Got sportsmanship?

Wait, wait, wait, you're saying -- maybe the games were close until the fourth quarter, when Dajuan Wagner of Camden High School in New Jersey, who scored 100, and Cedric Hensley of Heritage Christian Academy near Houston, who had 101, poured it on to lift their respective teams to the win.

Any takers on that theory? Probably not, and for good reason, because both games were well in hand almost from the opening tip. It happened because impressionable kids wanted to achieve a "symbolic" milestone and put names on the map, be it in glitzy, tactless colors.

After Wagner's 100-point performance, which came against Gloucester Township, opposing coach Bob Sweeney discussed how he was not able to explain to his players why the other team was so mercilously humiliating them.

"Not taking anything away from Dajuan; he's legit," said Sweeney of the 100 point scorer. "But it's demoralizing. They're kids. What do you say to your kids at halftime [when they ask], 'Why aren't they pulling off the press, coach?'"

Perhaps what this issue really underscores is the importance of good role models. People are what they know, and if a coach or parent teaches discipline, kids learn discipline. If he or she teaches sportsmanship, they learn sportsmanship. And if some other things are taught, those things are learned...

After a recent soccer game that I covered, in which a San Mateo team had beaten an out-of-town team, the losing coach confided that he considered the loss to be an upset, implying that circumstances other than the actual play on the field had won or lost the game.

"What's their record, anyway," he asked casually.

"7-1-3, 3-0 in league," came the response.

He looked puzzled for a second, then asked, "Is that right? Hmmm, I didn't know they had that many -- that they were doing that well."

It's too bad his players had already begun chiming in with uninformed and sophmoric opinions, unable to admit that they had simply been outplayed.

Luckily, most of the coaches I've come in contact with in San Mateo County have shown nothing but class and sportsmanship during and after matches in four months of Daily Journal sports coverage.

When you survey the landscape, that kind of thing bears recognition.

* * *

The San Mateo Union High School District is going to require all of its coaches to attend coaching education classes. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) will run the courses, which will be conducted in February and March.

Among the issues that course will focus on are coach-player relationships as well as interaction with players' parents. The district does not appear to be conducting the training in response to a particular incident or issue.

"I think it's great," said Steve Sell, Aragon athletic director and varsity football Head Coach, of the coach training. "The District is usually reactive [to problems], but they are being proactive with this."

Sell added that the district tends to spend time and resources dealing with parent-coach and player-coach issues, and much of it is due to inadequate training of coaches in areas of sports psychology and professionalism.

It's good to see the district recognizing an area it can improve upon and spend its resources preventing problems, not solving them.<