Children and Sports

The other day I was talking to a student who was heard by a teacher swearing during a recess game.  I asked him why he was swearing, and he said, "Because I got out."  I pointed out that getting out was part of the game, and asked again why he was so angry.  As we talked, it became clear to me that he thought getting angry and swearing was an appropriate response to getting out and didn't understand why I thought there was a problem.

This incident made me think again about the modeling that our children are getting from the adult world.  Obviously, as one of our teachers pointed out to his class, most of the professional athletes are behaving appropriately, congratulating the winners at the end of a game, respecting the referees and the other players, and generally showing good sportsmanship.  Unfortunately, the media choose to highlight the bad examples, and the result is more and more children who think the only important thing is winning, who think it's appropriate to get angry when you don't win, and who don't respect the decisions of a game ref.  (A physical education teacher I talked to told me that more and more kids are arguing and questioning her decisions during games.)

Earlier this week, I used the following quote (from Project Wisdom) as our quote of the day and asked students to think about it:

You may have heard the story of Armando Galarraga (GAL-a-RAGA), the Detroit Tigers’ pitcher who threw a perfect baseball game but was denied that recognition because of an umpire’s bad call. Armando showed strong character and good sportsmanship by accepting the call with respect and dignity. The umpire later acknowledged his mistake and apologized to the pitcher. We can all learn a lesson from the good sportsmanship of both men.
 
Listen to this:
When circumstances are unfair, you can show good character by continuing to do the best you can do.*
 
We don’t have to be athletes, though, to show good sportsmanship. Whether we’re competing in the science fair or playing a board game with our brother, we can play fairly and show respect for our competitors. And if we lose, even unfairly, we can still win by showing strong character and knowing that we’ve done our best.

If you can, it might be a great idea to talk with your children about good sportsmanship, about enjoying a game but not making it into more than a game, about losing gracefully and appreciating your competitors.  Not only will this help our children grow into mature adults able to handle things well, but it will also improve our world.