As someone who has covered high school athletics for 41 years, and coached basketball for 23 years, I was disheartened to look at social media Wednesday and see acts of violence take place after two Iowa high school basketball games.
One was close to home, at an East Union vs. Diagonal game, and the other, more serious case, took place at Carlisle after a game against Nevada. In that case, the Carlisle player who threw two punches at an opposing player during the postgame handshake line was charged with felony assault after the victim sustained a concussion that resulted in going unconscious and required four stitches for a facial laceration.
The incident in Afton seemed to be more shoving and yelling than anything on the video clip that I saw, but it was an unfortunate act of unsportsmanlike conduct, as well.
But, to take one isolated incident and cast a wide swath of judgment against an entire school is not the right mindset. Nobody involved in leadership at East Union condones that behavior, nor does anyone at Carlisle.
And, when these news reports state something like the punch was “unprovoked,” that is also taking liberties with what may be the truth. As Central College softball coach George Wares said Wednesday afternoon, we can probably assume that more “stupid stuff” happened during the game leading up to that.
“Not sure we can really be surprised,” Wares wrote on Twitter. “It’s a byproduct of what our society has become. We are simply becoming numb to so much.”
Sports talk radio in central Iowa was buzzing with reaction Wednesday afternoon, and the video clips went national. Former NBA player Rex Chapman is a popular follow on Twitter with with 1.1 million followers, and he posted the Carlisle clip. Des Moines television stations had segments on both incidents.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association was quick to issue the following statement: “Violent conduct has no place in Iowa high school activities. IHSAA administrators are working with involved schools to ensure appropriate guidelines are followed for violent behaviors from student-athletes, and that appropriate action is taken at the local level.”
My main point today is to urge schools across the state to use these incidents as a teaching moment. Specifically, it’s a wakeup call for my coaching brethren.
Sure, behavior modeling and reinforcement starts at home with the parents. But as coaches we also bear a responsibility to go beyond the X’s and O’s and create a culture of respect and sportsmanship. We can’t just assume it’s going to happen. We have to harp on it every single day.
There were all kinds of rumors about what was said by the player who got punched, etc., and some of those rumors were shot down by folks from those communities commenting on Des Moines television social media sites. So, at this point we can’t know for sure what was said that may have provoked that moment.
Officials on the court, and coaches on the sideline, however, CAN do something about it as soon as it happens, if the chirping and taunting on the court goes beyond the reasonable competitive norms and gets personal, or obscene.
Right now we have a shortage of officials and the fact is, some probably aren’t ready for intense varsity competition yet. We’re lucky to even have enough refs to play an entire season, to be honest. All you have to do is spend a day at a youth tournament to realize anyone of any age officiating any contest is taking the wrath of parents these days. People are getting ejected from fourth grade tournaments.
So, it’s becoming a toxic environment and it’s more important than ever that anyone in an authority position at an event pays close attention to what’s happening. This includes coaches and athletic administrators keeping a close eye on the postgame handshake line.
The Iowa Community College Athletic Conference has retained the COVID “wave” after the game from last year, when hand-to-hand contact was discouraged. It’s probably good insurance for inflamed emotions to not spill over to a handshake line.
I’m OK with that, although I always thought it was an honorable thing to do after a game to look our opponent in the eyes and show respect, win or lose, for the battle that just took place and providing the chance to compete.
If that’s becoming just too difficult to do in the current volatile state of our society, then maybe it is time to scrap the postgame handshake. I’m sure IHSAA leaders are contemplating that very matter this week.
In any event, let’s not allow two isolated incidents to overshadow the huge majority of kids doing it the right way in high school sports. Let’s learn from it, reinforce the positive aspects of competition and good sportsmanship, and hope that we don’t have to visit this subject the rest of the winter.
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Contact the writer:
Email: malachy.lp@gmail.com
Twitter: @larrypeterson