Time for Sportsmanship on the Field

Winning is what it's all about in sports today, whether you're a multimillionaire pro or a 5-year-old tee-ball player. <br><br>What worries some people is not just how games are played, but how

Thursday, December 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Winning is what it's all about in sports today, whether you're a multimillionaire pro or a 5-year-old tee-ball player.

What worries some people is not just how games are played, but how they're coached and how they're watched. They want sportsmanship back in sports.

``It's not about winning, it's about playing,'' said Ray Warren, a member of the corporate adviser board of the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, who also is president and CEO of Raycom Sports, a sports marketing and television company.

Warren admits that vicious hits in football, baseball brawls and hockey fights are shown over and over as highlights on TV sports shows and that television allows ``enforcers'' to achieve a certain status. However, he doesn't think that is the root of the problem.

``We're talking about coaches and parents getting involved in sports,'' he said. ``Parents don't know how to educate. They become part of the game. They don't realize they're part of the game.

``It's a matter of telling impressionable kids, `Hey, don't do this.'''

Warren said he became aware of violence on and off the field and away from the arena through Raycom's syndicated weekly half-hour show, ``More Than a Game,'' which, he said, ``is about good guys in sports. The show reminds people why they became sports fans in the first place.''

In doing the show, however, Warren said, ``We started becoming cognizant of the unbelievable number of stories of violence.''

â€” A father was injured fatally in a fight with another father because of an argument about rough play in a youth hockey game in Massachusetts.

â€” Thirty parents were arrested for fighting over a call in a tee-ball game for 5-year-olds.

Then there were cases of parents berating coaches, taking their children off the field and punching teen-age game officials.

Too many parents live vicariously through their children or see a college-scholarship or million-dollar pro athlete where none exists.

``The idea (of the Sports Alliance) is to get information down to high schools and colleges to reassert the principles we've taken for granted,'' Warren said.

For instance, shaking hands by teams after a game is on the wane.

More importantly:

``We're going after kids, parents and officials. We want everybody to know why they became sports fans.''

There once was a time people became fans because they liked sports and enjoyed watching the competition. A good effort, not just a winning effort, was applauded.

Helping in an attempt to return sportsmanship to sports is the National Alliance for Youth Sport, which is using Fred Engh's book, ``Why Johnny Hates Sports,'' to establish a code of ethics for parents, players, coaches and game officials.

Parents of children ages 6-11 in Jupiter, Fla., must sign the code of ethics for kids to compete in organized sports, and 175 communities across the country have signed up, according to Warren.

Another problem is that children are put into organized sports too soon, that sports sometimes are used in place of baby sitters.

Whether parents use organized sports as a way to get rid of the kids for a couple of hours or whether they become too involved, the result is often burnout â€” children turning their back on sports while still in their teens because the joy of competition has been soured.

``There are some places that are thinking about stopping organized sports for children,'' Warren said.

That competition among children has reached this stage is a crying shame.