Draining the sports swamp

“To raise new questions, new problems, to regard old problems from new angles requires creative imagination to make real advances” — Albert Einstein

Wherever games and sports are played, there are the inevitable spoilers, people — often well-intentioned — who destroy the magic of the games children and youth play. Spoilers tend to be parents, coaches and even athletes themselves who through vulgar and contentious conduct, violate the spirit of sport.

If we insist that the problem resides within the minds of pushy parents, zealous coaches, ambitious administrators, and spoilt-brat players and athletes, we ignore the root of the problem. To single out such offenders is like blaming the carriers of a disease, not the conditions that produced it. My lifelong friend, and co-author of two books, Dr. David Canning Epperson uses the metaphor “drain the swamp” to signal the need to eliminate the breeding grounds of the winning-at-all-costs attitude that is ruining American sports, and threatens nations worldwide. 

In most sports programmes for children, the unruly conduct of parents, coaches, spectators, and athletes tends to be glossed over or accepted as inevitable. For sports programme administrators to proclaim zero tolerance policies is like issuing pest repellant and requiring everyone to use it. But reducing damage done by pests does not address the source of the problem, the breeding ground of the infestation. The problem is in the ubiquitous failure to “drain the swamp”, i.e. to eliminate the breeding ground of the win-at-all-costs mentality.

Given my experience of several decades as a coach, sports administrator, consultant and writer, I believe I understand the causes and effects of the win-at-all-costs culture which has pervaded sports in America and increasingly around the world. The prime causes are:

Lack of family involvement in sports communities

• The failure of sports programme administrators to develop conduct guidelines for parents, coaches and athletes.

• Parents who have had little opportunity to achieve maturity as sports parents and hence are still living through their children.

• Parents who are neither inclined nor equipped to lead a parent-initiated movement designed to counter the winning-is-everything sports culture.

Inadequate sports organisations

• Collegiate sports that hold out the promise of scholarships for top school and club athletes.

• Coaches and sports administrators whose career prospects are determined by their win-loss records.

• School and club programmes which serve only best-performing athletes.

Deficient regulatory bodies

• They place heavy emphasis in Olympic and international sports on winning medals and ranking athletes.

• College/university sports federations which refuse to implement policies regulating the outrageous conduct of some coaches, athletes, and spectators.

• High school sports federations which fail to invest time and effort in promoting virtues like respect, civility, responsibility, and community. Federation leaders who tend to be overly focused on competitive meets, championships and mega events.

Values dictated by the marketplace

• Easy accessibility to professional sports on television which highlight the in-your-face, winning is everything culture.

• Media which creates and celebrates contentiousness to build up drama and excitement to attract viewers in the highly competitive entertainment market. Cameras and commentators beam upon browbeating coaches, taunting athletes, and out-of-control spectators.

• Sky-rocketing salaries and celebrity status of professional athletes which makes them (bad) role models.

Deteriorating social values

• The general decline of civility in our social institutions has spilled over into sports.

• The American tradition of showcasing and celebrating the drama of competition wherever it occurs. We tend to be forgiving of overzealous individuals in pursuit of their personal dreams.

My recommendation is to devise government and institutional guidelines which will enable parents to develop into mature sports mentors of children, and simultaneously prepare leaders to promote healthy sports. One powerful proposition for reducing the impact of spoilers is to develop conduct guidelines for parents, athletes, and coaches. Parents too, can significantly diminish behaviour which belittles the value of sports education of children, families, and communities. By closely working with coaches and athletes, they can begin the process of draining the swamp.

(Dr. George A. Selleck is a San Francisco-based advisor to EduSports, Bangalore)