Wednesday, February 28, 2001

Little League violence

By GREGORY K. MOFFATT, PH. D
Child's Play

Little league violence is a problem all over the country. I am not talking about violence between little boys and little girls. Rather I am talking about violence between the adults who attend these games.

There are numerous recorded incidents of violence at little league games around the country where coaches, parents, and others have spit on, hit, shot, and stabbed others over issues surrounding the game.

One incident ten years ago left a man so severely injured that he has just this year been able to return to work and twice in recent years these episodes have ended in murder.

Just two weeks ago an incident occurred in our own county where one person cut another with a knife at a little league athletic event.

Violence is always troubling, but it is exceptionally frustrating when it happens over something so trivial as an official's decision in a little league game. Not only that, but these episodes happen in front impressionable youngsters on the athletic field and in the stands.

Why do we get so emotional over little league ballgames? I propose several reasons.

One reason this happens is that these events involve our children and we are very protective of them. If we perceive that our children are frustrated, angry, or being mistreated by a coach, official, another player, or even a spectator, we feel the need to defend them.

Often, however, the child perceives a parent's intervention, not as a defense, but as an embarrassing intrusion. More often than not, they would prefer we keep our mouths closed.

Second, we the game far too seriously. We get wrapped up in the excitement of the game and expect it to be error and injury free, but that is an unrealistic hope.

Part of the fallibility of athletics is learning to deal with the normal disappointments and errors of the game. Umpires make mistakes, fans say thoughtless things, and coaches will make decisions we do not like.

Little league athletics exist to teach sportsmanship and the rules of the game, as well as to provide recreation and social interaction for children. The purpose of little league, contrary to the opinion of some parents, is not to provide a proving ground for future Larry Birds or Sammy Sosas.

Life is full of disappointments, 'unfair' decisions, and frustrations. Little league provides a place for children to learn how to cope with this normal part of life. Many times, though, parents and coaches miss the opportunity to teach a life skill instead demonstrating poor coping skills through their anger, catcalls, and aggression.

Third, some adults have not learned to control their anger. Not only do they act out on the athletic field, they also drive aggressively, loose their tempers at work and at home, and generally have poor coping skills.

The little league field is just another forum for them to demonstrate their inability to control their own behavior. For these individuals, anger management or personal counseling may help to bring back for all of us the joy of the game that has somehow been lost.

Finally, our culture has sanctioned poor personal conduct. In 1996, Baltimore Oriole Roberto Alomar spit in an umpire's face. His behavior, while condemned in the media, received only a slap on the wrist and, perhaps worse, the fans cheered his return to the field where they should have protested the decision to allow him to play.

Numerous examples of atrocious behavior in various sports could be listed, but the point is, we accept outrageous behavior from professionals who should know better.

The days of athletic gentility days when Bill Russell dominated the basketball court, Arthur Ashe led on the tennis court, and Walter Payton inspired us on the gridiron are gone. Replacing these heroes and gentlemen are arrogant individualists like Dennis Rodman and Roberto Alomar. It is to these misfits that our children look for inspiration.

Research has demonstrated that parents' unreasonable behavior will directly contribute to the decision of over half of the millions of children who play little league athletics to discontinue organized sports by age 13. Let's get it together and be better leaders.