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IN THIS ISSUE: FRONT ROW Youth- and School-Based Sports: SIDELINES Announcements
YOUTH- AND SCHOOL-BASED SPORTS Extraordinary English Soccer England’s football governing body, the Football Association, coordinates Respect, one of the most comprehensive programs we’ve seen to curb spectator misbehavior and enhance the athletic environment. More than 40,000 soccer referees quit every year in the U.S., 10,000 in Germany, and 7,000 in England, mostly because of fan, parent, and/or player abuse. The Respect program has developed an array of tools to try and slash those numbers: • Codes of conduct for coaches, players, fans, parents, and referees What impressed us the most was its remarkable Respect Parent Guide. This series of short online videos portrays examples of ugly parental behavior in gritty, sometimes hard-to-watch lessons. In one, Hollywood tough guy actor Ray Winstone plays both an abusive parent and his even tougher alter-ego, who shows him a better way.
“It must be a right headache to stand next to these mugs every week who are arguing over kids’ football,” said Winstone, 52, who was an FA ambassador at the 2006 World Cup. “Football’s our national sport and something has to be done. Otherwise kids won’t want to play anymore and no one will be interested in refereeing, which means we won’t have a game left.” Already the Respect program has turned things around. Dissent figures in the U.K. have improved 8 percent over last season’s totals, and more than 560 leagues have become Respect Leagues. [thefa.com]
After a hazing incident involving the boys’ varsity volleyball team at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, the school’s principal and five staff members were reassigned. The next day at neighboring Calabasas High School, a baseball coach took the opportunity for a teachable moment with his players about the dangers of hazing – precisely what a responsible teacher-coach and school should do to explain the dangers of the shadowy practice and prevent it from occurring in the future. Hazing is a crime in California. The lecture didn’t help. Shortly after the talk, eight members of the Calabasas team hazed a bunch of new students. The distraught coach notified administrators, who alerted sheriff’s deputies and state Child Protective Services. The students have been suspended for five games and three school days and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. As hazing expert Hank Nuwer has said: “Hazing isn’t the worst problem in the world till it happens to you. Then it’s the worst problem you’ve ever had.” [dailynews.com, 3/3/09] Do you have a hazing problem?
How to Take Inspiration From a Loss When Columbia College (Mo.) met Rocky Mountain College (Mont.) in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s national basketball championship last month in Kansas City, Missouri, there were several firsts. It was the first time two unseeded teams had ever reached the title game. Columbia was the first American Midwest Conference program to reach the NAIA final game, and it was the first Missouri school to make the finals since 1979. Although Columbia lost 77-61, you wouldn’t have known it from the uplifting comments from coach Bob Burchard afterward, as reported in the Columbia Daily Tribune: “I preach to this group that we’ll never be judged by one event. Our level of success is going to be who we are, how we approach things, our work ethic, and where it takes us. “We were at a stage at one point where we were not very good. The team was in disarray. We were depending on seven people to lift a heavy weight and were breaking down. We asked the guys to do something unselfish and amazing in today’s sport: give up a starting position, divide into teams, and play fewer minutes so others can play. It caught fire. “When we collectively made the decision that we needed 11 people to lift that weight, it was amazing how much weight we could lift. Our Blue team and our White team took on a life all their own and led us to some territory we would have never dreamed we could have got to.” Columbia didn’t leave Kansas City empty-handed, though. The college was given the tournament’s Dr. James Naismith-Emil S. Liston Sportsmanship Award. [columbiatribune.com, 3/25/09]
WTA Volleys Dubai’s When the United Arab Emirates denied a visa at the last minute to Shahar Peer, the world's #45-ranked women’s tennis player, prior to the Dubai Championships last February, it committed a rare double fault by injecting politics and discrimination into sports.
Although the UAE routinely denies entry to Israeli citizens because it has no diplomatic ties with the country, its reason for denying Peer, who is from Israel, was that “Ms. Peer’s presence would have antagonized our fans, who have watched television coverage of recent attacks in Gaza,” according to tournament director Salah Tahlak. The three-week Israeli offensive in January killed 1,300 Palestinians and 14 Israelis, causing deep anger throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds. Fans protested against Peer at a New Zealand tournament, a Davis Cup match in Sweden involving an Israeli player had to be played without fans because of threats, and spectators chased an Israeli basketball team off a court in Turkey. Reaction was swift. The Wall Street Journal Europe, a sponsor of the tournament, withdrew its sponsorship. The Tennis Channel dropped its broadcast of the event. And Andy Roddick, the event's defending men’s champion, pulled out of the upcoming tournament in protest. The World Tennis Association, the governing body of women’s professional tennis that sanctions the event, hit even harder. Not only did it fine the Dubai tournament $300,000 for breach of tour rules, the highest fine ever levied against a Tour member, it did the following: • Established a series of conditions to be met by the Dubai tournament before it can be included on the WTA Tour’s 2010 calendar (confirmation that all players who quality will, regardless of nationality or other reason, be allowed to play and be issued visas; proof of entry permit for any Israeli player a minimum of 8 weeks prior to the event; and a guarantee that Peer will be given a wildcard to play the 2010 tournament whether or not she qualifies to play) The UAE got another blow when the men’s professional governing body, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) threatened to cancel future UAE events if Israeli player Andy Ram was not granted a visa for the Dubai Championships the following week. Ambassador Sultan al-Qortasi, director of consular affairs for the UAEs’ ministry of foreign affairs, promptly issued Ram a visa. In his statement, which was even more inexplicable than the original statement regarding Peer, Qortasi said the Ram decision was “in line with the UAEs’ commitment to a policy of permitting any individual to take part in international sports, cultural and economic events, or activities being held in the country without any limitation being placed on participation by citizens of any member country of the United Nations.” [sonyericssonwtatour.com, 2/20/09; sports-law.blogspot, 2/21/09; google.com, 2/21/09; sanfranciscoajc.wordpress.com, 2/23/09]
Tennis pro Roger Federer has won the 2008 ATP World Tour’s Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for a record fifth consecutive year. “It is always important for me to be a good sportsman on the court and give the right example for others to follow and hopefully inspire the next generation,” Federer said at the start of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. He was also chosen by the fans as the favorite player on the tour for the sixth year in a row. Not only is Federer renowned for his gracious demeanor on and off the court but he’s heavily involved in charities. He established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged people and to promote youth sports, he raises public awareness of AIDS, and he’s been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2006, visiting South Africa and tsunami-ravaged Tamil Nadu in India. The honor vividly demonstrates that one’s attitude and behavior can change. It wasn’t that many years ago when Federer’s reputation was decidedly unsportsmanlike. “I was throwing around my racquet like you probably don’t imagine,” he told tennis-x.com in 2004. “I was getting kicked out of practice sessions nonstop. I was always very negative. I used to talk much more.” Later, in an interview with Billie Jean King, he said, “Today I’m much more in control of myself, whereas before it was a weak point of my tennis. People would say, ‘If you can get to him mentally, you’ve got it.’ Now it’s become a strong point in my game.” [tennis-x.com, 2/17/04; Interview, 7/06; The Associated Press, 3/25/09]
Maryland Women Hungered for Title – “It’s just something that gets us motivated. We’re not like Hannibal Lecter or anything.” Washington Post sportswriter Dan Steinberg called the women’s Maryland basketball team battle cry “the most ruthless slogan I’ve ever heard, in any sport, at any level.” The top-seeded lady Terrapins (31-5), who were denied their fourth trip to the NCAA Final Four with its loss this week to Louisville in the regional championship game, got themselves motivated during the season by putting their fists together and shouting “We eat kids!” “[It’s] more a statement of empowerment,” guard Marah Strickland told Steinberg. “It’s a metaphor.” “We’re not actually eating kids,” forward Demauria Liles added. “We’re just dominating. We’re stomping them to the ground.” Head coach Brenda Frese just shook her head. “What they come up with nowadays.” It all started in the fall when forward Emery Wallace tried to pump up the players during dance rehearsals for Midnight Madness by shouting out catch phrases. Mike Tyson’s infamous threat to opponents popped into her mind: “I want your heart…I want to eat his children.” Once the motto caught on, the players turned it into a feeding frenzy. Center Yemi Oyefuwa chose which “child” to wolf down each game. “Sometimes it’s one from back home [England], sometimes it’s someone from this country. You try to pick the juicy ones, the ones with nice hair, delicious ones, pretty eyes. The eyes are the best.” At halftime, after the coaches wrote instructions on the white board, the players would jot down their goals for the second-half menu: “We’re halfway through the kid’s body now – keep going!” This may give the term “garbage time” a whole new meaning. [voices.washingtonpost.com, 3/22/09; deadspin.com, 3/24/09]
In 2005, Florida Times-Union columnist Mike Freeman didn’t understand golfer John Daly’s continued fan popularity despite years of off-the-course problems: “How does Daly not fail the scoundrel sniff test despite possessing definite Thug Life qualifications. Domestic violence accusations? Yup. Substance abuse issues? Unfortunately. Three different kids from three different moms, making him the Shawn Kemp of golf? Yes. A former wife indicted for laundering illegal drug profits? Roger that.” Daly sued Freeman and the paper for libel. Last month, Duval County Circuit Judge Hugh Carithers dismissed the lawsuit, writing, “The only possible basis for a defamation action would be if Daly proved that one of the four underlying facts was false, but there is no genuine dispute with respect to any of the underlying facts.” Ouch. As to whether Freeman acted with malice by clear and convincing evidence, Carithers wrote, “There is no evidence of actual malice, much less clear and convincing evidence.” Fore! Since 2005, Daly’s life and career went from bad to worse. • In 2006, he revealed in his autobiography that he’d lost between $50 million and $60 million dollars in the past 15 years. But for every Daly crash, there’s a Daly rebound. This year he’s reportedly lost weight, is working with a new coach, and hopes to return to competitive golf on the European Tour. [smh.com.au, 3/24/09]
No Ill Wind From These Cyclones It was every coach’s “I’ve got good news and bad news” nightmare. In a statewide tournament to decide who would represent Southern California in the AYSO U10 girls division championship, the Huntington Park American Eagles triumphed over the Cypress Cyclones. For the Eagles, that was the good news – and for the Cyclones, too, as it turned out. The bad news for the Eagles was they didn’t have enough funds to send its team to Davis for the state title game. By default, the Cyclones would go. With so much to do, Cyclones’ coach Bernadette Arizmendi quickly swung into action. No, not making travel arrangements for her team, but canvassing family, friends, and organizations to help raise money for the Eagles. One of her e-mails caught the eye of KIIS FM 102.7 radio personality and “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest. He in turn contacted various local businesses including Los Angeles’s new women’s professional soccer team, LA Sol. The final good news: the Eagles are going to Davis in a charter bus, will get a special hotel reception, and were recently guests of honor at LA Sol’s opening match where they got to meet the players on the field beforehand. Whether or not the Eagles win the title in Davis, coach Arizmendi and the Cyclones will certainly be enshrined in the lore of soccer sportsmanship for exemplifying the ultimate test of good character: doing the right thing even when it’s difficult, costly, and not in one's self-interest. [onthepitch.org, 3/25/09]
Massachusetts parent Stephen B. Rosales sent this insightful letter to the Belmont Citizen-Herald: “I write to congratulate the members and coaches of Belmont High’s varsity boys basketball team for their performance in the MIAA state tournament. Although our Marauder team did not win, our town’s young men advanced deep, played to the best of their ability, and displayed good sportsmanship. “While academics are high school’s primary purpose, the lessons displayed by our young men and women student- athletes are just as important. I witnessed discipline, selfless team play, perseverance, sacrifice, pride, integrity, and sportsmanship. I watched them revel in victory and be humble and gracious in defeat. These are valuable life lessons that cannot be taught from a textbook. From my perspective, they learned their lessons well. “To that end, I call on the school committee and administration to be mindful of these lessons both to the students and our community when considering their budget and to clearly put any further thoughts of discontinuing or cutting athletics to rest.” [wickedlocal.com, 3/18/09] |
CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports, a project of the nonprofit Josephson Institute, leads the Pursuing Victory With Honor sports campaign, which is endorsed by the country’s leading amateur athletic organizations. The campaign’s purpose is to help administrators, athletes, coaches, legislators, officials, and parents improve personal and organizational decision-making and behavior in sports. |
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