Sportsmanship

February 25, 2010  
Filed under Feature

Sportsmanship is always emphasized at every level of any sport. The same holds true for winning. These are the two main goals of any sport or competition. Different people have different opinions about which should ultimately come first. They are usually taught to young athletes to go hand in hand, but they are often at odds with one another in our society.

Coach Bergan feels that his football team was able to display good sportsmanship this season. “I felt that our kids displayed good sportsmanship this year, despite facing some adversity throughout the season.”
Bergan also felt that being a good sport and upholding the integrity of the game should not affect a team’s ability to win games. “Players are out there to play the game, any other activates on the field just distract from that goal and hurt the team.”

Many coaches and players use hatred of the other team in order to motivate themselves and their team. Coach Bergan agrees that rivalries do allow players to get up for the game, but that should not lead to actions on the field. “These guys are taught since they first put on pads to start playing once the whistle blows and stop at the end of the play. You can be pumped up and aggressive in the game without going after anybody.” The football team displayed good sportsmanship for the most part, with only one major incident.

The Ottawa High School soccer team also faced issues with sportsmanship this year. Sean Cahill was suspended for three weeks after an altercation after the match against Louisburg. This was one of a long list of altercations involving the soccer team over the years. In order to deal with those issues and curb the number of on field incidents, the soccer team instituted new rules. One of these rules involved meeting together at the bench after games before going to shake hands with the other team. They also changed their warm up in order to have more unity as a team.

Although these rule changes may have helped improve the team’s sportsmanship and the way they presented themselves to the administration and the community, they had little success after their win against KC Christian, who was ranked #1 in the state at the time. During that game, there was an incident where a player kicked a ball after the play was whistled dead, for which he received a yellow card. This was one of the incidents that were later mentioned by the administration in a meeting with Coach Cahill.

After the KC Christian game, the soccer team held the first of several meetings regarding sportsmanship. Two games later against Louisburg, there was a brief argument during the handshake. The end result of this argument was that Sean Cahill shoved a Louisburg player and received a red card. He was later suspended.

The changes to improve the sportsmanship of the soccer team were not well received. Senior Rogan Frings stated it simply. “It sucked; it made our team less competitive. The will to win was really sucked out of our team after all that happened.” The end results of these changes were mixed. The team went 3-9 after the KC Christian game and lost in the first round of regionals. The administration also made the decision not to renew the contract of Coach Cahill. The team did, however, end up winning the sportsmanship award from the Frontier League.

The issue of sportsmanship also came up last year during the basketball season. The student section has always been rowdy and aggressive at all of the basketball games. Last season, students started taking signs into the games. This was quickly stopped by the administration. They also cracked down on having students on the floor and certain chants and taunting deemed over the top. These were not school rules, but the standard rules given to every school in the state. They had just not been enforced in previous years.

This year the student section was moved to the other side of the gym, further away from the opposition’s bench, in order to reduce the taunting of the other team. This may have worked, but senior Spencer Hawkins was still surprised about the new rules.

“I don’t like this side. It’s too close to the door. It makes it uncomfortable.”

There has already been an issue between the administration and the Cyclone Zone this year. Mr. Cobbs recently warned the students to stop chanting a potentially controversial saying before tip-off.

Despite this incident, many students feel that they have been given more leeway with their behavior this year.

“They have not cracked down on what we can say,” says Hawkins. “The real test will be seeing if they will let us take signs into the game. If they let us do that I will truly feel like they have backed off a little bit.”

It is clear that it is hard for students to separate themselves from the heat and intensity of the game, as players or fans, but it is also clear that both the coaches and administration want to improve the level of sportsmanship shown by OHS students. While the goals of winning and sportsmanship may seem at odds to many students, it is a goal of any sport at OHS to show that it is possible to show respect to the other team and still win the game.

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Schuyler Foulke

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