When Did They Change The Rules For Girls' Basketball?

What Ever Happened To Sportsmanship?

A young lady, age 15, recently invited me to watch her play in a basketball game at the local high school. Having participated in the sport myself many years ago, I was more than happy to go.

What a shock it was to see how the rules, (or at least the interpretation of the rules,) had changed.

These young girls were commiting all kinds of fouls, with and without the encouragement of their coaches, without penalties of any kind. Pushing, shoving, bumping, and tripping was a common occurance.

During the forty minutes of playing time, at least 6 girls were knocked completely to the floor. Twice, a time out was called for the player to be replaced, and the rowdy game continued.

A few members of the audience called out crude comments to the players, and to fellow observers who dared to clap for the opposing team.

One coach made a habit of yelling, "Foul her, foul her!" to his team. Actually, the team was doing a pretty good job of that without his encouragement, but only two or three of the dozens of fouls were actually called during the game.

Thinking that this must have been an extremely unusual game, I made it a point to attend several more in the following weeks, and even watched games played by teams other than that of my young friend. Guess what? Such behavior was not an exception at all. It seemed to have become the rule.

Is this happening everywhere, or is it just in our small school district? I, for one, intend to do some complaining to the coaches, the school principal, superintendent, and even to the school board if necessary.

I think the time has come to put the word "good" back in front of "sportsmanship"