SPORTSMANSHIP

http://www.encouragement-quotes.com/inspirational-sports-quotes.html

I have just witnessed the WORST sportsmanship that I have ever seen in all my 38 years!  I am literally sick to my stomach.  My eleven year old daughter plays on a winter volleyball league.  They are on it to have fun and learn how to play the sport.  Their team had a game tonight against a team that was clearly select.   Let me make it clear that I have no problem with kids on select sports teams.  I know parents and kids invest a whole lot of time and money in order to have their child play a sport they enjoy.  It's wonderful if that is what works for them.  My kid just wants to learn how to play volleyball in a recreational and fun setting, not compete against a team that is out for blood.

This team kicked my daughter's team's ass every which way til Sunday in all three of the games they played tonight.  They were a foot taller and honest to goodness looked like they were 15.  My daughter's team are girls that are 10 and 11.  The thing about it was that not only did this team win, but they made fun of and mocked my daughter's team all they way through the game.  They bounced the ball off their heads and chests over the net and laughed at our girls.  When they served the ball they did not face forward, they faced backwards and served the ball backwards over their heads.  Apparently these are not illegal moves, but they are 100% disrespectful and unsportsman like.  Come on!  Our girls are still learning to serve and still don't always make it over the net when they face forward.

The other team laughed and high-fived all through the game especially when our girls hit the ball out of bounds or made a bad serve.  It was appalling.  I have played and seen lots of sports being played during my life but nothing like this...ever!  The very worst part about it was that their coach, an adult woman, just sat there with a smug grin on her face the whole time.  Not once did she ever tell her girls to stop their behavior, in fact she encouraged them to serve facing backwards.  Not only that, but not ONE of the parents from the girls on that team said a thing.  I am telling you that if my child EVER behaved like one of those girls on the field or court at ANY game they were playing I would walk onto the court and personally pull my child off the court by his or her ear!!!!  Un-freaking-believable!!!  Even after the game the ref came over to our girls and apologized for the horrible behavior of the other team and assured us they would not be allowed back next year.  The girls, parents and coach of the other team said nothing.

We try and expose our kids to all kinds of activities when they are young so they can find what they enjoy most.  Kids are getting on select teams at such an early age now a days.  It makes it hard to find a place for my kids to play since they are just beginners, who never will be the athletic scholarship type, and haven't been playing this or that specific sport since they were 2.  It has not been a priority for our family to get involved in sports in that way.  We can't.  We don't have the time, money or capability to get to and from the amount of practices and games it takes to play select.  I truly don't have a problem with families who can do this for their kids.  I could only hope that for the intensity at which these kids practice and play the coaches and parents instill proper sportsmanship behavior in the kids.  For the most part I am sure they do, but the team our girls played tonight made my blood boil.  They were obnoxious, disrespectful, and humiliated our team.  I wish they would have played appropriately, won the games fair and square and shook hands with the girls on our team with some dignity.  Now my kid doesn't want to play next week because these girls were so awful to her and her team mates.  How bad does that suck?

 I saw this picture of a sign posted on the Hoffman Estates Park District's ice rink the other day, and I loved it.  It does not specifically deal with volleyball players, coaches, or parents, but it should give us all something to think about.

http://www.heparks.org/

From This Side of Disaster,
Cyndi