Whenever I played sports growing up in Pikesville, coaches and parents constantly reminded me to be “a good sport.” Of course they told that to most players but I probably heard it more than most, since I had a temper worse than most.
Coaches always lectured us – me – about the importance of good sportsmanship in games. After covering many high school and rec sports games over the years, I’ve wondered, where has good sportsmanship gone in children’s sports?
Because I do not see much of it anymore.
Now, especially with boys, they make plays in a game and stand and glare at each other. You have to be “the man.” You have to be “tough.” That stuff all seems rather silly to me. Just do whatever you are supposed to do in a game and move on.
The anger just seems to build by the minute at times.
That is why I was so delighted to see a few interesting things when watching the Masters Golf Tournament on TV last weekend. The two guys who were battling for first place, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose, happen to be great friends, and they kept giving each other little signals and signs of encouragement – a thumbs-up here, a slap of the hand there.
The TV commentators loved it also and brought the topic up several times. It seemed almost refreshing to them.
I know it did to me.
If a 12-year old kid saw some of that, then just maybe when he tags a runner out at second base on a steal in Little League, he will offer his hand to pick the other kid up. Kindness will take you much further than anger in this world, especially if you are just playing a game.
And that is what the children playing Little League – one of the sports where there is way too much emotion out there – should remember. These are just games.
Have some fun with it. Be nice, or even, well, be a good sport.
I wish that lesson had gotten through to me during my younger years. Even though I wasn’t very good at much, I would have enjoyed it more. And that goes ditto for some of my friends.
Jeff Seidel is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.
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