the path of discipline and show poise?
There are so many elements surrounding athletic events that we don’t control. Demonstrating good sportsmanship is a component that lies 100 percent within our control. When confronted with a situation riddled with turmoil, every coach, player, and parent gets to determine how they will handle their actions. Let’s take a simple example of when an athlete encounters a fork in the road. Consider a baseball game where a batter is at the plate with the bases loaded and one out. It’s late in the game and the batter's team is down by one run. With a 2-2 count, the batter takes a called strike three. In that moment, the batter has a decision to make:
Listen, it’s not easy. Competitive juices are flowing; an opportunity to have a big moment was missed, composed with failure in front of everyone in attendance. But one must work at it, just like other aspects of the game. Further, any successful athlete will tell you that the most important play is the next play. If emotions can't be kept in check, the ability to focus on the next play will suffer. Teammates will notice. Opponents will notice. Coaches will notice. Game officials will notice. Recruiters will notice. Make the decision to become exceptional at sportsmanship. You’ll not only choose the right path at each fork you encounter, but you’ll begin to take others with you. Topics like this and more are discussed regularly on How You Play The Game, the official podcast of OSIP. On January 1, OSIP founder Jack Furlong and chairperson Sean Ryan will produce their 100th episode of the program. Dale Scott will join them on the podcast, and Furlong will announce the release of his highly anticipated book, On Sportsmanship: A Critical Reader and Handbook. The mission of the book is to “reveal the steps to ensuring that each person does their best at treating others with respect in sports and competition.” Tune in to listen to the podcast and also learn more about OSIP at osipfoundation.org. The National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) is the group that oversees high school athletics in the United States. One of its biggest issues is the shortage of officials that is plaguing the nation.
Thankfully, NFHS Executive Director Karissa Niehoff sent a blunt message back in January in an editorial titled "Dear Mom and Dad, Cool it." The numbers are stark. According to the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), more than 75% of all high school officials quit due to adult behavior, and 80% of new officials step away after only two years of officiating. The NFHS has recognized that these sportsmanship issues are growing because the poor behavior is not being controlled. Verbal and physical abuse is on the rise, so the NFHS hopes to be very direct with their approach. The question that arises, though, is one of culture. Is it simply our culture that breeds this type of behavior? And if so, why? Are people, specifically coaches and parents, so blind to the fact that losing these officials will ultimately undermine the entire operation to the point of eventually not having high school sports? One thought offered by Niehoff deals with the administrators taking an active role in this effort. Athletic Directors may need to divorce themselves from their association with their school and fandom and look to provide a good experience for all, regardless of affiliation. That means providing extra care for officials, policing fans, and speaking out against media berating. After all, many state associations overseeing high school athletics prohibit administrators from criticizing officials; do those need penalties need to be amplified? All in all, the story is summed up properly in this quote from Mark Uyl in the article: find "one other endeavor in American society where we accept and tolerate one adult treating another adult the way that we allow spectators and coaches to treat an official." Let me know when you find one that doesn't require a police escort. The snow in New Jersey throughout March kept me from most of my baseball scrimmages, leaving me all of two games (only one behind the plate) to be ready for the regular season. However, one play during my final game proved a very important point.
With a runner on first base, the pitcher, while in the stretch, did not come to a complete stop. My partner correctly ruled it a balk as the pitch was delivered. The batter, however, swung and lined a base hit through the left side of the infield. Immediately, I came out from behind the plate and yelled, "TIME! DEAD BALL!" The first base coach, however, was already disagreeing with me. "You have to play that out! A balk is not a dead ball!" "Yes it is, coach," I said. "In NFHS (high school) baseball, a balk is an immediate dead ball." He immediately dropped his argument, which was amazing, in my opinion. But my partner took the time to explain it to him. The runner from first base was advanced to second, and the batter resumed his at-bat. The conflict that arose is that, in OBR (official baseball rules, which is what MLB uses, as do many other forms of baseball), a balk is a delayed dead ball. That is, you wait for the play to be over before deciding to enforce the balk. In the case above, we would have let the play go, then given the offense the option of taking the balk penalty or the result of the play. However, high school rules do not allow this: they clearly state that the ball is dead immediately and the balk is enforced. It's an odd shame when something good happens, though...what if the batter hit a home run? You guessed it: I become the bad guy and have to nullify the home run to award the balk penalty. Sometimes these rules don't make sense. But it's not my job, as the umpire, to debate the rules. I just have to enforce them. Further, the coaches should probably take the time to understand these rules as well. When offered a high school coaching job, it's not as simple as just teaching the game and leading the team. You have to understand that there are MAJOR DIFFERENCES between high school sports and other levels of those same sports. As much as officials do their homework to know these odd rules, coaches need to do the same. After all, high school athletics are an extension of the classroom. They are another opportunity to educate student athletes on valuable life lessons. We, as coaches and officials, owe it to the kids to get it right. |
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