|
|
Elise McVeigh's Life Camp Column
Great Sportsmanship Does Exist in Youth Team Sports Last weekend my 5th grade son had a Chamber League soccer game. The team they played was a lot better than my son’s team, and our team got beaten so badly, that we are unsure of the score. I am not sure if the team was officially a school team, but most or all of the players were from St. Moncia’s School in Dallas. The coach, John Bubel, is the kind of coach that I would aspire to be like if I were a coach. He is a perfect example of how youth team sports should be coached. To describe how Coach Bubel and the St. Monica’s team showed exemplary sportsmanship, I am paraphrasing from a letter that my husband wrote to the principal of St. Monica’s. “Early in the game, it was clear that the St. Monica’s team was a superior team, and seemingly scored at will. As the game began to get out of control, the St. Monica’s team stopped pressing and attempting to score. The coach apparently instructed the boys to work on their passing, and told them not to move the ball past midfield, thus eliminating the urge for the boys to score even more. We suspect he even told the boys to not score another goal. I don’t know what the final score was, as I lost count. We ended up scoring a goal toward the end of the game, giving our boys a moral victory. Even the St. Monica’s parents cheered and applauded when our team scored. In today’s uber-competitive world of sports (and everything else for that matter), it was nice to see a team and coach show compassion and true sportsmanship by tapping on the brakes and refraining from embarrassing a team even more than they already were. I am as competitive as anyone, and have been on both sides of the team in lopsided games. After the game, the kids and parents were complimentary of our boys’ play, and the coach walked over and offered the team’s doughnuts to our boys in a classy show of sportsmanship. Kudos to the coaches, teachers, administrators and School of St. Monica’s for teaching kids to be humble in winning.” The next day we received an email from our team manager, and he told us that Coach Bubel realized later that our team was down a man, and he said if he would have known this, he would have played with one fewer player as well. John Bubel, thank you for showing our children and other coaches that great sportsmanship in youth sports does exist. I have a feeling your team is equally gracious whether you win or lose, and to me, that is the key to great sportsmanship.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
