Will:
I have always been a fan of letting kids express their joy as long as they are not taunting the other team, their fans, etc.
For instance, I feel that what your kid did is fine... i'm sure he watches his soccer heroes do that during every EPL or Champions League game he watches. However, I would be willing to draw the line at a player giving the "shhh" sign to the opposing fans. I echo the sentiments that players and coaches should understand the opponent and when celebrations are appropriate.
I think some kind of language such as "a celebration is deemed not excessive if the celebration is moving toward midfield and/or is directed at the scorer's bench or home fans. If the team that was scored upon gets the ball back to midfield before the celebration has ended, the celebration is deemed to be delaying the game and the celebrating player will be issued a yellow card." This would allow players to slide, hug teammates, pump up the home fans, etc. and the focus would be on the exhilaration of scoring a goal and not taunting. Although I was a GKer, I scored 1 official career goal... i can only imagine the joy of scoring a goal in an important game!
Although I think Roger Milla dancing at the corner flag during the 1990 World Cup is one of the greatest celebrations of all time, i feel that is not appropriate for high school-- hence the "moving toward midfield" clause. If it's wet, let the kids slide... if it's dry, let him run toward the bench and point at the name of the school on his jersey.... let the kids be excited about what just happened.
Jason Hamil
