FALL 2017
maskmatters.org
45
“In organized team sports, children
work together to accomplish a
task and learn from their mistakes.
These lessons directly
translate into the classroom
and beyond.”
– Stephen Keener
A
young basketball player takes a cheap shot
at her opponent and doesn’t get caught
by the referee. After the game, she gloats
about it while her teammates
congratulate her on the move.
After placing second in
the finals of his swim meet, a disappointed
swimmer walks away from an opponent’s handshake
and throws his goggles on the deck.
An angry father, whose football player son was
taken out of the game for unnecessary roughness, confronts
the coach in the parking lot after the game, screaming and
yelling at him.
While these actions may not make the headlines of
your local newspaper, they’re still somewhat surprising—
particularly in a society that purports to teach and uphold
the basic tenets of good sportsmanship in youth sports.
According to the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
at Michigan State University, each year an estimated 30
million children in the U.S. play organized sports, which
provide benefits including better health and “character
building values such as teamwork, dedication and discipline.”
Unfortunately, with the “win at all costs” mentality that now
seems to be taking over, those benefits have been on the
decline, leaving parents and families to wonder what ever
happened to the good ol’ days of playing purely for the love
of the game.
WHAT MATTERS IN
YOUTH SPORTS?
According to a national survey of 2,000 youth sports
parents and coaches by Liberty Mutual Insurance, the
two most important aspects of participating in youth
sports are teamwork and sportsmanship. Parents and
coaches also cite the importance of developing
skills of the sport as important, but place greater
value on the fundamental life lessons that are
learned through participating in youth sports.
“While striving to win, children
learn about teamwork, leadership and
sportsmanship, all of which can contribute
to their development as solid citizens,” said
Stephen Keener, president and CEO of
Little League International, in an article for
The New York Times.
“In organized team sports,
children work together to accomplish a task and
learn from their mistakes.These lessons directly
translate into the classroom and beyond.”
However, while parents acknowledge the importance
and value of instilling sportsmanship within their child,
not all parents are taking the opportunity to have the
conversation. In the survey, 68 percent of parents indicate
they’ve discussed good sportsmanship with their child, but
despite acknowledging that promoting sportsmanship is
their responsibility, roughly one-third of them aren’t having
the conversation.
ONTHE DECLINE
In youth sports, good sportsmanship seems to
be a thing of the past. Too often, we see parents cheering
mistakes made by opposing players, “dirty” plays and
unfairness on the field, and coaches intimidating players to
win at all costs.
Nearly half of parents and coaches believe
sportsmanship has worsened in youth sports since they
participated as children, while only 12 percent feel it has
improved. Yet survey results suggest it may be their own
behaviors that are contributing to this perception:
h
60 percent of
respondents reported either
witnessing or participating in negative or abusive
sideline behavior;
h
26 percent of
parents said they have witnessed a
verbally abusive coach;
h
16 percent of
parents said they have witnessed a
physical confrontation between parents;
h
55 percent of
coaches have experienced parents
yelling negatively at officials or their own kids;
and two in five have experienced parents yelling
negatively at other kids.
