Monday evening, Priscille and I attended our grandson’s graduation from the Cold Spring Elementary School in Potomac, MD. Next year, Danny moves on to Montgomery County’s Hoover Middle School.The moving-on-up celebration was held in Rockville, at Richard Montgomery High School, a modern facility in the heart of town.
As we entered the building, a large banner on the wall to the left side of the brightly lit lobby caught my attention. I couldn’t help but notice its significance, as it hung promptly displayed next to the office of the Athletic Director. It is obviously intended to inspire an attitude of sportsmanlike conduct in everyone associated with student sports activities.
Parents and other spectators can get very passionate about the athletic ability of their children – often losing sight of the purpose of student sports played on the school and community athletic fields of Bridgewater and Somerset County.
When winning becomes the sole objective of athletics and, should a game official make a wrong or marginal call on a student player, a parent or other supporter can lose it – not to speak of an official who might do the same. I remember an incident in Massachusetts not long ago where the mood turned ugly during a school hockey match and resulted in a serious outbreak of violence between a spectator and a referee.
Is such aggressive behavior worth the public humiliation and the negative example portrayed by adults to the children of our communities? I admire what the Rockville banner implores everyone to do: “So please . . . Let the players play. Let the coaches coach. Let the officials officiate. Let the spectators be positive.”
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