Taking Competitive to a Whole New Level

I love a competitive spirit, I really do.  I do not, however, like it when adults teach and encourage kids to play dirty in sports.  I would not want my kids to feel proud of accomplishing something that was attained by cheating or with cheap shots.  It amazes me how serious some people get.  It's just not that serious!  I experienced it quite a bit last year during wrestling season when one team did every dirty trick in the book.  I want my kids to win but not at the expense of hurting someone intentionally or taking cheap shots.

I may be in the minority here but I will always encourage my kids to play fair and not lower themselves to the level of others who want play like that.  It saddens me when I see adults encouraging that behavior.  Today my youngest son was involved in a football game where the other team really did play nasty.  It made me sad to think that these 10 and 11 year old boys thought it was okay to talk trash to other kids and to take cheap shots that could seriously injure someone.  It made me more sad when I heard their coach yelling at the kids to go out there and "hurt" some kids, "take" them out if you need to.  Really?  There is a reason that there are coaches on the field.  There is a reason they PRACTICE.  There is a reason these kids wear protective gear...to AVOID getting hurt.  I know our coach goes over play after play teaching the boys how to block safely and how to take a tackle safely.  No one should be encouraging our players to hurt each other.

We have already had kids get injured just by playing, it would seriously hurt my heart to know that a kid intentionally hurt someone.  I don't want my kids to ever think that is okay.

Earlier this week, Neil was playing his game at a city about an hour away from here and their game was full of cheap shots and dirty plays.  It just made me sad to see that type of behavior.

Call me "a mom" and laugh at me if you will but I will never be okay with this type of poor sportsmanship and I hope my kids are never put in a position where they are encouraged to display such behavior.

I won't leave this entry with such a negative.  I love how before the game, one of the kids from the other team who is in Daniel's class came up to him, shook his hand and said, "no matter what, we are always friends."

Just a random picture of my baby

An example of ugly play.  Our team still went on to win!