For most kids, the first song they learn to sing is the “ABC’s” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Me? The first song I learned was “Take Me Out To The Ballgame.” From the time I could stand, I’ve had a baseball bat in my hands. It was a huge part of my life. I was heart-broken when I finally had to give it up my senior year due to a major elbow injury.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started playing 12” softball. I immediately fell in love with the game. I played in a corporate league for a year before I was asked to play in a church league. For the 3 years I was in that league, I never experienced such poor attitudes and bad sportsmanship . I saw elders of churches throw temper tantrums that would rival those of my 7 month old. I heard cursing, swearing and complaining in front of kids and teenagers. I saw coaches get in verbal shouting matches with volunteer umpires.
Now I know what you’re thinking: maybe they were non-Christians that were on the team. Doubtful. One of the rules was that all but 1 of the players on your roster had to be a member of your church!
I didn’t realize how bad it was until last week. I started playing in a corporate/bar league in Wisconsin with a friend of mine. As we were playing, both sides complimented each other on good plays. There were no arguments with the umpires. The only negative words that were displayed were at their own teammates. Opposing teams were joking around with each other. It was nice.
Why does the corporate/beer league look more like what the church league should be?
This isn’t an isolate incident. I go to a denomination-wide national basketball tournament every spring for junior high students. Every year, I see parents curing out referees. I see adults yelling at each other. I have even seen a good number of parents get ejected from the games!
It’s a rarity that I see Christians have good sportsmanship while playing sports. Why is that? Why are we such poor examples on the court or baseball diamond? It’s something that has baffled me for years.
Have you experienced this? What are your thoughts?
I’ve been a volunteer umpire at some of these church softball games and I’ve had to throw members of my own church (although, admittedly, on the other team) out of games because of constant swearing. It’s awkward for me, a twenty-something year old girl, to toss out thirty-something year old men, but I think it’s necessary. The repercussions of doing that however were unexpected. The player(s) I threw out didn’t talk to me for months. Again, not a Christian response.
ReplyDelete