SHOW SOME RESPECT
The Australian championships have shone the light on the good and bad of junior sport. Sadly, I’m left to ponder what has gone wrong with some of the youth in sport.
I WENT to the national under-14 to open track and field championships in Sydney last week.
The competition went for seven days and the people who attended saw some great performances.
There were some outstanding athletes; one in particular came from Western Australia. His name: Sasha Zhoya. He won the under-18 pole vault with a “world leading clearance” and then went on to win the 110m hurdles and 200m.
All wins were not just “wins”. They were national records by huge margins.
Each time, he accepted his dominance in a wonderful manner – he congratulated all other competitors and acknowledged the crowd’s excitement at his performance.
He also celebrated with a little dance.
Good sportsmanship is such an important part of sport.
It either endears you to the crowd and fellow competitors or, on the other hand, poor sportsmanship quickly isolates you.
The most fundamental element is respect.
The good sportsman respects both teammates and opponents as equals. They compete with integrity.
In short, the qualities that go into making a good person are the same ones that contribute to being a great sportsperson.
I think this respect starts at home with family, the coach, the spectators and friends.
Another competitor in Sydney was Tom Walsh, a world and Commonwealth champion from New Zealand who won the open men’s shot.
He threw a world leading throw during the competition and on completion of the competition, he made a point of going to all of his fellow competitors to shake their hands and also to all the officials to thank them for their time.
It was such a pleasure watch.
More than 3500 athletes took part during the week and on the four days I was present I saw the good and bad of sportsmanship.
From the athlete who looked across at their competitors in the 200m for the last 30m of their race slowing down (it was not a glance, it was a continuing look), to the athlete crossing the line with their fingers waving in the air saying they were the best, to arms in the air as they crossed the line, to another athlete who ran from the track into the post-race area as the rest of his heat was finishing.
The examples I have raised here were all young athletes.
What has gone wrong with the youth in our sport?
What are we doing wrong?