Sport is a microcosm of life. Competition provokes strong emotions. Sometimes competitors, both coaches and players, lose emotional control. That varies from expletive-filled rants, to chair throwing, to physical assaults such as the Kermit Washington punch.
Coaches educate to change behaviors. Teaching sportsmanship doesn't guarantee compliance, but ignoring sportsmanship can escalate bad behaviors.
We get what we accept.
- "That is not how we play."
- "That is not who we are."
- "That is not how we represent our team, school, and community."
- "That doesn't show toughness but a lack of maturity."
- "That is unacceptable, inexcusable, and cannot happen again."
- Trash talking
- Taunting (see below)
- Gratuitous extracurricular contact
What's the harm? Younger players imitate what they see. Poor sportsmanship at high levels gets reproduced at low levels. Young players often lack emotional regulation leading to escalation. And often a spirit of "frontier justice" emerges. "You took out my guy and I'm taking out yours."
Years ago, coaching seventh grade girls, I saw one of our players get flattened. During the next time out, a player asked me, "do you want me to take her out?" I replied, "you mean to lunch? No, play the game."
Biology underpins choices."Most studies show that abstract reasoning, memory, and the formal capacity for planning are fully developed by age 15 or 16. If teenagers are asked hypothetical questions about risk and reward, they usually give the same answers as adults. But the emotional state in which they answer questionnaires is not necessarily the one in which they make important choices. In real life, adolescents, compared to adults, find it more difficult to interrupt an action under way (stop speeding); to think before acting (learn how deep the water is before you dive); and even to choose between safer and riskier alternatives. It is easy for them to say that they would not get into a car with a drunk driver, but more difficult to turn down the invitation in practice. Adolescents' judgment can be overwhelmed by the urge for new experiences, thrill-seeking, and sexual and aggressive impulses."
Coaches model excellence and teach players how to play. If we incite violence, then we are the problem not the solution. Play hard, play fair.
Lagniappe.
