Everybody's Actions Matter
Mike Meyerle
January 10, 2012
I would encourage our fans that attend our athletic events to practice good sportsmanship as we request before each game. Yelling at or criticizing officials does no good. We would be better served to use positive comments toward our team than to dwell on the negative.
Officials will miss calls occasionally. This happens at all levels. Those that officiate high school contests do so because they enjoy the game and to make a little extra money beyond their full time job. Most people probably would not enjoy working a full day, and then going to a part time job in the evening, and being yelled at as their work is observed. In addition, I don’t believe most people that attend high school games would fair very well on a rules test.
I understand how sports bring out the best and the worst in people. Officials conduct their work and it is out of the fans control. There is a good deal of trust with a referee officiating a game. We put our trust in pilots, doctors, mechanics etc. However, athletic officiating is where a lot of people draw the line and for some reason think they know more than the official. Instead of criticizing someone that officiates games all the time and is responsible to pass rules tests, I again would suggest using positive energy toward our kids.
The officials are not the reason we get beat or struggle. If you want to make our kids better, encourage them to spend hundreds of hours a year beyond practice in the weight room, and hundreds more ball handling and shooting. Getting bigger, stronger and better solves a lot of problems. If you think I am calling the kids out, you are correct. All of our kids can do better. I include my own kids. Austin is going to have to spend a lot of time getting better or he will be getting about 1 rebound a game while telling jokes from the bench. Mad will need to worry more about her effort than her appearance. Carly will have to try and make it through the warm-up without getting kicked out for running her mouth or fighting. Again, all kids can do better. We should push them to be better regarding their behavior, effort and preparation. Push them to be overachievers instead of excuse makers.
As we move forward I ask our fans to support our students in a way we can all be proud of. Poor fan behavior sets a bad example for our students. It tells them poor behavior is acceptable and contradicts much of what we try to do at school to improve conduct and behavior. Many of us have had discussions about our unpleasant travels to Nebraska road games and how we were treated. I don’t want people leaving games after playing Diller-Odell with the impression that we whine, complain and practice bad sportsmanship. Be proud of what you say at games. Comments to the contrary embarrass you, our community and our school.
M. Meyerle
