IN THIS ISSUE:
- News and Views:
- Obese Kids Will Exercise for Fun, Study Finds
- Marker Mover Gets Lifetime Ban
- Italy Stands Firm: Olympic Dopers Face Jail
- NHL Takes Steps to Shed Hooligan Aura
- Off the Bookshelf: Secrets of a Gridiron Wizard
- Sportsmanship Trivia Test: What Was the Greatest Sports-Related Riot?
- You Make the Call: Should Coaches Bear Some Responsibility for Grades?
- In Their Own Words: Fascist, Deer Head
- Sportsmanship Principle of the Month: The Recruitment Principle
- From the Gold Medal Standards: Stopping the Subtler Negativities
- From the Game Plan: The Need to Anchor Expectations
- From the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit: PVWH Model Mission Statement
- Sportsmanship Trivia Test: Answer
- Letters: The Right Punishment for Drugtaking
- Upcoming Events: Training Courses in 2006
- Commentary by Michael Josephson: "Winning the Silver or Losing the Gold"
There is a way to have great discipline
and great intensity … and enjoy every minute of it. I know that's hard
for people to understand.
— Pete Carroll, football coach, USC Trojans (b. 1951)
|
|
NEWS AND VIEWS
School-Based Sports
Obese Kids Will Exercise for Fun, Study Finds
Schoolchild obesity is a modern epidemic. About one in six kids is
seriously overweight, and the key to slimming down is regular
exercise. Yet how do you get youngsters to do it?
According to a new study, the solution is ancient: Fun. Obese children will exercise more if their goals are enjoyment and enhancing athletic skills, rather than losing weight.
Examining 200 students at a Pennsylvania middle school, researchers found that "personal fulfillment" was the only effective motive to exercise among kids overall. The results appeared in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Study coauthor Katie Haverly, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stressed that not all kids have the skill or desire to compete in organized sports, so schools should provide other ways to exercise. They should especially expose children to a smorgasbord of physical activities, so kids can discover ones they are likely to stick with.
This finding adds further proof to Section 4 of the Gold Medal Standards, which states that youngsters "participate [in sports] to have fun, make friends, learn skills, improve coordination and experience excitement," as well as Section 1.1, which states the objective of promoting "an enjoyable sports experience based on healthy fun." [Reuters Health, 12/8/05; Associated Press, 12/20/05; www.cdc.gov]
Marker Mover Gets Lifetime Ban
The Los Angeles City Section has banned Paul Bryan from coaching within the district for life. On October 28, film caught the volunteer coach moving a yard marker that helped keep a San Pedro High football drive alive. San Pedro scored on that possession and won 13-12. TV networks broadcast the footage across the nation.
Jeff Davis, principal of Chatsworth High and a member of the committee that issued the ban, said Mr. Bryan's action was "the most egregious thing I've ever seen a coach do on the sideline."
The City Section has worked with Pursuing Victory With Honor, and Michael Josephson told the Los Angeles Times that the incident "became a symbol of the worst in sports. We cannot permit cheating. We have to make a statement: 'This is absolutely unacceptable.'"
Principle Sixteen of the Arizona Accord says, in part, that "the profession of coaching is a profession of teaching," and the vigorous response of the City Section may help erase the lesson Mr. Bryan was inadvertently teaching his athletes. [Los Angeles Times, 12/15/05]
For too many years you had to
scream and shout and beat a table
to be a coach. That's not right.
— Mack Brown, football coach,
University of Texas (b. 1951)
|
|
Olympic Sports
Italy Stands Firm: Olympic Dopers Face Jail
It's final. The Italian government, which imposes criminal penalties for doping in sports, has rejected efforts to suspend these laws during the Torino Winter Olympics. As a result, raids may take place in the Olympic Village and cheaters could go to jail. Darryl Siebel, a spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said that the vast majority of athletes "are clean, and those athletes have absolutely nothing to worry about."
The policy remains controversial, even in our own sports poll. Last month we asked, "Should pro athletes caught taking performance-enhancing drugs go to jail?" Fifty-sex percent of respondents agreed, 41 percent disagreed, and 3 were undecided. See also the letter below on this topic, as well as the story in our December issue. [USA Today, 12/20/05]
A baseball fan is a spectator sitting 500 feet from home plate -- who can see better than an umpire standing five feet away.
— Unknown
|
|
Professional Sports
NHL Takes Steps to Shed Hooligan Culture
After a canceled season, the NHL is trying to cleanse the brutishness from its games and make them more serious contests of skill. And this effort seems to be succeeding, though not without difficulties.
Pro hockey faced trouble even before the lockout. TV ratings had dropped, attendance was flat, and, according to the league, most teams were bleeding cash.
Thuggish play was one problem. "Unskilled players were using unskilled acts to contain skilled players," said Kerry Fraser, the league's longest-serving referee. "And we allowed it to evolve." Occasionally the NHL demanded crackdowns, but they never lasted. They always fell prey to the credo that officials' calls should not affect the outcome.
When the lockout ended, the league revamped play. The key innovations were ethical: The NHL vowed zero tolerance for interference, hooking and holding.
Other changes hiked the adrenaline level of the game. For instance, the NHL shrank the neutral zone, so offensive players had more maneuvering room. It also allowed two-line passes, and had a shootout decide every game tied after overtime.
As a result, TV ratings have jumped and attendance has risen almost four percent. Games are closer, scoring is up, and come-from-behind victories are more common.
The changes have their critics. The number of penalties has risen by about 30 percent per game, prompting some to worry that they are slowing the game. Others complain that penalty standards vary from one officiating team to the next.
However, as Stephen Walkom, the league's new director of officiating, says, "The fact is, you know that if you continue on this course, if you continue on this mission, you're going to make history. You're going to change the game -- for the good. That's something to be proud of."
The Preamble of the Arizona Accord states in part that "the values of millions of participants and spectators are directly and dramatically influenced by the values conveyed by organized sports," and the NHL's revitalization will likely have important impacts across the country. [New York Times, 12/20/05]
OFF THE BOOKSHELF
The Education of a Coach: Secrets of a Gridiron Wizard
An unprecedented Super Bowl threepeat is now on the horizon for the New England Patriots. Yet the team has no real super-athletes, no Joe Montana or Emmitt Smith. Its prime weapon is coach Bill Belichick, the greatest fox in Foxborough and perhaps in all of football.
How has he done it?
In The Education of a Coach, David Halberstam reveals a fascinating set of answers. This clear, easy-to-read biography highlights the lessons Mr. Belichick has learned over a lifetime, starting with: Put the team first. Terrell Owens couldn’t buy his way onto this bunch. Indeed, Patriot players were "privately contemptuous of other teams that squabbled over who the star was."
Among Mr. Belichick’s other secrets:
1. Hire for character. Seek players like quarterback Tom Brady, spurned in the draft yet burning to perfect his game, and running back Corey Dillon, who charges hard even in hopeless situations. In the end, “the combination of so many players who knew what they were doing and had confidence in one another was quite imposing.”
2. Have athletes model and enforce good team behavior. Patriot veterans not only push themselves to the brink, but the also compel new players to give their best or get out. Indeed, coach Belichick believes this factor ultimately separates winning teams from losing ones.
3. Understand that "the little things are not little things." The coach himself pores endlessly over film, and the more weaknesses he spots in opponents, the tougher his team becomes.
4. Don’t coast after major triumphs. Realize that you have to earn your success all over from scratch each time.
5. Regularly evaluate your players and team. Don’t let past assessments freeze your judgment.
The Education of a Coach is occasionally repetitive, and Mr. Belichick doesn’t come fully alive on the page. But the book is less about his personality than his method. It carries you swiftly along and its insights linger after you shut the cover.
— Dan McNeill
FROM THE GOLD MEDAL STANDARDS FOR YOUTH SPORTS:
Stopping the Subtler Negativities
Many negative coaching techniques -- like bullying, intimidation and humiliation of youngsters -- are blatantly wrong and intolerable. But subtler forms of negativity are more widespread and therefore in some ways more important to address. As Section 5.3 notes, schools should strictly prohibit techniques that create "unreasonable stress or diminish the child's positive outlook on the sports experience."
The Gold Medal Standards are a common framework of requirements that all youth programs should meet. Read about them, and the summit that led to them.
The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
— Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American track champion (b. 1962)
|
|
FROM THE GAME PLAN FOR AMATEUR BASKETBALL:
The Need to Anchor Expectations
Zero. That's pretty much the percentage of college or high school athletes who go on to the pros. For instance, NBA teams draft only about 1.3 percent of NCAA senior players and 0.03 percent of high school players. Yet dreams of pro glory likely flicker about the minds of most successful young athletes, and can lead them to downplay the importance of education and non-athletic careers. That's why Section 3.4b of the Game Plan is so important. It states that schools should promote a realistic understanding of "how difficult and rare it is to obtain athletic scholarships and to become professional athletes."
The Game Plan for Amateur Basketball is, as NABC executive director Jim Haney describes it, a "serious effort by many of the most influential people in amateur basketball to outline a realistic game plan to address some of the most serious issues facing the game." To read the whole Game Plan, click here.
FROM THE ULTIMATE SPORTSMANSHIP TOOL KIT:
The Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit is an all-in-one resource to help athletic programs achieve sportsmanship and character-building goals. It comes in two versions -- youth and high school -- and covers everything from mission statements and codes of conduct to evaluation tools and ideas for rewarding players and coaches.
The PVWH Model Mission Statement
(Use this as a template. Modify according to your high school’s concerns and agenda.)
The [name of school] Athletic Program is committed to excellence in academics and athletics. We are dedicated to Pursuing Victory With Honor, to adhering to the rules of competition and sportsmanship, and to displaying the Six Pillars of Character (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship) on and off the playing field.
As teacher-coaches and student-athletes we understand that participation in the athletic program is a privilege. We gladly accept our responsibility to be role models, to exercise self-discipline, and to be hardworking, prepared, persevering, empathetic, courageous, fair and self-sacrificing team players. We will give our best effort in all that we do for ourselves and for our team. We will lose with grace, win with honor, and strive through both to bring pride and respect to our school, our sport, our teammates, our adversaries and ourselves.
For more about the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit, go here.
The winners in life treat their body as if it
were a magnificent spacecraft that
gives them the finest transportation
and endurance for their lives.
— Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and author (b. 1933)
|
|
 COMMENTARY BY MICHAEL JOSEPHSON
The following is adapted from Michael Josephson's Gabriel Award-winning radio commentaries airing daily on our flagship station, KNX 1070 AM in Southern California, on American Forces Radio worldwide, and on other stations throughout the U.S.
Winning the Silver or Losing the Gold
During the 1996 Olympics, a popular Nike ad sent the message: "You don't win the silver. You lose the gold." That's consistent with the sentiment often attributed to Vince Lombardi -- "winning isn't everything; it's the only thing" -- that’s become a modern mantra for many people who compete in sports, business and politics.
Such pumped-up attitudes about the importance of victory may be effective in motivating some people to maximum effort, but there are serious harmful side effects.
Martina Navratilova, the great Czech-born U.S. tennis player, observed that "the moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else."
Those who choose to live in a self-created, cruel and unforgiving, all-or-nothing world rarely live balanced lives, and they place enormous strain on their relationships. It's a world more often filled with anxiety and anguish than joy because, exceptional winning streaks aside, most of us lose more often than we win.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to win, but if losing is treated as a mortal enemy, every loss produces demoralizing feelings of failure and inadequacy. What's more, when our self-image depends on winning, we begin to think of victory not simply as something we want, but as something we need. This makes us vulnerable to those who whisper, “If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough.”
Happier and healthier people know winning most certainly is not everything -- it's not even the most important thing. Real joy and fulfillment can be found not only in accomplishments and efforts that fall short of winning, but in the striving, the passionate pursuit of victory, and in the competition and the quest itself.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
For an archive of Mr. Josephson's commentaries, with audio files, go to: www.charactercounts.org/knxtoc.htm
To receive free weekly e-mail including all five of Mr. Josephson's commentaries from that week, please sign up at: www.charactercounts.org/newsletters.htm
|
