Saturday, January 14, 2006

Parents pledge fair play (Newsday article)

The article doesn't mention it but this event took place at Chaminade High School. All parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre have to abide by a new "Fair Play Agreement" for sports. This Fair Play Agreement sounded like a great idea when I first heard it, but this article makes it sound wimpy -

"If a parent got into a shoving match with a referee or another parent, for example, the fair play coordinator would diplomatically remind them of their pledge to uphold good sportsmanship.

In that case, the coordinator would hand the disgruntled parent a form to write his complaint, and the matter would be discussed at a later meeting. "

What??? Here is a better idea - if a parent got into a shoving match with anyone - the police are called and the parent is arrested. That parent would be banned for life from being anywhere within 500 feet of a Catholic Youth Organization event and would be forced to go to professional counseling. I mean the situation in school sports is already out of hand, and this is the land of the "Mepham High School Football Rapists" - Ken Carney, Phil Sofia, Rich Guccione, and Phil Diasparra in case anyone forgot. So, I think the approach should be much stronger to prevent any violence, or any silly behavior on the part of anyone around sports. Zero tolerance is good for child molesting priests, and it should be the idea in sports as well.

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