Sportsmanship is a difficult lesson for kids to learn. I know this not due to my own experience with the kids, but also because I’ve gleaned it from other parents. We sit and talk about it and the same things keep coming up, the same problems encountered, the same stories are told with seemingly only the names changing along the way.
We had our year-end Cub Scout campout this past weekend and I was afforded an opportunity to give the boy a lesson in sportsmanship. Within our Pack, we have a game called Ga-Ga. It’s basically like a game of dodge-ball on a small court. The rules are few and simple and the result it that the games are fast and plenty.
My opportunity arrived when I looked over and saw the boy kicking the ball away from the court. There was a smattering of exasperated “Comeon”‘s from the other kids. I stepped into the fray at that point, ordering the boy to bring me the ball and hand it to me.
So when he walked over, picked the ball up and kicked it at me, I swatted it back at him and told him to HAND IT TO ME. He finally did. At which point I turned and handed the ball back to the kids playing in the Ga-Ga court. I then turned back to the boy and told him “You’re done playing for the rest of the day.”
I can’t say for sure, but I think he’d been prepared for me to ban him for awhile. But I’m sure he didn’t think I’d ban him for the rest of the day. It was only mid afternoon and there was still lot’s of Ga-Ga to play. The realization that it would all take place without him didn’t set well with him, to say the least. I finally had enough of his complaining and started in on him “This isn’t the first time I’ve had this conversation with you, and it probably won’t be the last. Your behavior was completely out of line and I won’t let you get away with it. So you are done, for the day. You don’t want to listen to me when I tell you to calm down; you don’t seem to understand that it is just a game and unimportant in the scheme of things. So now, you will sit and watch while your friends play.”
He continued to protest, even threatening to never play any sports again. I ignored his drama. He eventually found other things to do, though every now and again he’d ask if he could join the kids playing Ga-Ga. I told him the same thing each time he’d ask “I told you- you’re done for the day and I meant it.” Ga-Ga was played until it was almost dark out. At one point, the kids even lined the court with their flashlights so they could play “Night Ga-Ga.”
The boy watched.
The next morning, more games were started up just after breakfast and before we started packing up the camp. The boy asked if he could join the games. I told him he could.
At one point, I looked over while they were playing. A bunch of kids yelled that the boy had been hit. He quietly stepped out of the court and waited for the current game to end and the next one to begin. Perhaps he finally learned a lesson about sportsmanship.
At least for this weekend.