Acts Of Violence & Verbal Abuse-ND High School Sports-No Excuses
No matter how you look at it, it's shocking when acts of verbal or violent abuse are captured in High School sports...
...and not just here in North Dakota, but everywhere in our country. Sometimes it's very clear when it happens, like the video you'll see towards the end of this article - that unfortunately happens when a competitor becomes beyond frustrated and his or her actions are followed by an aggressive act of physical violence.
Professional sports have made "On-The-Field" or "On-The-Ice" fights as "part of the game"
We all know it shouldn't be, simply for the fact that others may have no problem emulating "Their Heroes" - such as high school and college athletes. To me personally, THE most shocking signs of Unsportsmanship conduct are verbal - shouts of racial slurs are like daggers, and you would think that people would be more civilized than a bunch of crude ignorant participants. Here is the disturbing part, this particular incident happened in the stands.
Derogatory comments hurt just as much as a punch to the face
Two North Dakota High School basketball teams faced each other last February in Jamestown - a couple of the Bismarck players were "targeted" by the Jamestown student section - I won't repeat exactly what they chanted, but it was offensive and mean-spirited - aimed at the players, simply because of their skin color? NO EXCUSE whatsoever. According to jamestownsun.com a parent from Bismarck sent an email to Jamestown Public School District officials...
..."The pure racist actions by your students are absolutely appalling and you should be ashamed, I cannot believe that we live in a day and age where high school students think that is acceptable behavior.”
This parent nailed it when he said “If you are not correcting it, you are condoning it,”
Violent acts like this can be and SHOULD be treated as an assault
This took place earlier this month - "An Oklahoma high school baseball playoff matchup over the weekend took a wild turn after the game when a player in the handshake line sucker-punched an opposing player" fanbuzz.com reported - Someone TRY and tell me THIS is NOT ASSAULT
There is NO EXCUSE for violently assaulting someone else - PERIOD.