Sportsmanship

[lovesthesport]

What happened to sportsmanship?
Why can't the wrestlers wrestle and the officials officiate?
Why must parents and grandparents threaten officials, scream f bombs, chase down officials from mat to mat, approach opposing coaches and literally try to start a fight. This weekend I saw all of this and more.
What is sad, is it isn't even between the athletes. It is these horrible people who are supposed to be role models and people they look up to.
Sometimes, you show more about your character by how you react to losing and how you respond to adversity than you do when everything is going your way.

[wrestlingfan23202]

I 100 percent agree! I saw something today where a kid totally dominated the match start to finish but lost in the ride out. Had the kid pinned, had a takedown, had an escape, kept being ran out of bounds. The kid didn't get anything he battled and did everything to win. He came off the Mat and accepted the loss. The parent of the athlete was clapping and screaming in the face of the coach. Was saying nasty things about the opponent. Terrible sportsmanship. I always say to win you must first learn to lose. However, when you're a defending state champion you will always have a target on your back! I hope we see better sportsmanship this weekend because these athletes coaches and officials do an outstanding job!

[Bearhugger]

Many people today grew up under conditions where they were never spanked and they got a participation trophy for everything they attempted to do.

These same folks are now becoming parents. I grew up when the teacher was boss. The principal was boss. Dad and mom were boss and the referee was boss.

When I was younger, the only time I can remember a parent coming after a ref was when I was officiating a match. A kid got his tail kicked and was screaming while he was on his back. He wasn't hurt. I slapped the mat. His backwoods dad came to the mat's edge running his mouth.

The head referee in charge of the tournament shut down all wrestling until everybody calmed down. After 10 to 15 minutes, we resumed wrestling.

Everybody these days seem in a hurry to get these tournaments down and over asap. I think the refs should go on a 10 minute strike every time some know it all parent rushes the mat.