The shove was so blatant that even my8 year old pointed it out and said “They’re not allowed to do that, Mom.”
And yet some of the parents were up on their feet, screaming their heads off, yelling that nothing happened, what is the ref calling, this is ridiculous, he didn’t even touch the kid on the ground, the ref sucks, it’s all rigged.
What are you teaching that child? Because yes, he’s a child, even though he’s in high school.
That something against the rules of soccer, that could actually hurt another player, that’s clearly bad sportsmanship, that it’s okay to act like it didn’t even happen because that would be the better call for your team?
If that were your child on the ground, would you think it was okay?
No, you wouldn’t.
And I know this for a fact because a few minutes later, it is your child on the ground.
He went down right in front of where I was sitting and I saw exactly what happened. I almost wish I’d been videoing the game because your child tripped over the ball and went down, looking like a cartoon character. After I saw he was okay, I actually giggled because it did look like something that could only happen in a cartoon.
Yet, you’re on your feet, screaming once again, this time for the head of the player nearest your child, since obviously he pushed your child. Except he didn’t. He was more than an arm’s length away and your child just had a clumsy moment.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t think it’s okay when one child actually shoves another and then want someone’s head when they didn’t even do anything.
Your kids are watching. They’re listening. They can’t help but listen since you’re screaming.
You want your child to play their hardest, to do their best, for their team to win.
I’m not unfamiliar with the competitive spirit.
But how do you want them to win? What kind of players do you want them to be? What kind of person?
I know you want them to take the credit when they do something to help their team win, but then you should also expect them to take responsibility for their negative behavior, too.
*Observation from a high school soccer game I recently attended, where my husband was one of the coaches, and both teams’ spectators sat on the same bleachers. So none of this is coming from personal feelings about what was happening to my own child, as none of mine were on the field. And if you want to know which side it was exhibiting this behavior, I’ll never tell.