Violence in the Stands

Each week I look for articles or events that are positive in youth sports as, like I have said many times before, I feel that youth sports are good for our children as they teach children many valuable lessons that can be used into their adulthood; however, week after week the bad news overwhelms the good and unfortunately that is where I end up when writing my blogs and over the last few weeks there were two stories that stuck out for me.  First, was the New Jersey wrestler who decided to follow his father into the stands of the New Jersey State Wrestling Championships to join a melee among the parents. The second story involves a Cheerleading competition in Dallas, Texas where a riot broke out when two fathers decided to fight in the stands.

            A brief synopsis of the wrestling story is as follows: according to the article on NJ.com published by Steve Politi “Eleven days ago a young wrestler was involved in a melee during the state wrestling meet in Collingswood, New Jersey to join his father in the fight because his father stated that opposing fans were yelling racial slurs at wrestlers he used to coach.” Mr. Politi goes on to state that “no one else heard a peep”.  Mr. Politi explains further that “the young wrestler sprinted into those bleachers – a clear violation of the NJSIAA’s sportsmanship policy – because he told several TV stations; he was trying to defend his family.  Forget that his mother was trying to stop him, and his father is a retired MMA fighter.”  Following this incident, the wrestler was disqualified by the NJSIAA for “leaving the bench area,” a violation of NJSIAA’s rules for ALL sports.

            Of course, the next step was the family taking the NJSIAA to court where both a Superior Court Judge and later the Appellate Division ruled against the NJSIAA and allowed this young wrestler to continue in the competition.  Now, I am not going to use the forum to comment on either the Judges or the Appellate Courts ruling because I am neither an attorney, nor was I in the courtroom for either of the hearings; however, according to Mr. Politi the judge erred when he ruled because the rule “that allows executive director Colleen Maguire to issue disqualifications is only a proposed rule.  Forget that a simple Google search would have shown him that this is simply not true, just one of several errors in the judge’s decision.” Following the legal decisions, the wrestler’s attorney issued the following statement “my client did nothing wrong.” He said this not 24 hours after police in Collingswood charged the wrestler with “repeatedly” punching a minor. The moment was captured on video.  Finally, Mr. Politi states that “Participation in high school sports is a privilege — or, at least, that’s what it is supposed to be. One line from the Judge’s ruling, which bordered on judicial malpractice, was especially chilling: “Given the prominent role high school athletics play in society, this court acknowledges irreparable harm to someone at the pinnacle of his high school career.” In other words, a New Jersey judge just told the world that high school sports are above the law. That is, if you can afford the right lawyer.”

            While I admitted earlier that I am not an attorney, I am an individual who played/coached youth sports for years and I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Politi’s assessment that participation in high school sport is a privilege and not a right, regarding the fact that you are trying to become just the fifth four-time state champion.  I would be interested to know if this young wrestler was trying to become a champion for the first or second time if the judge would have ruled the same way?  In a moment of full disclosure I would like to admit when I played high school soccer I was red carded for fighting (I am pretty sure the other guy started it…LOL) and amazingly enough I sat out the next game, as per the NJSIAA rules at the time and my parents never thought of running to a lawyer or the courthouse to stop my suspension and on top of that, I spent a full practice running laps while my teammates practiced, and again there were no complaints to my coach from either my parents or me….times sure have changed.  The funny thing is part of the mission statement of the school that this young wrestler attends states that the athletic programs of the school “not only promote physical fitness and wellness but also instill important values such as teamwork, discipline, leadership, and sportsmanship (bolded for emphasis). Students have the chance to develop essential life skills through participation in sports, contributing to their overall personal growth and development.”  Obviously, this family did not read the mission statement.

            The other story dealt with the Dallas police responding to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center for what they thought was an active shooter situation only to find out there was no active shooter but rather, following their investigation, a fight between two parents in the stands led to multiple poles being knocked down which caused a noise that sounded like gunshots.  This led to a panic in the building, followed by a stampede ending with multiple non-life-threatening injuries.  The article goes on the state “At first I wanted to laugh at the thought of fathers - grown men - throwing down at their daughters cheerleading competition, but then I watched that video of the little kid down on the ground in the fetal position at the start of that video and then what appears to be another kid caught in the middle of the scrum, and got sick to my stomach.” I guess my question is what possibly could have happened at a children’s cheerleading competition that would lead parents to fight in the stands and I would have asked the same question…why are grown men starting a riot at a CHILDRENS CHEERLEADING competition? 

As I have stated in many previous blogs I am a firm believer in youth sports for the positive reasons I have stated numerous times; however, the negative part of youth sports continue to rear its ugly head over the past two weeks and neither incident was instigated by a player on the field of play (please note that I do not condone that either), but rather parents in the stands who, in my opinion should know better and who need to work to set an example for their children.