Jul 12, 2008

Good sport, bad sport

Local Little League takes steps to promote good sportsmanship, including trophies for those who do good.

By Vytas Mazeika / Daily News Staff Writer

At the age of 12, if that, what does a Little Leaguer need to prove? How about the fact that there's more important things than winning, such as sportsmanship?

"If you lose and you give a great effort, and you play hard and you hustle, then you have to tip your hat to the other team," said former San Francisco Giants first baseman J.T. Snow, also the third-base coach for the District 52 9-and-10-year-old Hillsborough All-Stars, which includes his son Shane. "You show sportsmanship and you congratulate them."

Easier said that done - at least when it comes to the adults.

"I do games all up and down San Mateo County, and from wealthy areas to areas that aren't as well off, the behavior of the kid is by in large terrific," District 52 chief umpire Tom Dolan said. "In Little League, most of the aggression is vented by the coaches and managers and the parents rather than the kids themselves."

This is not uncommon in youth sports.



Menlo-Atherton LL

Sportsmanlike conduct requires fairness, courtesy and being a cheerful loser.

Not so long ago in Menlo-Atherton Little League, one coach turned his team into a group of bunters because that's easier to teach than hitting, therefore putting winning ahead of learning. In other instances, 12-year-old volunteer umpires were berated by adult coaches for controversial calls.

"We had a number of those situations where we felt it was inappropriate," Menlo-Atherton Little League Board of Directors member Dale Sakai said. "That's not benefiting the kids."

That's why radical changes were made to change the nature of Little League baseball in Menlo-Atherton.

There are fewer games and more practices. Little Leaguers are now grouped according to age, and each division has a player-coach development program to improve quality of fundamental skills. This past season, the varsity baseball program at Menlo-Atherton High was in charge of the T-Ball player-coach development program while Menlo School took care of the AA players.

"I think the overall quality of play is vastly improved," Sakai said.

During the season, Menlo-Atherton Little League stopped keeping score until AAA, stressing the importance of learning, having fun and sportsmanship. Maybe coincidentally, parents appeared more relaxed with no score to keep track of.

"In general, the tenor of the games this year was very different than in years past," Sakai said. "And you know what, the kids liked it better."



Positive Coaching Alliance

Here's a riddle: who speaks first, the parent or the coach?

"You actually become a parent as a coach," said Robert Cambridge, co-coach of the Palo Alto National team that won the District 52 Super Bowl tournament. "You do end up teaching lessons for them to grow up and become an adult, especially at this age. At 12 especially, going on 13, you see kids going one way or the other way and you try to help them even if it's outside of baseball. So it does become very personal."

Sometimes, though, it becomes personal on a bad level.

"I remember all of the heated discussions about rules, about when people were allowed to cheer and when they weren't allowed to cheer," said Dolan, a former board member of Foster City Little League.

Parents and coaches need to co-exist for the benefit of the children. To this end, Menlo-Atherton Little League has partnered with Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit group formed at Stanford University with a mission statement to transform sports so sports can transform youth.

"Too often coaches, parents and league administrators are too focused on winning and losing on the scoreboard," Positive Coach Alliance marketing communications manager David Jacobson said. "They don't capitalize on the opportunity to teach life lessons through sports."

Positive Coaching Alliance tackles one league at a time through a series of live group workshops. Attendance was mandatory for the meticulously chosen Menlo-Atherton Little League coaches. Separate workshops are offered to parents, and Menlo-Atherton Little League required a parent representative. Everyone received a workbook with information on education and sports psychology on which the curriculum is based.



An umpire who has worked nearly 100 games says he has noticed a difference in the way coaches interact during games this season.

"It's great that the change would occur; and it's great that the umpires notice it," Jacobson said. "Anytime an umpire tells you that he's getting less abuse than he used to, that's a step in the right direction."



Sportsmanship awards

Take it from a major-leaguer when he says baseball is the perfect sport for Little Leaguers to learn sportsmanship.

"I think at this age it's everything," Snow said. "In all sports it's big, but I think in baseball it's huge. The kids are out there on their own - the pitcher, the hitter, the fielder. And if a kid strikes out, there's nowhere to hide. If a pitcher gives up a home run, if a fielder makes an error, you're out there by yourself. The kids learn at an early age how to handle themselves and be positive."

This is the first year Menlo-Atherton Little League handed out sportsmanship awards. One member from each team was selected to receive a trophy at June's second annual Player Appreciation Day at Burgess Park. In contrast, there is no award for the most valuable player.

The presentation took place between the AAA and Majors championship games. It honored players who exemplified the spirit of the game and the spirit of Little League itself - "Play Fair, Strive to Win, Do One's Best."

It's a small step toward teaching kids that winning isn't everything, though quite often they already understand losing is not the end of the world.

"I hear a lot of stories about a losing team in a big game, maybe for the league championship or something, and they're down for 10 minutes, 15 minutes," Dolan said. "And half-hour from now, you wouldn't even know they played a big game."

As far as adults, that may be a whole other issue.



E-mail Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com.