Violence in Youth Sports
Why is it becoming more and more prevalent in our society, and what are we doing to address it?
Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
Ink Spot Contributing Writer
The picture with this article that you are viewing is very disturbing to me. As I continue to watch sporting events either “Live,” TV, or via various mobile outlets, I’m starting to see a rise in aggression that hasn’t been seen or experienced by me in my lifetime. In one week, I viewed (in person) an on-court altercation that led to a bench clearing “melee” between 2 high schools, a college coach slapping another coach in the POST game crossing of the teams, and a brawl between 2 colleges in which the coaches squared off in the MIDDLE of the floor as their teams fought around them! It made me sick to my stomach and caused me to ask the question “Why is violence becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society and what can we do about it?”
In today’s UNSCRIPTED I wanted to take a look at what may be some of the probable causes of heightened aggression between athletes, schools, and programs and how we can address this before these types of violent exchanges become the norm instead of the exception.
Before I go into this story any further, I know that this is a touchy subject and one that many of you may have varying opinions on, but for the purposes of this piece this is just MY account of what’s going on and hopefully you’ll enjoy reading, and debating it as you read.
Sports and athletics in general give our young people the opportunity to express themselves and their talents on a platform that it can be appreciated and respected by those of us that view them. To see a young person being celebrated for reaching the pinnacle of success (at whatever level) is something that should be admired and commonly shared with those that have worked with them through the process. I know that for myself athletics gave me the opportunity to relieve stress, have fun and share great times with my friends and teammates. There was hardly any time that I competed and lost that I wanted to react in such a way that another person or team would feel threatened by my words, actions, or demeanor. Yes, I was frustrated after each loss, but my feeling was “today there was someone just a little better than me”, I accepted it and moved on.
As you look at how kids, parents, coaches, and schools are approaching sports the price of winning has taken another meaning and the term “win at all/any cost has moved to the forefront of athletics. Players are pressured to perform; coaches are EXPECTED to win, and schools (high school and college) are trying to gain respectability through their athletic programs. So, what happens when any of those entities don’t reach expectations and outcomes? PRESSURE! And what happens when pressure is released? AGGRESSION/VIOLENT behaviors.
So, who’s to blame? In my opinion, we have to look at our ADULTS who have been selected to be leaders of these young people. They need to set the standard for morality and conduct for our young people to follow. Yes, it’s good to raise the bar and have expectations of your child, or player but, if they aren’t successful don’t make them feel like they’re a failure and have let EVERYONE down. In my opinion what will eventually happen is that they will hurt someone else or even worse THEMSELVES! All of this stuff that we’re seeing played out in front of us are young people trying to gain acceptance either through being a dominant athlete or being this highly aggressive, marginally talented player who has to use verbal taunting (another topic) or antics that bring attention to themselves in a manner that is embarrassing to themselves, their schools, and most importantly their family that supports them.
The war is fought on the field and between the lines, NOT after the contest is over or on social media! If we don’t get a handle on what’s going on in athletics, then what we’re seeing will continue to happen and will escalate to a larger scale which will more than likely lead to sporting events with NO fans, schools canceling their athletic events, which will in turn mean no more games with their conference rivals, and even (God forbid) scores not being kept so no one has to lose!
I realize that this is extreme, but so is what we’re seeing daily and weekly from our athletes and coaches. I’m a coach, a father, and a fan and it starts with ME in regards to how my kids and teams respond and conduct themselves. Folks it’s good to be competitive and work hard but we have to live with the results! I’m throwing the gauntlet down! It’s imperative that we get better folks, we have a generation of young people that need us!