True Meaning of Sportsmanship
This weekend we went and saw Kicking and Screaming with Will Ferrell. The movie itself was cute, not something I’d probably go to the theater and watch again. But during the movie, it brought back a lot of memories for me. When I was younger, I played on a co-ed soccer team. I didn’t get to play much, and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was co-ed and I wasn’t as “aggressive” as the boys were. However it was a good learning experience for me, and I often wonder what would have happened, had I kept up with the soccer. Also growing up, I played on a co-ed softball team, and yet again, I rarely played. I think I spent most of my time in left field, counting the flowers. I didn’t take it seriously, but maybe because I didn’t get to play as often as I would have liked, it was just easy to put me in such a position.
For kids, sports is something to be fun. It’s a fun activity where you get to meet other kids, other parents and join in something that may give you confidence. Both in the movie, and in being a player myself, I realized that sports and playing on a team was about having fun and enjoying the game. Being 10-11 years old, winning wasn’t everything. Of course it was nice to win, but I never felt like I had to compete with other teams. If we lost, we lost and we would wait till the next season to hopefully improve on our game. Having parents there to help support us, that is what we wanted. We wanted our parents to be proud of us for playing the game and keeping up with the sport.
But when parents begin to get too involved in the game, that is when things become an issue. It also becomes an issue when the coach starts overlooking the true meaning of sportsmanship and focuses all their attention on winning. In the movie Will Ferrell’s character started going mad about his position as a coach. He was more interested in winning than playing all the members of the team and enjoying the game. And even thou his own son was on the team, Will’s character overlooked this and didn’t realize just how much of an impact it had made on his son, when he forgot about him.
This brings memories back to middle school basketball for me. I started playing basketball when I was 12 years old I believe. I wanted to be a part of something, so I joined the local boys and girls club and joined a team. I had a great coach, and even thou I wasn’t the greatest player on the team, this coach actually gave me a chance. When I started middle school basketball it was a whole different aspect. This coach was more focused on winning, and there were many times where I didn’t play. He would make us dress down for the game, but he would play only about 5 people for the whole game. My love for the game was deteriotating and I became intimidated by other players (one girls in particular) on the team.
I still played school basketball, but when I played for the local boys and girls club, it was as if I was a completely different person. Not only was the one girl that I didn’t like not playing, but this coach believed in me. He knew that if he kept on playing me, I’d become a better player and become more confident. In 7-8th grade I became one of the starters on the team, opponents didn’t want to play against me, I started to gain a reputation for being a really good player. Maybe it was because there were not as many people on the team, or maybe it was because I knew this coach believed in me, and he believed in the game more than in winning.
I didn’t play my freshmen year of high school, but decided my sophomore year I was going to play. High school is completely different in terms of what it really means to play sports. The competition is much more fierce and people are a lot more aggressive. Sophomore year I played every single game on junior varsity. I enjoyed playing on junior varsity because I was with people who respected me, had a coach who respected me, and wasn’t so focused on winning. We didn’t have a winning season my sophmore year, but I can say that, that was one of the greatest years ever I played basketball.
The next year, I was a little anxious about playing because my worst nightmare came true. The coach that gave me so little respect in middle school, yes, was going to be my coach. I hardly got any playing time, yet again, and there were so many times after a game I just cried on the bus ride home. I couldn’t understand why a coach would bench me for the whole game. If I wasn’t going to play, why did I dress down for it? I know it’s about sportsmanship and being there for my team-mates but it was humiliating for me. As the season wore on, the varsity coach started to take notice of me, and he would make me dress down for the varsity games. Even if I didn’t play, or played for like 1-2 minutes I got a secret sense of excitement, b/c someone was paying attention to me, and to my game.
That didn’t last very long thou. My senior year, as a senior, it’s required for you to be on varsity…and I hardly ever played. The only time I’d play was if we were beating a team by a huge amount of points, or we were losing by a lot. If it was a lost cause, I was put into the game. I got a little jealous that freshmen players would play before me, but what could I do? They were much better players than me. But I tried to talk to my parents about it, and how could I improve on my game if I wasn’t allowed to play? There were many times where the coach would put me in if there were like only a few minutes left in the game. The last game of the season the coach was going to put me in the last 3 minutes of the game. He felt bad I think, that he hadn’t played me. It was a playoff game, but nonetheless, it looked doubtful that we’d ever catch up so he pulled me over and told me to get ready. I looked at him and I said “I don’t want to play.” After the game was over, I cried and told him just how I felt. I felt humiliated to be asked to play in the final minutes of a game. I understood I wasn’t a star player, but if he was only going to play me out of pity, I didn’t want to play. The coach could see how upset I was. I ended up lettering in basketball, and I got the coach’s award. But it meant nothing to me.
Where have the days gone where people play for the love of the game? Why is it all about trophies and winning championships? Why is there such fierce competition, even in little league games? You hear about how parents get out of control and either end up killing a coach or another player because their own child wasn’t put in the game. What kind of sportsmanship is that? Where did the true meaning of sports go? It seems like as the years go on and on, the competition for sports gets more and more drastic. Why can’t we all go back to the days where we lollied around in the fields and laughed and joked with our team-mates? I miss playing sports, but I don’t miss the competitiveness.
People have told me that good things probably could have come about, had I kept up with my gymnastics. But gymnastics to me was for fun, it was a social call. When I see how gymnists are pushed by their coaches and their parents, I am glad that I didn’t keep up with it. When I hear about girls who are anorexic and bullemic because their coaches tell them they’re too fat to be a gymnist or a pole vaulter, I am so glad that I didn’t keep up with my sports. It would be great to be born with such a great talent to where you would be able to get money for doing what you love. But at some point in time, there is a line that is drawn, and the difference between loving the game and doing it b/c you want to win money is finally revealed.
Sports is a great thing, but not when it comes at the expense of hurting yourself or others. Sports is supposed to be about fun, winning is only a small fraction of the whole picture. And unfortunately a lot of kids get pushed into sports when they don’t want to, and it’s b/c coaches push them or their own parents do. Great if you have a gifted child, but make it the child’s decision whether to keep up with the sport. And if they lose, don’t get all up in their face about it. Comfort them when they lose, and congratulate them when they win. But make sports about them, not about you.
-current mood- Average
For kids, sports is something to be fun. It’s a fun activity where you get to meet other kids, other parents and join in something that may give you confidence. Both in the movie, and in being a player myself, I realized that sports and playing on a team was about having fun and enjoying the game. Being 10-11 years old, winning wasn’t everything. Of course it was nice to win, but I never felt like I had to compete with other teams. If we lost, we lost and we would wait till the next season to hopefully improve on our game. Having parents there to help support us, that is what we wanted. We wanted our parents to be proud of us for playing the game and keeping up with the sport.
But when parents begin to get too involved in the game, that is when things become an issue. It also becomes an issue when the coach starts overlooking the true meaning of sportsmanship and focuses all their attention on winning. In the movie Will Ferrell’s character started going mad about his position as a coach. He was more interested in winning than playing all the members of the team and enjoying the game. And even thou his own son was on the team, Will’s character overlooked this and didn’t realize just how much of an impact it had made on his son, when he forgot about him.
This brings memories back to middle school basketball for me. I started playing basketball when I was 12 years old I believe. I wanted to be a part of something, so I joined the local boys and girls club and joined a team. I had a great coach, and even thou I wasn’t the greatest player on the team, this coach actually gave me a chance. When I started middle school basketball it was a whole different aspect. This coach was more focused on winning, and there were many times where I didn’t play. He would make us dress down for the game, but he would play only about 5 people for the whole game. My love for the game was deteriotating and I became intimidated by other players (one girls in particular) on the team.
I still played school basketball, but when I played for the local boys and girls club, it was as if I was a completely different person. Not only was the one girl that I didn’t like not playing, but this coach believed in me. He knew that if he kept on playing me, I’d become a better player and become more confident. In 7-8th grade I became one of the starters on the team, opponents didn’t want to play against me, I started to gain a reputation for being a really good player. Maybe it was because there were not as many people on the team, or maybe it was because I knew this coach believed in me, and he believed in the game more than in winning.
I didn’t play my freshmen year of high school, but decided my sophomore year I was going to play. High school is completely different in terms of what it really means to play sports. The competition is much more fierce and people are a lot more aggressive. Sophomore year I played every single game on junior varsity. I enjoyed playing on junior varsity because I was with people who respected me, had a coach who respected me, and wasn’t so focused on winning. We didn’t have a winning season my sophmore year, but I can say that, that was one of the greatest years ever I played basketball.
The next year, I was a little anxious about playing because my worst nightmare came true. The coach that gave me so little respect in middle school, yes, was going to be my coach. I hardly got any playing time, yet again, and there were so many times after a game I just cried on the bus ride home. I couldn’t understand why a coach would bench me for the whole game. If I wasn’t going to play, why did I dress down for it? I know it’s about sportsmanship and being there for my team-mates but it was humiliating for me. As the season wore on, the varsity coach started to take notice of me, and he would make me dress down for the varsity games. Even if I didn’t play, or played for like 1-2 minutes I got a secret sense of excitement, b/c someone was paying attention to me, and to my game.
That didn’t last very long thou. My senior year, as a senior, it’s required for you to be on varsity…and I hardly ever played. The only time I’d play was if we were beating a team by a huge amount of points, or we were losing by a lot. If it was a lost cause, I was put into the game. I got a little jealous that freshmen players would play before me, but what could I do? They were much better players than me. But I tried to talk to my parents about it, and how could I improve on my game if I wasn’t allowed to play? There were many times where the coach would put me in if there were like only a few minutes left in the game. The last game of the season the coach was going to put me in the last 3 minutes of the game. He felt bad I think, that he hadn’t played me. It was a playoff game, but nonetheless, it looked doubtful that we’d ever catch up so he pulled me over and told me to get ready. I looked at him and I said “I don’t want to play.” After the game was over, I cried and told him just how I felt. I felt humiliated to be asked to play in the final minutes of a game. I understood I wasn’t a star player, but if he was only going to play me out of pity, I didn’t want to play. The coach could see how upset I was. I ended up lettering in basketball, and I got the coach’s award. But it meant nothing to me.
Where have the days gone where people play for the love of the game? Why is it all about trophies and winning championships? Why is there such fierce competition, even in little league games? You hear about how parents get out of control and either end up killing a coach or another player because their own child wasn’t put in the game. What kind of sportsmanship is that? Where did the true meaning of sports go? It seems like as the years go on and on, the competition for sports gets more and more drastic. Why can’t we all go back to the days where we lollied around in the fields and laughed and joked with our team-mates? I miss playing sports, but I don’t miss the competitiveness.
People have told me that good things probably could have come about, had I kept up with my gymnastics. But gymnastics to me was for fun, it was a social call. When I see how gymnists are pushed by their coaches and their parents, I am glad that I didn’t keep up with it. When I hear about girls who are anorexic and bullemic because their coaches tell them they’re too fat to be a gymnist or a pole vaulter, I am so glad that I didn’t keep up with my sports. It would be great to be born with such a great talent to where you would be able to get money for doing what you love. But at some point in time, there is a line that is drawn, and the difference between loving the game and doing it b/c you want to win money is finally revealed.
Sports is a great thing, but not when it comes at the expense of hurting yourself or others. Sports is supposed to be about fun, winning is only a small fraction of the whole picture. And unfortunately a lot of kids get pushed into sports when they don’t want to, and it’s b/c coaches push them or their own parents do. Great if you have a gifted child, but make it the child’s decision whether to keep up with the sport. And if they lose, don’t get all up in their face about it. Comfort them when they lose, and congratulate them when they win. But make sports about them, not about you.
-current mood- Average
posted by Gaylicious© at Monday, September 05, 2005
1 Comments:
I understand getting lost in the competition instead of focusing on your own contribution. It is sad. We need more for fun and less seriousness.
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