The responsibility for the way your team, fans, and parents conduct themselves at a game is yours! As a coach, you set the tone completely. Kids and their parents do not know to point, stare, degrade or snub others without their coaches fueling their emotional fires. Don’t do it! You will have much more impact as a coach if you can run your program with integrity. Please consider these points:

ACCEPT THE OUTCOME: You may not achieve the goals you have set. Sometimes teams who place very high in the final order have not reached all of their goals and will still have to deal with that. Sometimes teams who perform at the top of their ability level do not place as high as they had hoped. Everyone wants to win or they wouldn’t compete. A good coach stresses the greater lessons of competition and will keep moving in a positive direction. When players see their coach offer congratulations, accept every outcome with poise, and refuse to participate in negatives, they will most often follow their coaches’ behavior. 

PARENTS: They will follow your lead. Tell them exactly what you expect and watch them make you proud. Do not give them a reason to feel they can question an official or coach. Every parent wants his or her child to win and know success. Help teach them that success comes in many forms other than winning the game.

ACCEPT YOURSELF: Most often, poor sportsmanship is generated from the coach who ties his self-worth in with competitive efforts of his team. This is unfortunate for everyone and makes for an unhappy person and team experience. Recognize that a game is one day in the life of your kids. Separate yourself from the performance of your kids. Look for the positives. Realize that for every practice you conduct, someone, somewhere else is working hard. Everyone wants to win. Winning teams and winning coaches have little to do with winning trophies.

Try hard not to reduce a superior performance by another team to a judging bias or myths like the ones previously stated. Realize that how another team performs has little to do with how your team conducts themselves on the field.

If poor sportsmanship comes your way refuse to participate. We can set a great example and make an important difference in the competitive climate of tackle football.