Children’s Sports

There was a scandal on the woman’s volleyball court which required immediate attention and a halt in the game --- too many substitutions!!!

Having flown at their expense, another scandal erupted in the men’s hockey tournament. The team was  threatened with all wins forfeited because of a player eligibility crisis.

More Ice Hockey news – for the D-1 men’s club hockey program games are being scheduled at 10pm during finals week.

More volleyball news-- families are asked to give up their entire weekend to travel 5 hours to watch their daughters play for 5 minutes of a two hour 3 out of 5 set match

A sunny afternoon soccer game is disrupted by the hi decibel discussions of parents unhappy with the officiating.

Puppies are brought in to calm the players nerves before the big game allowing plenty of time to cuddle and play.

One of these things is not like the others

One of these things just doesn’t belong

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish this song.

…. Sesame Street

Let me help you – The first 5 story lines are all stories from the annals of our children’s sports programs.  The soccer scene could be any soccer game ages 5 and up.  Volleyball players are 10 —- hockey players are 18 year university students. 

The outlier is ,of course, the puppy story. That scene —— The SF Forty-Niner’s locker room before their NFL Conference Final.  No children and no amateurs.

The eligibility story came about because a player was called home to care for his single mother. The volleyball girls are 10 years old. The soccer scene is repeated on almost every field with children.  The late-night games were to make way for an adult pick-up game

I am a big fan of sports of all kinds but what we are teaching our children has little to do with sport proficiency and everything to do with conflict and our inability to teach conflict resolution.  The governing bodies are having trouble understanding this is not the Conference Finals and they are not running a professional sports franchise.  Perhaps we should be stepping back and teaching our children good sportsmanship and kindness along with sports skills instead of transactional behavior.  There does not have to be a winner and a looser for everything.  Sometimes holding a puppy is the best way to teach cooperation and understanding.

…..What happened to that Golden Retriever puppy?