Life Lessons from sports 5 - respect for authority
I know that respect for authority may not be the hottest topic of writing. But its important. In the context of sports authority figures would refer to coaches, managers and yes... referees and officials:)
As sports becomes more and more of a business where athletes are paid far more than coaches, acts of insubordination are well documented in the prefessional ranks. Basketball players refusing to re-enter the game because the coach did not call a play for them. Soccer players shoving referees to the ground after feeling that a decision was unfair. These influence younger athletes to do the same. Professional atheletes are held up as "heros" which may be true to a certain extent. But they also take up the positon as "role-model". Many may say "im just
here to play the game" but I dont care... If i ever meet a renonowned sportsman i will tell them: "once u are a star athlete you are a role model whether you choose to be or not." Inability to successfully handle authority figures, a rebellious spirit and a lack or self control are some of the bad things that are on display at sporting events. However, there are many advantages to learning to deal with authority in the sports context, because it helps us deal with authority figures in real life (and they are pretty mcuh everywehre)
Advantages of learning to deal with authority:
1. Authoriy is everywhere... citizens have teachers, coaches, police, government... even the president or prime-minister has an authority that they are responsible to! the people! so the sooner we can learn to respect authority, the easier life will be
2. Authority figures (in general) want to help us not harm us. Teachers want us to learn, policemen want to keep the land safe and maintain fairness between people (cos if you havent noticed, people all have a tendency to be naturally selfish... i didnt have to teach a child to cry and whine till he gets what he wants), coaches want to win at least as much as players etc. Why fight? Even if we dont agree with their style, its usually best to cooperate.
3. Blessings can flow through authority figures (similar to point 2) but if we make noise in class, agrue with coaches and referees, break the law (thats bad!) its VERY hard to learn anything or gain anything from people who may have our interets at heart... i teach some classes about internet safety in schools. In this day and age its such an important topic. But sometimes the class gets out of hand (maybe im too nice... ) and who loses? sure I may lose a bit of my voice for that day, but its the students who gain less. Sad but true right!
posted by Coach Jonathan Wong @ 4/14/2006 07:24:00 PM
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