The Turning of a Coach to the Dark Side
This article describes the process by which a coach can be turned from the pure purpose
and goals of good sportsmanship into a leader of lawless renegade players focused on only one goal - winning at all costs.
(Disclaimer: This is speculation. It is not targeted at any one or more types of people or intended to be used as a means to categorize or stigmatize any person or individual. It is a parable of what could happen to a nameless individual.)
Definition: Gamesmanship is any distraction that causes a player/team to look or think in one direction while the other player/team goes in another. (I'm going to be using this constantly.)
This means that a fake to the right and move to the left is gamesmanship. A double-reverse play is gamesmanship. A full court-press is gamesmanship. These are acceptable actions that I call good gamesmanship. They fall within the rules of competitive sports and are expected by good teams and players. (The white side of sports.)
What is universally condemned are what I call bad gamesmanship. These are delays of games, trash talk, ganging up, wrong players on the field, etc. (The gray side of sports.)
Now that has been established, I am going to present the path by which a coach of a small team can be seduced into the gray side.
1. A new coach, in the innocence of minimal experience, strives to instill the spirit of sportsmanship in his charges. He requires this of his players in every competition.
2. The opposing team uses a series of confusion tactics, moving players to wrong locations, or places too many players on the field, but pulls the extras off at the last second.
3. Our hero's complaints are ignored because no rule was quite broken. His team, confused and unsure of themselves, gives up points - and loses.
4. At the next practice, our coach (nobody's fool), tries to teach several plays to counter the effort. At the next competition, the new tactics fail because of not enough practice time.
5. Now our coach is really irritated. He spends hours reading the rules to look for some way he can fight these violations of sportsmanship. The few rays of hope are dashed when the officials (already overwhelmed with tracking the entire field) don't have time to look for and apply the penalties (which usually are not significant).
6. Our coach, now disillusioned and wanting to win some games to protect his job, starts going to other games and learning what other coaches are doing to win. And, the fall from grace is now complete - he pays lip service to sportsmanship, and begins teaching his players how to apply bad gamesmanship activities. After all - everyone is doing it. Pretty soon - the whole conference has a lower standard of behavior.
It is difficult to hold onto your principles when you see them being trampled upon with little or no consequences. It's like committing the very small sin of not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. No consequences, no penalty (and no one gets hurt either). It becomes a routine driving habit. And no one is more shocked and surprised than you when the cop catches you and writes up a moving violation ticket.
This is why the role of the referee and sporting official is so vital. As soon as you let some minor activity slide (or only apply a wrist slap), you have allowed the standards to degenerate. You guys are critical in ensuring good standard be maintained not only to keep the playing field level, but as proper examples of behavior for the players.
The Turning of a Coach to the Dark Side
By: Allan Sand
Picking the Right Buck Alpha Hunting Knife for your Hunt Choosing scent blockers Dealing With Temper Tantrums In The Office Sensus foam beds - your best choice How to compete against a younger, faster opponent 3 Popular Wiccan Magic Spells The World Of Rugby Which pocket knife to choose? Do not reveal emotions - it is a weakness A Visit To Sitges Evening Gown Options to Keep the Shivers Away Voting in the Late 1800s Are you Wearing your Pageant Gown, or is it Wearing You?