Teaching good sportsmanship?

[Mr.Fitnah]

Or wealth redistribution ?

Win a soccer game by more than five points and you lose, Ottawa league says | Posted | National Post


Win a soccer game by more than five points and you lose, Ottawa league says

In yet another nod to the protection of fledgling self-esteem, an Ottawa children’s soccer league has introduced a rule that says any team that wins a game by more than five points will lose by default.

The Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer league’s newly implemented edict is intended to dissuade a runaway game in favour of sportsmanship. The rule replaces its five-point mercy regulation, whereby any points scored beyond a five-point differential would not be registered.

Kevin Cappon said he first heard about the rule on May 20 — right after he had scored his team’s last allowable goal. His team then tossed the ball around for fear of losing the game.


snip

Kevin’s father, Bruce Cappon, called the rule ludicrous.

“I couldn’t find anywhere in the world, even in a communist country, where that rule is enforced,” he said.

Mr. Cappon said the organization is trying to “reinvent the wheel” by fostering a non-competitive environment. The league has 3,000 children enrolled ranging in age from four to 18 years old.

“Everybody wants a close game, nobody wants blowouts, but we don’t want to go by those farcical rules that they come up with,” he said. “Heaven forbid when these kids get into the real world. They won’t be prepared to deal with the competition out there.”

Paul Cholmsky, whose four- and six-year-old boys play in the league, said the intended goal of a default-lose rule might backfire in teaching life skills.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

But the prohibition against competition is often a prelude to a more Orwellian inversion of reality. Many kids’ sporting leagues have something called The Mercy Rule, in which the officials stop keeping score after a certain point if two teams are so mismatched that the game would otherwise become a farce. From there, however, it is a small step to the “Ottawa Rule” whereby you are allowed to score as much as you want, but if you outscore your opponent by too much, you’ll be declared the loser. (One imagines that inept-but-clever Canadian soccer teams will henceforth attempt to win games by “accidentally” scoring own-goals and kicking the ball backwards into their own nets as often as possible; eventually the league could devolve into a frenzy of “suicide soccer” as teams try to rack up as many points for the opponents as they can, seeking to “win” by losing by more than five goals.)

Zombie Losing Is the New Winning

 

[Bill O'Olberman]

Somestimes you lose and lose big. Learn from it and do better next time. On the other side, if your coaching young kids who are dominating and have a team large enough to have a second-string, you are a complete douchebag if you do not play them. I generally dont have a problem with rules in little league sports that require coaches to take out their first string players when they are winning by a certain margin (especially on larger team sports like football).

 

[del]

good youth sports coaches do their best to not run up the score on a weaker opponent, but that's not always possible, despite the best of intentions.

this policy makes zero sense in my opinion. the main thing wrong with youth sports is adults, either by trying to make everyone win, or by reliving their usually mediocre to poor sports *career* through the kids. people of my generation were much better served by the pick up games we had and through which we learned how to win and lose with some grace, eventually, and how to negotiate differences.

 

[saveliberty]

Is it good sportsmanship to let your opponent think they are better than they actually are? There are so many options to handle this than the poor way it is being handled.

Play down a class.
Mercy rule.
Sub lesser players to give them experience.

Our kids always played up in sports. It made them better players. Won some state championships and had a college nationally ranked player for a while this year. Quitting was never an option. Feelings are something you use for motivation.

 

[blastoff]

Two of my sons played on their high school's powerhouse hockey team. The sanctioning body or whatever it's called had a 10 point slaughter rule wherein the game ended when a team was ahead by ten. So whenever they'd get up by 6-7 goals the 3rd and 4th lines got more and longer shifts but even then they'd more or less turn the game into a passing drill if they got it to 9 just so they could keep 'playing.'

 

[Woyzeck]

We had a thread about this already in the Canada subforum.

You can't foster a non-competitive environment in a league, something where competition between teams is the entire point. Sportsmanship isn't about not getting shut out in a game, or scoring huge amounts of points. It's about dignity in losing and dignity in winning. You don't let something bad get in the way of the reason you're there, to play a good game.

Almost ironic that they try to dampen the reason you're there. Who can enjoy the full game if they have the mercy rule?

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

You dont get to find out anything about your character is you aren't challenged .My son boxed while he wore braces( his mothers contribution) and a mouth guard There would be blood but as long as he defended himself they let it go on.He found out
he had heart and skills unrelenting drive , that is part of who he is .

I dont know how you prove that to someone ,outside the crucible of real competition.

 

[saveliberty]

We had a thread about this already in the Canada subforum.

You can't foster a non-competitive environment in a league, something where competition between teams is the entire point. Sportsmanship isn't about not getting shut out in a game, or scoring huge amounts of points. It's about dignity in losing and dignity in winning. You don't let something bad get in the way of the reason you're there, to play a good game.

Almost ironic that they try to dampen the reason you're there. Who can enjoy the full game if they have the mercy rule?

You make it sound like sportsmanship is the sole purpose of the game. It is not. Playing to your potential, improving your skills, staying or getting healthy and representing your team are also key parts.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

Stupid Canadians.

 

[ConHog]

I see the spirit behind this rule, but a better policy would be a mercy rule, which almost every youth league that I've been associated with has. As was stated above, there are some coaches who are just assholes who frankly have no business coaching kids who will run up the score but there are also situations where no matter what a coach does the opponent just can't hang, no one should be punished for that.

 

[Harry Dresden]

hey i was reading about little league baseball leagues that dont keep score.....

 

[kellyjack]

If the score gets too bad they can always walk off. If you can't take the heat stay out of the kichen.