Headline 1: LaDainian Tomlinson Angry Over NE Patriots' Acts of Celebration During AFC divisional playoffs.

Headline 2: 31 Players Suspended Following On-Field Brawl During Miami – Florida Int'l Football Game.

Headline 3: Parents Arrested Following Brawl in Stands at Youth Hockey Game in Rome, NY.

One needs only pick up the newspaper to read yet another example of athletes taunting one another, getting into brawls, being caught using performance enhancing drugs, or parents attacking officials or other parents at their children's sporting events. From professional athletes, to college football teams, to parent behavior at youth sporting contests, students are consistently exposed to examples of poor sportsmanship and lack of character.

It seems as if unsportsmanlike behavior is also on the rise in youth sports. Teachers don't have to tolerate this; we should expect and demand proper behavior from our students, as well as their parents. National Sportsmanship Day is in March. We have a wonderful opportunity as educators to help guide our students toward displaying proper sportsmanship.

Physical education is unique in that we can seamlessly incorporate character-building within the framework of our teaching. It can be something as simple as encouraging students to support their peers and shake hands at the completion of a contest, or more complex such as teaching them to call fouls or errors on themselves. If teachers place as much weight on the demonstration of good sportsmanship as they do on proper execution of skills, perhaps we'll see more students acting like Marvin Harrison and fewer acting like Terrell Owens.

Ed Kuipec
Secondary Section Editor

Teaching Kids to be "Good Sports"
This article by Dr. Darrell J. Burnett provides a ten-point checklist with in-depth descriptions of each point to help students become good sports.

NYS Educational Framework for Interscholastic Athletic Programs - Developed collaboratively in 2001 with a number of groups from New York State, and endorsed by the State Education Department, this "document links character development with educational goals and addresses the characteristics of competence, character, civility, and citizenship." The goal is to help coaches assist students in developing sportsmanship and meeting state standards.

Instant Ways to Promote Sportsmanship in Class

	Have students shake hands at the end of each game.
	Ask students to point out something that they observed in class that another student did well.
	Have students self-officiate and work to resolve disputes themselves. If they need the teacher to help find a solution, help them find one that does not favor either party, such as replaying the point.
	Praise team efforts rather than individual accomplishments.
	Penalize showboating or taunting with a loss of a point or possession.

Sportsmanship Quotes - Lots of great quotes for posting in the gym.

Hellison's 5 Levels of Responsibility - Use for assessing personal and social responsibility in your class.

USA Today Essay Contest - Held annually in conjunction with National Sportsmanship Day, the winners are published in USA Today.

for Sportsmanship and Character Education

Institute for International Sport - Contains links, quotes, and information on National Sportsmanship Day, as well as some great articles.

CharacterCounts.org - General information and resources on character education.

GoodCharacter.com - Sports specific resources and ideas.

Teaching Good Sportsmanship - Tips for parents.

The State of Sportsmanship - Interesting point of view on the sportsmanship debate.

Character Education Partnership. (2000). Guidelines for Effective Character Education Through Sports. Washington, DC: Beedy, J.P. & Gough, R.H.

Clifford, C. & Feezell, R.M. (1997). Coaching For Character: Reclaiming the Principles of Sportsmanship. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Gough, R. (1997). Character is Everything: Promoting Ethical Excellence in Sports. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.

Lickona, T. (1994). Educating for Character. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Smoll, F.L. & Smith, R.E. (1997). Coaches Who Never Lose: Making Sure Athletes Win No Matter What the Score. Portola Valley, CA: Warde Publishers.

Wolfe, R. (1997). The Concerned Parent's Guide to Competitive Youth Sports. Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing, Inc.

Yeager, J.M., Buxton, J.N., Baltzell, A.L., & Bzdell, W.B. (2001). Character and Coaching: Building Virtue in Athletic Programs. Port Chester, NY: Dude Publishing.

The Citizens Through Sports Alliance (CTSA), the largest coalition of professional and amateur athletics organizations in the United States, offers a tool kit to help concerned individuals develop a sense of community and citizenship, and to promote good sportsmanship, strong character, and respect for others. Read their eight-point guide intended to help parents educate their children about sportsmanship.

CTSA also offers printable codes of conduct for athletes, parents, and coaches.

Athletes for a Better World (ABW) is an organization devoted to developing "character, teamwork, and citizenship through commitment to an athletic Code for Living that applies to life, and to create a movement that will play a significant role in the transformation of individuals, sports, and society." They have also developed a number of interesting programs that get student athletes involved with community and leadership activities to help further their mission. For more information, visit their Web site.

The Center for Sports Parenting (CSP) is "a Web-based initiative that offers immediate and practical guidance to parents, coaches, educators, administrators, officials, and all other individuals involved in youth sports, equipping them with the information needed to handle the psychological and physical challenges faced by young people participating in athletics."

This site offers a great deal of useful information for parents of children who play sports. The Top Ten Sports Parenting Myths is particularly informative. CSP also conducts Sports Parenting Workshops. Each program includes a lecture, situational role-playing, interactive scenario-based activities, a Q & A period, as well as private consultations following the event.

Additionally, at each program, an information packet that can be used in conjunction with the presentation, or as a stand-alone resource on sports parenting issues will be distributed. You can contact CSP through the Institute for International Sport at csp@internationalsport.com or (401) 874-2375 for more information.

N.J. youth football coach arrested for role in brawl. Coach may face 1½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Parent and Coach Fistfight at Youth Hockey Game - The brawl began when the father of a player from the visiting team lost his temper and started screaming and cursing at the kids from the opposing side. The referee kicked him out of the arena but it didn't end there. After the game, the coach of the Connecticut Wolves tracked that father down, chewed him out and then beat him down. Read more.

Violence increasingly part of youth sports.
Brawls, assalts, even deaths part of troubling unsportsmanlike trend

It was the most infamous moment in Stockton sports last year, 36-year-old Cory Petero, an assistant youth football coach , charging onto the field to blind side a 13-year-old opposing player.

A few months later, there was another such incident - spectators pouring from the stands after a fight between girls basketball players Joyelle Amick of St. Mary's High and Fremont's Williko Hudson.

The Stockton incidents and numerous others elsewhere - such as the fatal brawl between Massachusetts hockey fathers in 2000, and the case of a French tennis parent charged with poisoning his child's opponents in 2006 - suggest there has been a decline in recent years in the principle of sportsmanship at the high school and youth sports levels. Read more.

When Parents Behave Badly at Kids' Sporting Events - Jeff Leslie still remembers the little girl standing on the mound, trying to play ball. "She was pitching out there and all of a sudden she broke down crying," the volunteer president of the Jupiter-Tequesta Athletic Association recalls. "The coach went out to talk to her and she said, 'My dad is embarrassing me to death.'"

The child, like many others, had a father who spent much of his time during the game yelling and screaming at coaches, and at members of opposing teams. It is with such children in mind that Leslie's six thousand member league has decided to require parents to attend a mandatory "ethics" course. Read more.

Teen Sleep Deprivation A Serious Problem - Think you're sleep-deprived? Consider the schedule of this typical 14-year-old: He rises at 6 a.m. to go running. Then he dresses, eats breakfast, and arrives at high school in time for his first class at 7:40. After school, there are piano lessons and homework, in addition to Boy Scouts and other activities. He usually falls asleep by 10 or 11 p.m. -- and must fight the temptation to doze throughout his morning classes the next day. But wait, you say. He's managing nearly eight hours a night -- an amount some working parents would kill for. What's wrong with that? Find out.

Sleep Deprivation - Most of us feel sleep deprived. In fact, in a recent "Sleep in America" poll by the National Sleep Foundation, almost 2/3rds of Americans say they don’t sleep well at least three nights a week. Half of all adults can’t get up without an alarm and on average, we're getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Lots of very good information offered here.

Sleep: Understanding the Basics - A very in-depth, multi-page, informative article you should read.

Schools Waking Up to Teens' Unique Sleep Needs: Some officials are pushing back start times to give students the slumber their biology craves. Brown University Prof. Mary Carskadon thinks most U.S. school systems should pay close attention to what she found in the saliva of teenagers. If they did, she said, high schools would start later than they do, and teachers would educate students about a subject as basic as reading and math: sleep.

SPORTS: WHEN WINNING IS THE ONLY THING, CAN VIOLENCE BE FAR AWAY? - The acceptance of body contact and borderline violence seems to be based on the idea that sports is an area of life in which it is permissable to suspend usual moral standards. Studies show that athletes commonly distinguish between game morality and the morality of everyday life. A college basketball player says, "In sports you can do what you want. In life it is more restricted". A football player says, "The football field is the wrong place to think about ethics." Read more.

Violence in Sports. ERIC Digest 1-89 - Sports violence can be defined as behavior which causes harm, occurs outside of the rules of the sport, and is unrelated to the competitive objectives of the sport. Leonard identifies two forms of aggression in sports. Instrumental aggression is non-emotional and task-oriented. Reactive aggression has an underlying emotional component, with harm as its goal. Violence is an outcome of reactive aggression. Read more.

A Coach's Letter to Parents - Here are some hints on how to make this a fun season, with lots of positive memories for your kids and your family.

Kids' games can bring out the worst in parents - This is a letter to parents from a coaches wife. A pretty good letter/article, and I recommend reading it.

Sexual misconduct in schools extensive - Department of Education study documents crisis that demands action, not rhetoric, from lawmakers and school officials. U.S. Department of Education released a study by a Hofstra University professor analyzing sexual mistreatment of K-12 students by teachers and other adult school workers and volunteers. The report, ordered by Congress, generated lots of headlines, but was treated superficially by many media outlets. Read more.

Coaches continue working for schools and private teams after being caught for sexual misconduct - The bond between athlete and coach can be powerful, and the one between a 15-year-old Port Townsend girl and a 34-year-old basketball coach was especially strong. The girl, raised in a troubled home, saw Randy Sheriff not only as a mentor on dribbling and jump-shooting, but as surrogate parent, confidant, and "the greatest dad in the world." Read more.

Misconduct often goes unpunished by districts - When a friend told coach Stu Gorski in 1995 that Mount Adams School District had hired "a phenomenal wrestling coach," Gorski froze. "Tell me you didn't hire Randy Deming," he pleaded. The district had. Gorski, a football and golf coach in Whatcom County, knew Deming for years as a rival coach at nearby Blaine High School. Gorski also knew of Deming's reputation as a groper of girls who had even been charged with child molestation. Read more.

State failing to weed out unfit coaches - When the Tahoma High School boys basketball coach stepped outside his apartment with a star player on the girls basketball team, he didn't know an investigator for the district was lurking nearby with a video camera. Read more.

Unregulated private coaching ripe for abuse - Every year during basketball season, the stories would come out, passed in the bleachers from parent to parent: Coach Tony Giles molested his players. Read more.

Stories on misconduct by coaches overcame effort to shield records - Like a one-two punch, today's investigative report on sexual misconduct by youth coaches assaults our sensibilities. The first blow is the sickening story of coaches who prey on the girls in their charge; the second is the system that allows it. Read more.

ToneTeen.com - A kids and teens resource for health and fitness. ToneTeen was created to educate kids & teens about health and fitness. With free access to articles, exercises, charts, and many other useful tools, ToneTeen hopes to inspire and motivate children & teens to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime.

iVillage - Ah, the teen years. Your child is probably bursting with independence, but you know she's still in need of a guiding hand. Here, all the info you'll need to do the job well.

teenadvice.com - There's a lot of very good material here. Look it over, and plan on spending some time. Read the information on pear pressure. Very good.

BOOK - But I Love Him: Protecting Your Teen Daughter from Controlling, Abusive Dating Relationships. Parents of teen daughters listen up: according to Dr. Jill Murray, more than one in three girls will be involved in an abusive relationship. But I Love Him gets to the heart of this scary topic as painlessly as possible. With so much focus on physical concerns these days, it's not often that such emotional issues are confronted early enough to prevent them from becoming physical as well. Find out more.

Teen Dating Abuse Survey 2006: a 16 page downloadable PDF report. In March 2006, Liz Claiborne Inc. commissioned Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU) to conduct a survey to delve deeper into the issue of teen dating abuse, gauging the degree to which teens have been involved in abusive/controlling relationships, and to understand youth perceptions regarding what is and is not acceptable behavior in a relationship.

The findings were astounding. The results show that alarming numbers of teens experience and accept abusive behavior in dating relationships, and that the problem gets worse as teens get older and into more serious relationships. Many teens also feel physically and sexually threatened. Read this brief, and download the full report.