Marta,
I can’t believe I’m about to do this since I have never posted anything before and I’m also sure my comments are probably going to make me sound like a bit of a prude which is not my intent, but I'll let the chips fall where they may... My daughter plays for BC. I too was at the game today. To say the ref’s caused “frustration” may be reaching a bit, but that’s soccer -- or any sport for that matter. All ref’s are human and as one told me one time they are “paid to make calls – not always the right ones”. Gotta give ‘em credit for getting out there. Also, you guys won and the score should be posted correctly. No arguments here. My problem with your post however is in calling our girls “unsportsmanlike” for refusing to shake hands. I’m not sure what you saw, but I saw most of the girls shaking hands from both teams on the field right after the whistle. I didn’t do a head count but I didn’t notice anyone not shaking hands. Maybe I just missed something. What I can say with a fair amount of certainty is that if any of our girls didn’t shake hands, then it will be addressed by the coaching staff.
The real issue I wanted to address here is the subject of language on the field. I promise I’m not directing this totally towards BE but with at least one yellow card issued today against BE for “foul language” it really made me wonder how coaches in general deal with the issue. I’m not a Puritan by any stretch of the imagination, but my daughter is continually amazed at the amount of profanity that she says is used on the field. She says that today's game ranked pretty high in the language department as well. I also know that our girls probably aren't completely innocent either. I know coaches can’t always hear what’s going on, but they also can’t be completely in the dark about it, especially when players are carded for the issue. Now again, any player who is comfortable with saying these type of things on the field may have permission to speak this way at home. But I'm also pretty certain they aren’t allowed to talk like this in the classroom and to me any HS related activities are an extension of the classroom and should be subject to the same rules. Any coaches care to comment? Parents? Have I just officially turned into my parents??
I guess my final thoughts are that before you call out entire teams for being “unsportsmanlike”, I hope you understand that things work both ways. You are definitely entitled to your opinion and have the freedom to post anything you like, but please keep in mind that we’re talking about kids here and we should all strive to make sure that they understand that at the end of the day, soccer is just a game. Someone’s gonna win and someone’s gonna lose most every game. It’s our job as parents, coaches (and even referees!) to make sure we are all doing our best to teach these young ladies what is and isn’t acceptable, whether its on the field, in the classroom or in life.
Dang. Can’t believe I wrote all this. Sorry for the sermon. I think I’m just gonna go back to “anonymous status” for the rest of my daughter’s career..
