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Part 2
For the love of Pete...it’s
only a game
By Jeff Mayfield
[SEPT.
15, 2000]
Now
that the fall sports season is upon us here in Lincoln and Logan
County, I thought it might be good to review why sports programs
even exist to begin with. I should point out that I am not an expert
in this field. I am not a sports psychologist, although I’d love
to play one on television. I have no credentials. I am not endorsed
or sanctioned by the ISHA, the NCAA (thank God, talk about the kiss
of death...) or the NBA. I have never received expressed written
consent for any accounts or depictions of any games by Major League
Baseball. However, I do think I have as much experience in this one
little area of life and more than most of my 40-plus-year-old
counterparts. I have noticed a disturbing national trend when it
comes to scholastic sports competition. Before we begin covering
this year’s plethora of games in our region, the LDN will try to
remind athletes, coaches, parents and fans the reasons that we
participate. I hope that from this point on, Lincoln will be known
as the town that bucked the trend...that in our area, kids learned
the fundamentals, developed character and skills like teamwork, and
also that they had a lot of fun along the way.
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(Why do
sports exist?
(1) To have FUN.)
Why
do sports exist?
(2)
To learn the fundamentals.
A
part of the disturbing trend that I see in youth sports has to do
with the area of fundamentals. When many of us were growing up it
was thought that the purpose of little leagues and junior high level
athletics was to teach young people the rudimentary aspects of a
specific sport. I’m not sure if that is happening today.
I
guess I wonder why we feel it’s a good idea to cut kids from
sports teams on the junior high level. Won’t they get plenty of
disappointments in life soon enough anyway? (like when they get into
high school?) Is it necessary to be yet another attacker of their
self-esteem? I like the way sports are handled in California for the
younger age groups. There are no state championships. There is an A,
B and C team in virtually any sport. There is basically a way that
anyone that wants to can participate.
It
takes a lot of extra work and a lot of volunteer help, but I noticed
something interesting even as a junior higher. Several parents and
other interested adults would single out several players and say
that they would never amount to anything. As I graduated and went
into high school, many of the boys and girls that those adults had
declared losers not only made their high school teams, many of them
had blossomed and become stars! How many kids in the Midwest are run
off before their bodies have even matured? When teams only play
their starters, no one ever finds out what the bench players can do.
I’m
only serving up food for thought here...as I know that many of our
loyal readers have much more experience than I do in this field. I
just thought that a mandatory playing time rule should exist on the
junior high and lower levels. I do not see the sense in planting the
seed in a junior high girl or boy that they are some kind of a
superstar. I say, let them all play, let them all have fun and let
them all learn. The best coaches have in their arsenal the ability
to teach. I would love to see a generation of athletes with the
proper fundamental knowledge of sports.
I
do NOT think that it is too late to turn this trend around if we
will commit ourselves to it. We will have to get off the coaches and
give them the freedom to do their jobs rather than force them into a
position of having to win every game.
I’m
not saying that we should not teach the kids to be competitive. If
you know me, I am one of the most competitive people that I know. If
I can beat my wife in ping-pong right now, I will take the time to
drill her...even if she is seven months pregnant! But there is a
right and productive way to teach it.
(To top of second
column in this section)
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I
think that we have left sportsmanship out of the curriculum. Oh,
sure, we will do a forced, haphazard handshake at the end of our
games, but in my experience there has been absolutely no instruction
as to what sportsmanship means. Youngsters need to be taught how to
be gracious losers and humble winners. I do not believe the old
adage that if you show me a gracious loser, I’ll show you a
consistent loser. I also do not believe that you need to put it in
other people’s faces when you emerge victorious. They have enough
to deal with in that they just lost the ball game. When you thump
your chest and taunt them, you just add insult to injury. There is
no place for that in scholastic sports, period. And if you think
that this kind of behavior is acceptable, please stay away from my
son. I would even hope that you would move to Philadelphia or to
another planet where that kind of boorish behavior is welcomed. I
cringe when I see it around here.
I’m
not sure how good sportsmanship should be introduced and taught on
the scholastic level. I would hope that it would be a high priority
to all of our area superintendents and principals. Perhaps they
could meet with all of their coaches and find out what they are
currently doing and suggest some ways to implement positive
sportsmanship modeling and mentoring. Positive reinforcement can go
a long way in setting the stage and the mood for a sportsmanlike
environment.
It
should also be discussed at any mandatory parents’ meetings that
are held in conjunction with athletics. It should be voiced at those
meetings in no uncertain terms that any abusive behavior toward any
coach, player or official will simply not be tolerated; and that,
should it happen, security and or law enforcement officials will be
called. The fact that some of this kind of stuff is taking place in
our area literally sickens me. That is why I’m willing to take
such a bold stand now.
As
I have mentioned in previous articles, I have not always been the
best example in the past myself. Usually I restrict myself to going
berserk only at Illinois games. I shouldn’t be doing it there
either. Even though I appear to be very entertaining to the rest of
the people that sit in my section, I usually don’t stop to think
what their little kids or grandkids might be thinking of the
loudmouth from Lincoln. I will try to do better. I would like for us
to be known not only as a great sports town but also as a community
of good sports.
(Note:
This article will conclude on Saturday.)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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Part 1
For the love of Pete...it’s
only a game
By Jeff Mayfield
[SEPT.
14, 2000]
Now
that the fall sports season is upon us here in Lincoln and Logan
County, I thought it might be good to review why sports programs
even exist to begin with. I should point out that I am not an expert
in this field. I am not a sports psychologist, although I’d love
to play one on television. I have no credentials. I am not endorsed
or sanctioned by the ISHA, the NCAA (thank God, talk about the kiss
of death...) or the NBA. I have never received expressed written
consent for any accounts or depictions of any games by Major League
Baseball. However, I do think I have as much experience in this one
little area of life and more than most of my 40-plus-year-old
counterparts. I have noticed a disturbing national trend when it
comes to scholastic sports competition. Before we begin covering
this year’s plethora of games in our region, the LDN will try to
remind athletes, coaches, parents and fans the reasons that we
participate. I hope that from this point on, Lincoln will be known
as the town that bucked the trend...that in our area, kids learned
the fundamentals, developed character and skills like teamwork, and
also that they had a lot of fun along the way.
|
|
Why
do sports exist?
(1)
To have FUN.
If
sports are not fun, you shouldn’t play them. If anyone is forcing
you to participate in a sport, you should report him or her
immediately. No sport is an absolutely mandatory activity. I think
everyone should try sports; you might like ’em...you might not!
Some people and sports are not natural friends. You still might have
fun participating. Many people have posted memos or letters to the
editor that it can’t be very fun having a losing season...or
several losing seasons. I disagree. In fact, I point to the 1964
George and Ann’s Pirates, the 1969 Sunnyvale Spiders and the
1973-74 Mount Vernon Mountaineers. I was a star bench-rider for all
three of these teams.
My
Pirate teammates and I not only did not win a single game, we never
even came close. If you remember The Bad News Bears
"before" team...that was us. As a baseball purist, I could
tell you that we were pathetic. Our pitching staff was a joke. We
had no one that could throw strikes. We led the league in walks,
hits, home runs, hit batsmen and players who cried for their mommies
every week. As a stellar second baseman (I hit an eye-popping .250
in that, my first, year of organized ball) I remember looking out
into right field one particular game. Our outfielder was not paying
any attention to the game (and we were only down about 21-3 at the
time). He had caught a big black snake and he was trying to get it
to bite him. I wondered if major leaguers did stuff like that when
they were bored.
You
would think that losing some 20 games in a row would have a
devastating effect on such a group of serious ball players. But our
coach (who will remain nameless for awhile) knew something that I
wish coaches in the new millennium could know. No matter how sad or
sorry our performance...no matter how much crying he had to put up
with...no matter how much abuse he took from the parents...he held
the key to our hearts.
After
every game, lose or annihilation, he quickly gathered us together
and took us to the ice cream stand. I couldn’t wait for that
moment every game. In fact, while I was eating my ice cream there
were times when I would enter a state of consciousness where I wasn’t
even sure if we had won or lost. I would have run through a wall for
that man.
One
Saturday after we had just completed a six-game losing streak our
coach took us to a professional baseball game in San Diego. As we
entered the ballpark I saw a ball whiz past me and the rest of my
teammates. I sprinted through the seats until I made eye contact
with the ball. I had to knock over a couple of old ladies and push
some little kids out of my way, but after the dust cleared and most
of the bloody stumps were retracted I had come up with my first
baseball (I think I have about 11 of them in my collection). As a
wily 8-year-old, it was the proudest moment of my life...until I
decided to keep the ball away from my teammates by sticking it in my
jacket with the zippered pocket. When the coach asked me to produce
the ball, the zipper was stuck, and I never got the ball out ’til
my Mom (don’t you just love moms) rescued me when I got home! So
even though I helped lead my team to a perfect season, we STILL had
a lot of fun.
(To top of second
column in this section)
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Another
example of my theory is the ’69 Sunnyvale Spiders football team. I
was the starting quarterback on the newest team in the Bay area.
They were lucky to get me, as there were several gangs negotiating
for my services. I decided that the football team is exactly what I
needed...that, I would be just the guy to lead them to the San Jose
PAL title. If you remember how Stallone looked at the end of
Rocky...that’s how I looked after every game. I led that team to
an amazing 0-11 record, and I was instrumental in every one of those
losses. As bad as we were, we got to see a lot of cool stuff in the
San Francisco area. And since a lot of teams had been around for a
while with their old uniforms...we had brand new ones very similar
to the ones worn by the Oakland Raiders. I wore No. 11 (back in
those days every one wanted to wear No. 12) because I didn’t want
anyone to confuse me with any No. 12s! My stats were terrible. Our
offense was bad and our defense was worse. But we had more fun that
year than I probably did my junior year in high school when we
advanced to the Missouri State championship game!
Lastly,
I submit as evidence C, the ’73-’74 Mount Vernon Mountaineer
basketball team. I had bided my time throughout my high school
career waiting for my turn to play point guard for Mount Vernon.
Earlier in my career I had dominated the competition on the JV
level, just hoping that our varsity coach would see me and give me a
chance. He never did until he had to, when graduation depleted our
squad. I was one of five seniors left...and he simply started the
seniors. We had a spectacularly mediocre season that did include an
upset of the No. 4 ranked team in the state, the Lebanon Yellow
Jackets. Halfway through the season, I went into a slump. It got so
bad that I couldn’t hit water if I fell out of a boat! After I had
waited my whole high school career for my big chance, my coach
benched me and told me that my season was over after the 16th
game. It was hard sitting there for the final eight. But my
teammates rallied around me and tried to help forget about my
problems. I still had some fun even though it was a bitter pill to
swallow.
I
haven’t even told you about the dozens of times that I played on
teams that achieved a measure of success. I pointed out these
disastrous seasons to prove my point...that you can have fun in any
situation. It’s all about the attitude that you bring to practice
and to the games every day. I am NOT talking about goofing around
and not getting your work done. In fact, I love the way that Railer
coach Neil Alexander handles this aspect with his hoopsters. He
drives them to perfection. He demands proper execution on both
offense and defense. He does not dole out compliments very often.
But as an assistant coach working as a team with our players, we
would all occasionally get it just right...and the look on his face
was worth a million bucks.
I
like what former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said to Wildcat player
Richie Farmer. Richie wanted to quit because he said basketball was
no longer fun. Coach Pitino said that hoops is not supposed to be
fun; that’s why they call it work. The fun comes when you run out
in front of 24,000 people. He went on to suggest that he should quit
along with Farmer. Farmer said, "Coach you can’t quit,"
to which Pitino responded, "Neither can you." Together,
they made it to within one point of making it to the Final Four in
the NCAA National Championships and had a lot of fun doing it, I
might add!
(Note:
This article will be continued with postings Friday and
Saturday.)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
(To
Part 2)
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