Educationally Speaking -- Gay Geiser-Sandoval

Recently, the Pilot carried an article with a 5-year-old’s view of

competitive sports (“AYSO . . . the awesome beginning,” Nov. 8). In this

case, it was soccer, but I think the message would apply to any sport.

The essential message was: “We laugh and play at practice. We have cool

uniforms and shoes. We use magic words like please and thank you. If

someone falls down or gets an owie, we kick the ball out of bounds to

stop the game and make sure they are all right. We tell the other team

“good job” at the end of the game. Our coach tells us we are responsible

for good sportsmanship and should have respect for one another. We are

good sports.”

Compare this with a recent article that appeared in Water Polo

Scoreboard, a magazine for teen water polo players. “Intentional pinching

and twisting skin, fingers or muscles, pulling armpit hair, neck

chucking, biting, punching, kicking, kneeing and grabbing genitals are

all examples of dirty play that should not be tolerated or condoned under

any circumstances.” Gosh, when I read about these actions, I thought I

was reading about a barroom brawl, not organized teen sports.

Something is happening between the time our kids are 5 and play sports

to laugh, play and wear cool uniforms, and high school, when the intent

is to cause the opposing player injury without being caught by the

referee. Since most of water polo takes place under water, the need for

players to internalize good sportsmanship and play by the rules is

especially important. But the lack of respect for the rules is

detrimental to every sport.

The causes for this change in attitude are many, and the finger

pointingis always at the other cause. Common themes are: “It’s the

referee’s fault. If the referee isn’t going to call it when the rules are

broken, the team that plays by the rules is at a disadvantage. Thus, it

is only fair and right that each team break the rules as often as they

can.” Even those players that don’t start out to break the rules feel

justified when they retaliate.

If sports are the training ground for life, then it is essential that

playing by the rules, with or without a referee, should become the

underlying mantra for each game.

If cheating becomes acceptable and the emphasis turns to stealth in

cheating, how do we fault the kids that run the red lights when they

don’t see a police officer at the corner? How do we discipline the teen

who turns in someone else’s homework as their own or gets their test

answers by looking at a fellow student’s paper? If integrity isn’t the

goal of our sports programs and our society, can we expect the

transformation of today’s 5-year-old by our organized sports programs to

make him a better human being? Can we expect our youth to grow up willing

to follow our country’s laws even if a police officer isn’t watching?

***

A few weeks back, I wrote a column about whether students should incur

any costs when they participate in extracurricular activities at public

schools (“Put money in the students’ pockets,” Nov. 13). I thought the

cost might keep some kids from participating in these activities at all.

I said the response some parents gave to concerns over costs charged

in our district was that Edison High School charges $1,000 a student to

play football. However, this response contains incorrect information. I

have been informed it is only $600 a year to play football at Edison and

fund-raisers are provided. It was also pointed out that since public

funds for high school sports have been cut perennially, it is necessary

to charge kids for sports. I would like to apologize for the

misinformation as to the price. Forgive me, Edison fans.

GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs

Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at o7 GGSesq1@aol.comf7 .