To All IESA Member Schools:
I am writing this with a great deal of passion and a true sense of urgency. Please share with ALL of your coaches, parents, school board members, and student-athletes.
Sportsmanship. There is the sportsmanship that we all hope to portray and there is poor sportsmanship. We do not receive a lot of positive sportsmanship reports during the course of the school year but when we do, we post those reports on our website. I hope you will take the time to read those that we have received for the 2015-16 school year. http://www.iesa.org/citizenship/reports.asp. I know that the reports posted are only a fraction of the positive sportsmanship acts that have occurred this school year in our member schools and, to that end, I encourage you to submit a report of good sportsmanship that you may witness so we can share the positive news.
Unfortunately, the number of bad sportsmanship reports resulting in ejections we have received this year is reaching record numbers. Year after year, the majority of the ejection reports are attributed to basketball. Last year, in all IESA activities we had 48 reported ejections. Of those 48 ejections, basketball (girls and boys)accounted for 75% of the ejections. This school year is no different, Eighty percent of the ejections received to date have occurred during a basketball contest. The most unfortunate part about these numbers is 90% of the ejections were adults---either coaches or parents/fans.
What message are we sending to impressionable young student athletes if adults are being the ones who are getting tossed from games for unsportsmanlike conduct? I know what the adults will say..it's all about the bad officiating. If the refs called a good game then we wouldn't get upset. Really? Since when did it become acceptable to yell at the refs to the point of getting tossed? Please don't tell me that by paying admission the parent/fan has the right to yell at the officials. Interscholastic activities are education-based. They are not club activities, they are not collegiate activities, and they are certainly not professional activities. The young students who are playing the games at our level run the gamut from perhaps playing an organized school activity for the first time to some who are fairly skilled at this age level. I like to use the term "Perfect Storm". We often have first and second year players playing against each other; the games being officiated by first and second year officials who are trying to learn the art of officiating; the games often times being coached by first and second year coaches, many of whom are no longer classroom teachers; and parents watching their sons and daughters who often times have their children in organized school sports for the first time. And we believe that the games are going to be played flawlessly? We need to re-think what we should expect. Players will foul and make turnovers. Officials are going to miss a call. Coaches will make a bad coaching decision. There's a lot that is going to go wrong. But, the adults need to be just that. Adults. Accept the decisions and move on. We cannot allow the constant verbal harassment and unfortunately the threatening remarks to officials. I wish I was making this story up but we actually have had a coach this year as he was talking on the phone after a contest and within earshot of the official, say something to the effect that he was glad he was on the phone or he would have to kill the ref. Is this acceptable at any level let alone in a junior high contest? Given the statistics I cited above, it seems like the players are doing a decent job of controlling their emotions but the adult coaches and fans are the ones who are acting like teenagers. This must change. It has to change and it has to change immediately. We can no longer tolerate and accept adults being ejected at our contests for yelling at officials.
I will be discussing with the IESA Board of Directors at our January 22 meeting our current unsportsmanlike conduct rule and will be recommending that we approve stronger penalties for a coach ejection. Currently, if a coach is ejected, he/she must sit one contest before he/she can coach again. That evidently isn't a strong enough deterrent. I firmly believe that a coach, at our level, should never get ejected. Never. Coaches are role models and when they disrespect the officials they are simply sending the wrong message to the very kids the coach is trying to teach. When a basketball coach receives a technical, in essence, a warning has been issued. Heed that advice coaches. The official is telling you to calm down because if a second technical is issued, the coach will be ejected from the game and under current rules, the coach is going to miss the next contest. A coach has the responsibility to be a professional.
Coaches---you can control how you react and I am asking and urging you to realize that your role is probably even more important than you imagine. You must take your role as an interscholastic coach seriously. Everything coaches do is easily observed and under constant scrutiny. You must understand the importance of being a role model, not just for your athletes but for your school and community. You cannot expect your athletes to exhibit good sportsmanship if you are berating officials, glaring at scoreboard operators as if they are the enemy, throwing water bottles, or encouraging the fans to yell at the officials. As John Wooden said, "A leader's most powerful ally is his or her own example." Follow Coach Wooden's words. I often say, let the players play, let the officials officiate, and let the coaches coach. It really does become much more fun if all three of those take place.
Fans present a whole different administrative challenge. I am sure this has to be the worst part of attending athletic contests for an administrator---dealing with rude, agitated, upset parents and fans. What I am asking you to do is to not tolerate abusive behavior- fans "yelling" at officials. Inform the parent/fan that that type of behavior is not allowed in your building and further similar behavior will result in being ejected from the contest. I said it earlier but it bears repeating. We must work to stop the verbal harassment of officials. As difficult of a situation as this is, it has to start with our member schools to send an announcement to your parents, to make announcements before and during the game about proper behavior, and then follow through with appropriate action if someone crosses the line. It's not fun. I know that. But, it is the right thing to do and we must start immediately. Not next year or waiting for the next incident. Please, I am asking you to write up some type of announcement that is conveyed to your parents about proper behavior. I have included a link to the sportsmanship manual on our website (See pages 16-17 for sample public address announcements):http://www.iesa.org/documents/citizenship/IESA-SampleManual.pdf.
Talk to your parents and fans. Watch them. Abusive fan behavior is really becoming a problem. I don't want an IESA contest to be the next video that is splashed all across the televisions of America because some player, coach, or fan attacks an official. Just last week, there was video of a high school basketball game in Pennsylvania where the coach head butted an official knocking him to the floor. You don't want this to be your school and the only way I know of that you can help prevent this type of situation from occurring is to address it head on with your players, coaches, and parents. I am encouraging you to do this so you don't have problems that are only going to bring a negative light to your school and community.
I applaud all of you who are very proactive in this constant quest for good sportsmanship. There are some really good things that schools and students are doing. The unfortunate part is that the negative things get the majority of the publicity and cause the greatest headaches.
In closing, I am asking for your help. Please share this message, in part or in whole, with your coaches. Talk with them about expected behaviors and the consequences of their actions. We have to do a better job. I would rest a happy man if we had no coach ejections and no player ejections for an entire year.
The benefits of participation in interscholastic athletics are extensive. It is important for all of us to keep in mind that there has never been an official who wanted to officiate a bad game. There has never been a coach who has wanted to coach a bad game. There has never been a student-athlete who wanted to play a bad game. When everyone is trying their best, interscholastic athletics becomes what they are supposed to be- a place where moms and dads, relatives, friends, and fans can come out and cheer, have a great time, and celebrate---win or lose. Please help me in this endeavor.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I am writing this with a great deal of passion and a true sense of urgency. Please share with ALL of your coaches, parents, school board members, and student-athletes.
Sportsmanship. There is the sportsmanship that we all hope to portray and there is poor sportsmanship. We do not receive a lot of positive sportsmanship reports during the course of the school year but when we do, we post those reports on our website. I hope you will take the time to read those that we have received for the 2015-16 school year. http://www.iesa.org/citizenship/reports.asp. I know that the reports posted are only a fraction of the positive sportsmanship acts that have occurred this school year in our member schools and, to that end, I encourage you to submit a report of good sportsmanship that you may witness so we can share the positive news.
Unfortunately, the number of bad sportsmanship reports resulting in ejections we have received this year is reaching record numbers. Year after year, the majority of the ejection reports are attributed to basketball. Last year, in all IESA activities we had 48 reported ejections. Of those 48 ejections, basketball (girls and boys)accounted for 75% of the ejections. This school year is no different, Eighty percent of the ejections received to date have occurred during a basketball contest. The most unfortunate part about these numbers is 90% of the ejections were adults---either coaches or parents/fans.
What message are we sending to impressionable young student athletes if adults are being the ones who are getting tossed from games for unsportsmanlike conduct? I know what the adults will say..it's all about the bad officiating. If the refs called a good game then we wouldn't get upset. Really? Since when did it become acceptable to yell at the refs to the point of getting tossed? Please don't tell me that by paying admission the parent/fan has the right to yell at the officials. Interscholastic activities are education-based. They are not club activities, they are not collegiate activities, and they are certainly not professional activities. The young students who are playing the games at our level run the gamut from perhaps playing an organized school activity for the first time to some who are fairly skilled at this age level. I like to use the term "Perfect Storm". We often have first and second year players playing against each other; the games being officiated by first and second year officials who are trying to learn the art of officiating; the games often times being coached by first and second year coaches, many of whom are no longer classroom teachers; and parents watching their sons and daughters who often times have their children in organized school sports for the first time. And we believe that the games are going to be played flawlessly? We need to re-think what we should expect. Players will foul and make turnovers. Officials are going to miss a call. Coaches will make a bad coaching decision. There's a lot that is going to go wrong. But, the adults need to be just that. Adults. Accept the decisions and move on. We cannot allow the constant verbal harassment and unfortunately the threatening remarks to officials. I wish I was making this story up but we actually have had a coach this year as he was talking on the phone after a contest and within earshot of the official, say something to the effect that he was glad he was on the phone or he would have to kill the ref. Is this acceptable at any level let alone in a junior high contest? Given the statistics I cited above, it seems like the players are doing a decent job of controlling their emotions but the adult coaches and fans are the ones who are acting like teenagers. This must change. It has to change and it has to change immediately. We can no longer tolerate and accept adults being ejected at our contests for yelling at officials.
I will be discussing with the IESA Board of Directors at our January 22 meeting our current unsportsmanlike conduct rule and will be recommending that we approve stronger penalties for a coach ejection. Currently, if a coach is ejected, he/she must sit one contest before he/she can coach again. That evidently isn't a strong enough deterrent. I firmly believe that a coach, at our level, should never get ejected. Never. Coaches are role models and when they disrespect the officials they are simply sending the wrong message to the very kids the coach is trying to teach. When a basketball coach receives a technical, in essence, a warning has been issued. Heed that advice coaches. The official is telling you to calm down because if a second technical is issued, the coach will be ejected from the game and under current rules, the coach is going to miss the next contest. A coach has the responsibility to be a professional.
Coaches---you can control how you react and I am asking and urging you to realize that your role is probably even more important than you imagine. You must take your role as an interscholastic coach seriously. Everything coaches do is easily observed and under constant scrutiny. You must understand the importance of being a role model, not just for your athletes but for your school and community. You cannot expect your athletes to exhibit good sportsmanship if you are berating officials, glaring at scoreboard operators as if they are the enemy, throwing water bottles, or encouraging the fans to yell at the officials. As John Wooden said, "A leader's most powerful ally is his or her own example." Follow Coach Wooden's words. I often say, let the players play, let the officials officiate, and let the coaches coach. It really does become much more fun if all three of those take place.
Fans present a whole different administrative challenge. I am sure this has to be the worst part of attending athletic contests for an administrator---dealing with rude, agitated, upset parents and fans. What I am asking you to do is to not tolerate abusive behavior- fans "yelling" at officials. Inform the parent/fan that that type of behavior is not allowed in your building and further similar behavior will result in being ejected from the contest. I said it earlier but it bears repeating. We must work to stop the verbal harassment of officials. As difficult of a situation as this is, it has to start with our member schools to send an announcement to your parents, to make announcements before and during the game about proper behavior, and then follow through with appropriate action if someone crosses the line. It's not fun. I know that. But, it is the right thing to do and we must start immediately. Not next year or waiting for the next incident. Please, I am asking you to write up some type of announcement that is conveyed to your parents about proper behavior. I have included a link to the sportsmanship manual on our website (See pages 16-17 for sample public address announcements):http://www.iesa.org/documents/citizenship/IESA-SampleManual.pdf.
Talk to your parents and fans. Watch them. Abusive fan behavior is really becoming a problem. I don't want an IESA contest to be the next video that is splashed all across the televisions of America because some player, coach, or fan attacks an official. Just last week, there was video of a high school basketball game in Pennsylvania where the coach head butted an official knocking him to the floor. You don't want this to be your school and the only way I know of that you can help prevent this type of situation from occurring is to address it head on with your players, coaches, and parents. I am encouraging you to do this so you don't have problems that are only going to bring a negative light to your school and community.
I applaud all of you who are very proactive in this constant quest for good sportsmanship. There are some really good things that schools and students are doing. The unfortunate part is that the negative things get the majority of the publicity and cause the greatest headaches.
In closing, I am asking for your help. Please share this message, in part or in whole, with your coaches. Talk with them about expected behaviors and the consequences of their actions. We have to do a better job. I would rest a happy man if we had no coach ejections and no player ejections for an entire year.
The benefits of participation in interscholastic athletics are extensive. It is important for all of us to keep in mind that there has never been an official who wanted to officiate a bad game. There has never been a coach who has wanted to coach a bad game. There has never been a student-athlete who wanted to play a bad game. When everyone is trying their best, interscholastic athletics becomes what they are supposed to be- a place where moms and dads, relatives, friends, and fans can come out and cheer, have a great time, and celebrate---win or lose. Please help me in this endeavor.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.