Fedore Writer

“You suck!” Stomp, stomp. “You suck!” Stomp, stomp.

I was seated in front of a group of young people that were joining in this chant set to music blared over the loudspeaker. A chant obviously sanctioned by the sports organization. I thought to myself, “No wonder my job as an administrator supervising sports and spectators was so difficult.” As a retired school administrator, it’s hard to ignore situations where young people are being rude or disrespectful, but I didn’t react. I ruminated, instead.

This particular group of young people were Boy Scouts. “If Boy Scouts are participating in these kinds of chants, high school administrators have their work cut out for them,” I thought as I cringed each time the music prompted the fans to chant, “You suck.”

School administrators, coaches, officials, and other employees attempt to hold high school fans to rigorous standards of sportsmanship. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which governs athletics and activities in schools, provides guidance on sports fan’s behavior, such as “cheers and chants [should be] directed only toward your school’s team. Cheers or yells with degrading opponent implications and profanity will not be allowed.” Furthermore, sports-fan supervisors have the right to enforce these expectations with a range of responses. These include asking the student or students to stop the chant and, if the request is not successful, asking the student to leave the game, which involves phone calls to parents to let them know their child is no longer allowed at the game.

When supervisors don’t respond or aren’t able to control chants, an official might speak with us about curbing our fan’s behavior, and worse yet, sanction our team with a technical foul. Periodically, on a Monday after a Friday night sports competition, I would be greeted with a formal complaint from the opposing school regarding our fan’s behavior and needed to address it.

Proactively (and unfortunately reactively), school administrators meet with student leaders to discuss solutions, such as promoting popular positive chants and communicating clear expectations. Many times, this was successful and built a positive school culture around what sportsmanship means. What citizenship means. What it means to compete against an opponent without insults. That maybe insults aren’t necessary to win.

And yet, I sat at a professional sports event with a crowd chanting, “you suck,” and observed Boy Scouts participating despite their Scout Law, which includes being courteous, kind, and reverent. I empathized with the scout leaders’ challenge of upholding these kinds of laws when a sports organization promotes yelling at the opposing team. Who can compete with that?

I had similar administrator’s ruminations when I saw the news regarding smack talk leading up to the Summer Olympics. Australian swimmer, Cate Campbell, complained about the “infernal cow bell” in their warm-up area during the World Championship. Noise makers at high school and many college sports events are prohibited, yet they were allowed at a highly publicized event, making it even more challenging for school sports supervisors to uphold a ban of noise makers.

Ultimately, my goal in writing this blog is to build awareness of the dynamics of professional sports culture clashing with the sportsmanship being taught at middle and high schools. I appreciated the opportunity to work in a sovereign environment where we could promote the ideals of sportsmanship. I recognize that school administrators have no control over what happens outside of our purview, but I hope that people reading this will consider alternatives to chanting “you suck,” yelling derogatory statements, and hammering on a cow bell, and will choose to be more positive role models for young people that are expected to uphold a higher standard of behavior.

Sources used were: https://www.wiaa.com/fans/  Boy Scouts of America   The United States and Australian Swimming Rivalry  Michael Phelps Gets Riled Up