Sportsmanship....is it gone?

[mkral]

Well instead of copying what some of you have said I will simply say this....you had to be there.
We teach our kids to help the other teams kids up, to us this is a sign of good sportsmanship. We, as parents and our coaches, don't condone lowering the shoulder in a dead pickle situation in an attempt to dislodge the ball. We, as parents and our coaches, don't condone verbally assaulting and intimidating kids in a restroom. Was it incidental contact at first base? Yes it was. Runner running in the lane outside the baseline, touches the orange bag, as already said. Again you had to be here. These teams faced each other two times in as many days and it was worse in the second meeting.
You are going to tell me that if you are speaking to someone and they act as if they did not hear you that you move on? Or do you ask them if they heard you because you were not sure if they did or not?? That is exactly what happened here.
But this is beating a dead horse!!
There are by far more quality teams out there then the ones like this. I have been doing this a long time and have run into things like this very infrequently. This was just by far the most flagrant I have seen. That was my point in this. Beat us up if you like, that is your prerogative.

 

[rockerdad21]

Well instead of copying what some of you have said I will simply say this....you had to be there.
We teach our kids to help the other teams kids up, to us this is a sign of good sportsmanship. We, as parents and our coaches, don't condone lowering the shoulder in a dead pickle situation in an attempt to dislodge the ball. We, as parents and our coaches, don't condone verbally assaulting and intimidating kids in a restroom. Was it incidental contact at first base? Yes it was. Runner running in the lane outside the baseline, touches the orange bag, as already said. Again you had to be here. These teams faced each other two times in as many days and it was worse in the second meeting.
You are going to tell me that if you are speaking to someone and they act as if they did not hear you that you move on? Or do you ask them if they heard you because you were not sure if they did or not?? That is exactly what happened here.
But this is beating a dead horse!!
There are by far more quality teams out there then the ones like this. I have been doing this a long time and have run into things like this very infrequently. This was just by far the most flagrant I have seen. That was my point in this. Beat us up if you like, that is your prerogative.

Sounds to me like you and your team handled this situation as well as you could. We have played teams like the one you describe, although the team you played sounded rude to the extreme.

The mouthing and chanting negative things to your players is DEFINITELY bad sportsmanship, but it often has the opposite affect of what was intended, ie., it tends to motivate the players being chanted at.

As far as the physical contact and the coach instructing his players to run through the first baseman, I definitely have an issue with that, as it affects player safety. There is simply no place for that in youth sports.

Hard tags happen, but it is usually pretty easy to tell what the intent was...particularly if it happens more than once. As a coach, if I see that and believe the intent is flagrant, I am definitely going to have a conversation with the plate umpire and make him aware of it. Then, if the umpire sees another hard tag, he or she should decide if the play was flagrant or not, and make a call.

This is part of the umpire's job. Why do you think pro baseball umpires warn pitchers and both benches if they suspect a pitcher is throwing at a batter? Umpires have to use good judgment in these cases, and let both teams know that flagrant contact on tags and running the bases won't be tolerated.

You have to see the situation to know exactly what did or did not happen, but from the description, it certainly sounds to me like one team was flagrantly unsportsmanlike.

If you use it as a teachable moment for your kids, that is the best you can do...unless you beat them, and perhaps it becomes a teachable moment for them!

 

[Arbie]

First, as a parent you can only control your own child and his/her own behavior/actions. Second, as a coach you can only control your own team and their behavior/actions. I have a 17 year old son, and a dd who plays 12U softball. We have been involved in baseball, basketball, softball, wrestling. There are bad sports everywhere. But....I know that my kids can win AND lost with dignity. Unfortunately you are going to encounter bad sports and bad coaches from time to time.

Quincy, thanks for sharing that story. My dd is a catcher, so I notice more of what the catchers do than any other spot on the field. So when we see a catcher make a great play, we always say "Good job, catcher". We were playing in a tournament one weekend and the other team had a killer shortstop. I mean, NOTHING got past this girl, and of course almost every one of our batters was hitting the ball right to her. Our coach was jogging out to third base when it was our turn to hit and he was laughing as he said to our batters, "Okay, lets hit the ball to somebody BESIDES the shortstop this time!!" ALL of the parents on both teams were laughing!!

 

[Ken Krause]

Mkral has shared which program this was with me. Apparently poor sportsmanship is something that happens up and down it. Last weekend one of my students was pitching against their 16U team when a screwball got away from her. It hit the batter, who she says had her elbow over the strike zone. The girl started taking a few steps toward her and physically threatened her. In the meantime, her father in the stands yelled, "That's right, honey. If she hits you again you take her out" or words to that effect.

I can guarantee she wasn't trying to hit the kid. She wouldn't want to give the other team a free baserunner.

A fish rots from the head down. I don't know who is running things over there, but I'll bet he's on board with that attitude.

 

[rowdy]

I am disappointed you didn't name the team and the coach. Every association has a sportsmanship rule that is pretty vague which would allow an umpire to address this issue. At the least he could remove the coach from the game and even the tournament if felt so inclined. The umpires are responsible for the welfare of the players and if they feel like such a threat is not just the heat of the moment they should respond and remove the coach. This is a great example of poor coaching that has permiated our sport. Name names, embarrass them and maybe they will grow up or quit.

 

[MTR]

What good does it do to name the team and coach? Cause a little more hate and discontent? Isn't that what the accusation toward the team is? These folks are idiots and will be found out by those who participate in tournaments.

 

[rowdy]

What good does it do to name the team and coach? Cause a little more hate and discontent? Isn't that what the accusation toward the team is? These folks are idiots and will be found out by those who participate in tournaments.

Maybe some people don't want to be affiliated with teams like this. Public humiliation is a deterrent and it sounds like this coach needs a light shined on his work.