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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A Wellness Perspective on Girls Slaughtering Each Other: In Life, Competitors Run Up the Score If They Can -- Games Should Reflect This Reality!

Monday March 10, 2003

A major fuss is being made about dreadful mismatches involving high school girls basketball teams. In this sport, it often happens that some schools run up the score unmercifully against inferior opponents. The contretemps raise questions about sportsmanship, fair play and the point of sports. Apparently, girls are being slaughtered (by other girls) athletically all over the country. Here are a few examples taken from a feature story on this phenomenon in a New York Times piece entitled "Routs Fuel School Sports Debate," March 4, 2003.

Walkerville High School (MI) 115

Lakeshore Public Academy 2

Bluffton High School (IN) 77

Blackhawk Christian 17

Anacostia High School (D.C.) 90

Cardozo 2

Dunbar High School (D.C.) 187

Idea Charter School 19

Plans are underway to make new rules that would prevent lopsided scores. One high school athletic association official in favor of such reforms explained that school sports exist to educate kids and that "no one should be embarrassed in high school." Ha! That will be the day. Kids will be embarrassed in high school no matter what officials do to prevent it. If adults could protect kids from embarrassment in high school, they would be easy marks for embarrassing moments after graduation! This notion of trying to protect inept sports teams is ill advised, in my view.

I think all kids, including girls who play basketball, need to learn a few fundamental lessons that sports can help convey. One is that preparation matters. Go on the court unprepared against a goliath and you will lose, big time. The solution? Take on those your own size, or expect a thrashing and don't make a big deal about it. You can play the game and have fun, even if you get clobbered. The key is not to overreact by viewing the game as having more consequence than it deserves, don't quit and try to learn a thing or two along the way. This perspective can enable a motivation to get better, as well. One Michigan high school player, whose team was buried by a huge score, demonstrated what I think is the most functional mindset: "We never gave up, but they were just a lot better than we were."

Coaches can and usually do pull their first teams and employ other methods to prevent the kinds of blowouts seen in the scores listed above, but there is not much fun in requiring young athletes to play with their hands tied behind their backs, or with similar restrictions. Kids who do not shoot, dribble and run very well are going to lose big, no matter what. That's how it's always been, and that's how it will be later in life. Get used to it -- or learn to shoot, dribble and run!

It would be nice, especially for the spectators (parents, mostly), to call a halt to the proceedings when the score got wildly out of balance but the operant word here is "wildly." A simple slaughter is not enough.

My favorite part of the NY Times story about this silly effort to prevent athletic slaughters was a quote from a 14-year old girl whose team was on the wrong end of a big blowout. She said, "What I like about basketball is you get a feeling of accomplishment when you're on the court. We may be losing now, but one day we'll start winning." Just so.

Always look on the bright side of life.

Domain: mental
Subdomain: factual knowledge

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