Virginia schools ban game shake to curb fighting
What happened to sportsmanship?
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
I'm trying to figure out what the world is coming to. Really, seriously. The article clipped below has me scratching my head at just what we are teaching, or more to the point, what we have taught our children about sports and it's place in our society.
I remember sports when I was a kid. We didn't have sissy mercy rules for our games. We didn't have mandatory rules that every kid got to play in the game or event. And we didn't have near the number of problems that exist today.
Today we have parents that threaten serious harm, and in some cases carry out assaults on coaches who don't play their kids, or don't play them long enough. We have rules that require all kids get into the games on team sports. We have mercy rules that end games early, or ending scoring drives early because we have to be good sports and can't embarass the other team.
We also increasingly have rules that games must start earlier because of violence that surrounds the games or the post-game events. For example, the article snippet that follows will discuss Virginia schools and their efforts to ban the post-game handshake because of fears that leaving the teams on the field after the games will result in more fights. We also have schools in Maryland starting their games much earlier than they used to because of fighting at games.
I might note that most of the fighting at the games, or at least the violence that has been seen in Maryland as an example isn't really about the sports, it's about gangs, or at least cliques of people that want to carry on violence against other gangs and people. It has almost nothing to do with the sporting event, and almost everything to do with people being complete asses. The sporting event is being mis-used by the idiots as an opportunity to find the object of their dissatisfaction so they can show who is the bigger ass-hat and who can leave their fellow man more harmed when all is said and done.
Good luck to the folks in Virginia on their efforts here, though I think they have seriously missed their targets. Perhaps they really might consider a solution applied in other places - school uniforms to help weed out gang colors and symbols. They might also start with some zero tolerance and seriously strict penalties for being involved in violence of any kind on school grounds and/or at after school events. They could make use of more surveilance equipment to help monitor events and find the trouble makers. And finally, they might place some responsibility back on parents to help police the events -- note I said help police the events, not actually police the events, just help. Help as in take pictures and if needed get copies of those pictures to identify the hoodlums. Help as in help maintain order in the stands. Help as in require parents to remind their children about sportsmanship and how to behave at sporting events.
Anyway, article clipping follows. Headline (as usual) is linked. Please see original article for complete story.
Virginia schools ban game shake to curb fighting
By Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 11, 2005
School officials in rural Virginia are trying to prevent fights under the Friday night lights by banning the traditional post-football game handshake.
"There have been some instances in the past where the handshaking has gotten a little bit out of control, with kids spitting on each other [and] kicking each other," said Larry Shumaker, principal of Northumberland High School in Heathsville. "We're just trying to prevent situations from occurring before they occur."
The traditional demonstration of sportsmanship has the two squads forming single-file lines after games and extending hands to opponents for a shake or a slap with the occasional "good game" tossed in.
But principals of five Northern Neck District high schools -- Essex, Lancaster, Northumberland, Rappahannock, and Washington and Lee -- voted unanimously to ban the practice after district games in an effort to prevent problems they say are waiting to happen between the region's bitter rivals.
"You got beat 56-0 and you want someone to tell you 'Good game' 35 times?" Rappahannock High School Principal Jack Cooley asked. "If you go through the line, there's a possibility that somebody's gonna push somebody, hit somebody, and it's going to be a big problem at the end of the game."
The principals dropped the custom at the beginning of the season and reaffirmed their decision at a meeting Monday. The ban applies to all sports teams in the district except for volleyball and wrestling squads, which are required by league rules to shake hands at the end of matches.
Some parents and fans have argued that the decision goes against the spirit of sportsmanship and the custom should be reinstated. Vincent Haynie, who has a freshman son at Northumberland, said the ban keeps high school athletes from being accountable for their actions.
"As long as we keep dumbing down what these students have to live up to, then our society will never get any better," Mr. Haynie said. "They're taking away the opportunity for these kids to step up. It's ridiculous."
... more at linked article
I remember sports when I was a kid. We didn't have sissy mercy rules for our games. We didn't have mandatory rules that every kid got to play in the game or event. And we didn't have near the number of problems that exist today.
Today we have parents that threaten serious harm, and in some cases carry out assaults on coaches who don't play their kids, or don't play them long enough. We have rules that require all kids get into the games on team sports. We have mercy rules that end games early, or ending scoring drives early because we have to be good sports and can't embarass the other team.
We also increasingly have rules that games must start earlier because of violence that surrounds the games or the post-game events. For example, the article snippet that follows will discuss Virginia schools and their efforts to ban the post-game handshake because of fears that leaving the teams on the field after the games will result in more fights. We also have schools in Maryland starting their games much earlier than they used to because of fighting at games.
I might note that most of the fighting at the games, or at least the violence that has been seen in Maryland as an example isn't really about the sports, it's about gangs, or at least cliques of people that want to carry on violence against other gangs and people. It has almost nothing to do with the sporting event, and almost everything to do with people being complete asses. The sporting event is being mis-used by the idiots as an opportunity to find the object of their dissatisfaction so they can show who is the bigger ass-hat and who can leave their fellow man more harmed when all is said and done.
Good luck to the folks in Virginia on their efforts here, though I think they have seriously missed their targets. Perhaps they really might consider a solution applied in other places - school uniforms to help weed out gang colors and symbols. They might also start with some zero tolerance and seriously strict penalties for being involved in violence of any kind on school grounds and/or at after school events. They could make use of more surveilance equipment to help monitor events and find the trouble makers. And finally, they might place some responsibility back on parents to help police the events -- note I said help police the events, not actually police the events, just help. Help as in take pictures and if needed get copies of those pictures to identify the hoodlums. Help as in help maintain order in the stands. Help as in require parents to remind their children about sportsmanship and how to behave at sporting events.
Anyway, article clipping follows. Headline (as usual) is linked. Please see original article for complete story.
Virginia schools ban game shake to curb fighting
By Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 11, 2005
School officials in rural Virginia are trying to prevent fights under the Friday night lights by banning the traditional post-football game handshake.
"There have been some instances in the past where the handshaking has gotten a little bit out of control, with kids spitting on each other [and] kicking each other," said Larry Shumaker, principal of Northumberland High School in Heathsville. "We're just trying to prevent situations from occurring before they occur."
The traditional demonstration of sportsmanship has the two squads forming single-file lines after games and extending hands to opponents for a shake or a slap with the occasional "good game" tossed in.
But principals of five Northern Neck District high schools -- Essex, Lancaster, Northumberland, Rappahannock, and Washington and Lee -- voted unanimously to ban the practice after district games in an effort to prevent problems they say are waiting to happen between the region's bitter rivals.
"You got beat 56-0 and you want someone to tell you 'Good game' 35 times?" Rappahannock High School Principal Jack Cooley asked. "If you go through the line, there's a possibility that somebody's gonna push somebody, hit somebody, and it's going to be a big problem at the end of the game."
The principals dropped the custom at the beginning of the season and reaffirmed their decision at a meeting Monday. The ban applies to all sports teams in the district except for volleyball and wrestling squads, which are required by league rules to shake hands at the end of matches.
Some parents and fans have argued that the decision goes against the spirit of sportsmanship and the custom should be reinstated. Vincent Haynie, who has a freshman son at Northumberland, said the ban keeps high school athletes from being accountable for their actions.
"As long as we keep dumbing down what these students have to live up to, then our society will never get any better," Mr. Haynie said. "They're taking away the opportunity for these kids to step up. It's ridiculous."
... more at linked article
