Scrapbook Item 2: Values of Violence and Fighting in Sports

Link to the Article: http://www.ajc.com/news/high-school-coach-badly-1203243.html

In class on September 13, 2011, we talked about values in sport and what they uphold to athletes and spectators all around. We went into a lot of detail on four different aspects but two that relate to this article are character building and competition/winning. In this article, it talks about a fight that broke out between two high school teams after a brutal homecoming game where the team lost 21-2. The visiting team had been locked out of their locker room and had to defend themselves against the home team but while in the process of the coach trying to stop it, he was smashed in the head with a helmet.

Since the home team was in such a uproar because they lost and wanted to fight, a coach was injured for no apparent reason. They wanted to win that game at any cost and since they lost, they were going to take it out on the team that beat them instead of realizing that it was their own faults. What character do those students have for going and fighting outside the locker room before the players could even truly celebrate? The judgment used by these students was poor and because of their mistakes, not even a student was hurt but a coach that has been in the hospital getting corrective surgery done to fix his face since.

I believe that winning at all costs is a method that should be taken lightly and not so seriously by some athletes. The way an athlete handles him or herself after a win or loss relates back to their character building and the actions they were taught as they learned to play the game. The values that an athlete and coach uphold really show the maturity when they are on and off the field and how they should be viewed by others. The spectators should uphold the same values and remember them before they start a fight in the stands at the next game attend. Even though the athlete, coach or spectator make think it is a good idea at the time, they must realize that there may be consequences to themselves or others around them that they cannot control. Values are something that should be upheld whether playing sports or not, they may just be altered in different aspects but are ones that should always be respected in any situation.