Are High School Sports in Danger?
By: Hanna Young
When did booing, trash talking, and fighting become normal for high school sports? These disgusting behaviors are happening between not only the teams that are competing, but also from the parents, coaches, and fans that are in attendance at these events. Several people are reporting that sportsmanship is not practiced to the degree that it used to be. This is leaving room for egregious behaviors as well as terrible exchanges during sporting events. The behavior seems to be sucking the fun out of these competitions.
Over the last 10 years I have attended hundreds of sporting events between covering games for the newspaper, coaching youth sports, and just going to enjoy the game. The behaviors that I have seen continue to deteriorate each and every year. I have witnessed student athletes ghastly exchanges not only with other teams, but within their own organization as well. One of the years I was coaching a third through sixth grade girls basketball team I had one of my third graders call me a horrific name. I have heard parents yelling terrible things onto the playing field including derogatory statements as well as cuss words. I have even watched parents and officials get into squabbles about calls. One of the games that I was in attendance at, an official told one of the athletes asking about a call to “shut up” before ignoring the questions being asked. This made me wonder if there were other people that noticed the things I was seeing at these sporting events.
It turns out I am not the only one that has been noticing these changes surrounding high school sports. An article published by the azcentral stated that “Since the 2017-18 school year began, there have been more than 800 athlete ejections in all of the fall and winter sports” (Obert). This comes after the Arizona Interscholastic Association tightens some of the regulations around sportsmanship and the expectations surrounding sporting events. The National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) conducted a survey about high school athletics and the positive environments including sportsmanship. The survey found “. . . 68 percent of the respondents said sportsmanship is getting worse – six years earlier in a similar survey 57 percent indicated behavior was getting worse. And 72 percent of the officials indicated they are treated unfairly by coaches” (Niehoff). This is a direct indicator that high school sports are not moving in a promising direction. Sportsmanship has been thrown out the window and bad behaviors are unfortunately starting to become more prominent.
While cheering or even grumbling about a call an official makes is acceptable, high school sports are starting to take the leap into the next level. There are too many things being swept under the rug involving behaviors of the athletes, parents, coaches, fans, and officials. These events are becoming hostile and they are not environments that high school students should be competing in. At the end of the day these events are meant to teach students life lessons, develop their social lives, as well as provide an outlet for these athletes. Something needs to change to preserve all the good things about high school athletics.
Works Cited
Niehoff, Karissa. “Unacceptable Behavior at High School Sporting Events – It’s Still Happening.” NFHS, 8 May 2024, www.nfhs.org/articles/unacceptable-behavior-at-high-school-sporting-events-it-s-still-happening/
Obert, Richard. “High School Sports Gone Wild: What Has Happened to Sportsmanship?” The Arizona Republic, The Republic | azcentral.com, 9 Feb. 2018, www.azcentral.com/story/sports/high-school/2018/02/08/high-school-sports-gone-wild-what-has-happened-sportsmanship/320823002/.
