If the football officials of the Atlantic Coast Conference had traded places with Pop Warner league organizers during last season, Duke football would have represented a model program and coach Bobby Bowden of the Florida State Seminoles would have been fired. In real life, the Blue Devils lost to the Seminoles 63-14.
As things were, the kids were the ones who faced the upside-down world.
Last December, the 13- and 14-year old Sundevils of Florida decimated the Marshall Height Bisons, 56-6, to bring the team their second consecutive Pop Warner championship. In response, Pop Warner organizers, whose leagues are composed of roughly 300,000 youths, removed the Sundevil coach, a 10-year veteran in the youth league. The league dismissed him for not living up to its emphasis upon sportsmanship because he did not slow down his team's pace as their lead in the championship game grew.
The coach, who insists that he lived up to the standards by playing his entire 26-player roster and only running six passing plays--meaning that his team had to rely on more difficult means to score--recently sued to reverse his dismissal.
A similar trend to avoid having clear winners and losers is apparent in renewed attempts to remove dodgeball as a sanctioned playground activity. To opponents of the game, it pits child against child in a violent manner. One-by-one, each child is tagged and eliminated from game--thus lowering the self esteem of the non-winners. Opponents suggest that activities where everyone is on the same side present a more positive influence.
Feelings have replaced results as the focus of youth athletics. Baseball, basketball and other sports have not been immune. In some leagues, keeping score is not important, and even in those leagues that do, the score may not carry beyond the game into standings. Being in last place might hurt some poor kid's feelings and make him a less productive member of society, or at least, this reasoning appears to be operating in the minds of such athletic organizers. Where a 50-point football victory might once have been a positive sign of a well-trained, disciplined and motivated team, today, parity is the desire.
At some point long ago, someone came up with the idea that a constructive youth athletics program meant that no child would ever feel bad about the game. Somehow competition--and with it the opportunity to claim victory--was interpreted to be the antithesis of a positive experience. Needless to say, the notion contains flaws. Which positive feeling would leave a more positive lasting impact on a child: making a good play in a meaningless game or making a good play in a way that contributed to victory? Pretending that the kids do not realize that some players are better than others, adults are the ones who have shown immature ignorance.
Lost in the rabid desire to avoid bad feelings is the power that negative emotions can have. Sometimes a dropped pass or a booted ground ball is necessary to motivate improvement. Sometimes a player needs to believe that his performance really is not fine and that he must work to hone his skills. Letting everyone wallow in complacency from what is erroneously interpreted as a satisfactory performance, does not present a productive alternative.
Too often discussion reverts to focusing upon the alleged dark side of youth sports. Because success often comes from aggressive play, some suggest that athletics fosters violence. Such arguments ignore that the rules in sports often exist to distinguish between acceptable behavior and activities that could seriously harm others.
Competition provides the basis for character building that sports provide. When the U.S. women won the World Cup several years ago, many quickly sung the praises of how sports taught girls lifelong lessons of hard work, discipline and teamwork. Removing competition from sports takes away these values. Maybe no competition is actually an alternative means of "leveling the playing field."
The real world is a rough place where people are not always on the same side. Perhaps the people behind anti-competition efforts are nobly trying to change this harshness globally. However, the only change evoked is a generation of children numbed to competition. If left to think that competition is something to avoid, then these children are at the mercy of not only previous generations but also to those children--both American and foreign--who avoided this brainwashing and have learned to compete on and off the field.
In the real sports world, teams like the Seminoles do beat their opponents by wide margins. Those numbers at the end of the game separate the best from everyone else.
Competition inspires change; emotions evoke reflection. Both have their places and both have their results.
John Bush is a Trinity junior and editorial page editor of The Chronicle.
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