• The dark side of sports The dark side of sports By Duane Shimogawa – The Garden Island There’s nothing worse than going to a sporting event and witnessing a parent or coach playing the part of a sore loser.
• The dark side of sports
The dark side of sports
By Duane Shimogawa – The Garden Island
There’s nothing worse than going to a sporting event and witnessing a parent or coach playing the part of a sore loser. Believe me, there are a lot of great things that happen at these events, but there’s always something that tries to overshadow the good and sometimes spoils the experience for the most important people at the games, the competitors.
At youth sporting events, these types of incidences are sad and unfortunate. However, I’ve been able to bite my tongue and let the situation play itself out.
At times though, I have to leave the area, in hopes that the parents and coaches will vacate their selfish attitudes and think about how the kids are reacting to their childish behaviors.
Of course, there are times, especially in the heat of the battle that get out of hand, but still, sportsmanship should be the number one priority. After all, isn’t being a good sport, what coaches are supposed to be teaching our youths?
I can recall a very vivid instance where the horror of an unsportsmanlike situation took a hold of a youth sporting event.
It all started towards the end of the game, where one of the coaches started to yell and glare at his own child after he failed to make a crucial play. The dad/coach continued to insult his son and it eventually led to tears falling from his son’s eyes.
As the horrid event went on for about five more minutes, a parent darted out from her position in the stands down to the dugout.
With the game at a standstill and basically over, the parent yelled out, “I want this to stop right now (the insults) because I don’t want my kid to hear this, besides, don’t do this here, take it home.”
I could definitely understand the parent’s point-of-view and had she not said anything, I think that another parent would’ve done the same thing.
For one, it’s a travesty for a coach to actually think that he could use his position as a coach in a manner totally destructive to the entire situation of events.
In defense of the coach, though, I think that the fact of losing took over his attitude at the time, which made him victim to those harsh words.
However, there’s really no excuse for it and it should be kept off the field, just as the parent had said so. Parents too, can also be very upsetting at times to watch. It’s so interesting to see parents so supportive of their kids, but at the same time, put down another kid, just because things aren’t going their way. I remember a time when a parent said out loud about an opposing player, that she can’t hit, so just throw her strikes.
I do understand that everyone has a right to say something, especially when you’re in the stands, but when it comes down to players who are young easily influenced by what is said, I think that this type of criticism should be kept in their brains.
With all of that said, I’ll leave you with this thought: We all do things differently when out at sporting events, however, if we just all think about who we are out there for, it should be easy to be both respectful and sportsmanlike, because that’s the first thing that our youths will pick up on.
Duane Shimogawa, Sports Editor can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 257) and kauaisports@pulitzer.net
