As a junior in high school who has played a sport everyseason, I have seen many athletes take out frustration on their opponents. Due tothis aggression, athletes can and do get seriously injured while playing a sportthat is supposed to be fun. Sportsmanship seems to be becoming a thing of thepast.
Hostility and violence have escalated to the point where a fatherwas killed over a dispute at a youth hockey event. It may be because of suchviolent actions that one incident I observed at a high-school basketball game hasstayed in my mind.
I don't remember who won, but I do remember that ithad turned into a pretty physical contest. I was enjoying the game when there wasa collision right in front of me. A girl from each team ended up sprawled on thefloor.
The player on the home team immediately sprung to her feet, butinstead of hustling back on defense, she turned and bent down, her handoutstretched, to help bring the other girl to her feet. This was not a momentousevent, but to me it seemed like something to strive for. I want to be the playerwho helps her opponents to their feet.
Unfortunately, acts like this havebecome few and far between. I have, on occasion, seen sportsmanship displayed inprofessional sports, but it is completely overshadowed by negative actions andattitudes. Baseball players say disrespectful things about other teams and theircities, football players are arrested for murder and hockey players use theirsticks as weapons. Many professional athletes have criminal records.
Where is the sportsmanship in today's sports teams? It is becoming even harder tofind because youth teams look up to these athletes and think their actions areokay and even rewarded with high salaries.
In my mind, any act ofsportsmanship - like the one I viewed - should be rewarded. The number of suchoccurrences needs to increase greatly. In all levels of athletics, sportsmanshipmust be promoted and encouraged by parents and coaches before sportsmanshipbecomes obsolete.
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