Blowouts are harmful in the long run

When I was 14, I played in a high school football side that lost 16-0. I was a good footballer – I had ambitions of playing the game for a living. But I went to a small school with few sporting resources and no history of success.

I remember the hot flush of humiliation as goal after goal poured in. As sweeper, I was like a drenched King Canute.

Its effect on me was to make me train harder, play harder – I knew I could be as good as those opposing me. But I wasn’t the important part of this lopsided equation.

A handful of my friends played in that team for a variety of reasons – some liked football despite not being talented, some liked the camaraderie of playing with their mates and had done so since early primary school.

Those friends found no benefit in having opposition players laughing at them.

I’d imagine there’s a few Hawera High School basketballers feeling the same way after being demolished 207-27 by Palmerston North Boys’ High School at a national secondary schools regional match this week.

There’s no suggestion that PNBHS should have mucked around and not tried once the discrepancy in score and ability rapidly became apparent.

Coach Miles Pearce, a former Tall Black, said he played his bench a lot.

But there’s still ways in basketball to ensure you’re not humiliating the opposition.

Slow the pace of the game – it appears PNBHS were constantly pressing and trapping the hapless Hawera side. Once the score has ballooned, practise your halfcourt defence – in your own half.

Do the same offensively. Run plays for a 24-second shot-clock instead of fast breaks. To score 207 in 40 minutes requires throwing up shots quicker than President Trump lies.

There’s been a big push in US school sports this century against the idea of ‘running up the score’. In gridiron matches, teams with big leads in mismatched encounters will bench their starters, always run the ball instead of throwing to chew up the game clock and punt.

The coaches, the players and the parents have learnt that no-one benefits from one-sided thrashings. The good team doesn’t get better by beating up on inferior players, while the players on the lesser team are embarrassed and hurt.

In the internet era, scores like these are widely publicised, quickly. Players on the losing side will get teased on social media.

Two of my friends stopped playing football – the only sport they partook in as teenagers – the week after our thumping. Three more never played after that season finished.

Those are the numbers that truly matter.