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| English: Sports time (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I like to focus mainly on the aspects of Bipolar disorder and mental
health in general, but this post was begging to be written.
If you have ever attended a high school sports game, you know the
amount of emotions that the players have and those in the stands express. The game is serious business; pro sports have
nothing on the spirit and determination of these kids. What gets me though is when it is taken too
far and no stops it.
My youngest daughter started playing soccer when she was 4 years old,
for 14 years we traveled more miles than I can remember and watch hundreds of
games. What always got me was how
coaches would tell their players, win at all cost. Is that something you really want to teach a
child? When she was 5 years old, she had
a coach who believed in winning and would run the score up – they were 4 and 5
years old!!!
As she got older, the game became more demanding, the cheap shots
increased and the injuries were more frequent.
Her senior year in high school she hurt her back and has not played
since, she coaches now and still loves the game more than anything. Last night her high school team had their
first round play-off game, they were confident of a win and played their hearts
out. Their head coach teaches respect
above all and while there are cheap shots sometimes, pushing, etc., they know
the limit, until last night. With 24,
seconds left in the game the other team decided it was time to take out our
star player, grabbed her and threw her to the ground, sat on top of her and
started punching her. The referees were
paying no attention to the incident, and they hadn’t for most of the game. One of our players ran up to the girl hitting
and pushed her off. What happened next
is crazy, she is now out for the rest of playoffs! She was Red carded for helping her fellow
teammate from being beaten up on the field.
While I understand it was not the right thing to do, it was an impulse on
her part, but if the refs had been paying attention to what was happening
throughout the game, they would have seen what was coming.
These kids need better coaches and parents who will teach them right
from wrong. It is a demanding game,
there are a lot of emotions and these girls give everything they have, but at
what cost. I have known refs that will
not coach girl's soccer because it has become so violent, and they can’t
control it. For those who are wondering,
the girls are more physical on the field than the boys.
What is seen on the field show the mentality of the players, the
coaches and the parents who guide our kids and show them how to play the
game.
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