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Prep Officials Work To Improve Athletes' Sportsmanship

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Alonso players take part in practice. The team had 13 players ejected in the past three years, receiving athletic suspensions ranging from one to six weeks.

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By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2008

TAMPA - Mike Heldt tries to bring 60 teenage boys to a state of fevered intensity before football games each week.

"We've got to get them right up to the edge, without going over," Heldt, Alonso High School's coach, said after practice one day this week.

It's a high-wire that teams all over Florida walk every week.

Coaches work to keep players under control, but sometimes the mix of adrenaline, hormones and emotions erupts in foul language, violence and ejections.

In the 2007-08 school year, Florida officials tossed 1,648 student-athletes for unsportsmanlike conduct, ranging from spitting and swearing to punching and fighting.

That's up from 1,283 ejections the previous school year, a 28 percent increase, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association, which tracks ejections and doles out punishment.

You can explore the complete database of infractions online and look for schools of interest to you. Go to TBO.com, Keyword: Unsportsmanlike.

As high schools prepare for the start of football playoffs next week, experts are placing some of the blame on the violence players see in society and professional sports.

"It's definitely crazy," said John Wolohan, chairman of the sports management department at Ithaca College. "Until these factors are brought under control, I don't see it lessening."

The ejections aren't limited to football and basketball. The state logged ejections in softball, tennis and flag football, too.

"Athletics is an intense situation," said Lanness Robinson, athletic director for Hillsborough County schools. "Sometimes we haven't done a good enough job controlling the emotional side of it."

Steps are taken off the field to prevent problems before they surface at game time. For instance, students, parents and coaches usually sign contracts that outline acceptable conduct and spell out penalties.

Coaches are directed to level swift punishment when players get out of line, said Alonso's athletic director, Kent Glover. "The superstar or the average Joe need to be treated in the exact same manor."

Alonso had 13 players ejected in the past three years, receiving athletic suspensions ranging from one to six weeks. The school's administration often tacks on academic discipline, usually a suspension from school.

This year, state athletic officials targeted coaches ejected from games for unsportsmanlike conduct. The high school athletic association's board voted in April to make them complete a six-hour online education course.

"Student-athletes model their behavior after that of their coaches," said John A. Stewart, state high school athletic association executive director.

Carrollwood Day School has found success keeping its athletes out of trouble.

The private school was among 22 selected to receive a 2007-08 Fred E. Rozelle Sportsmanship Award.

The state high school athletic association chose winners based in part on the number of unsportsmanlike ejections and on recommendations from officials. Officials haven't ejected a Carrollwood athlete in three years or more.

The school's coaches focus on building discipline and character, said Frank Mabry, Carrollwood's high school athletic director.

Referees and opposing teams are treated as valued guests.

"We teach that you compete with a fellow opponent, not against them," Mabry said. "You honor one another by training your best and competing the very best you can."

Improving sportsmanship takes time, Jefferson High girls basketball coach Tom Mosca said. Coaches constantly battle outside influences that undermine their efforts.

High school athletes see what Mosca calls a permissive attitude toward unsportsmanlike conduct and violence in college and the pros. Often, outside athletic associations don't do enough to control unruly players, he said. Sometimes those players come into the high school season primed for trouble.

A couple of Alonso football players blame erratic officiating for part of the problem. Some referees won't discipline athletes who use foul language while another official will eject a player for mumbling a curse word after a bad play, players said.

Demonte McAllister, a 6-foot-3 defensive tackle, said the adrenaline rush from the game can be a catalyst for unsportsmanlike behavior.

"The first time you get hit, it's a huge rush," McAllister said. "Then, if you see somebody get blindsided – one of your guys – you want to defend them."

Jefferson athletic director Bob Morgan said he sees more trouble with spitting and profanity than violence.

If there are fights, they last only a few seconds, Morgan said.

Officials ejected 15 Jefferson players in the past three years, including 10 football players during a game with Alonso.

"It's learned behavior," Morgan said. "They learn it at home or in their communities."

Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668.

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