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Show An Educommenf Lip service only to those ideals? Reprinted from the Box Elder News by Ray M.Hall Northern Utah UniServ S porta in American high schools is one of our best traditions, and in spite of the perennial cries of "overemphasis", "overempha-sis", extracurricular sports have greatly enriched the lives of many young people. As a society we have accepted the philosophy that high school athletics foster sportsmanship, build character, improve physical fitness, teach responsibility, and encourage encour-age cooperation through teamwork. ."Athletics is good preparation for life," it has been said many times. One would wonder, however, if , as a society, as parents and supporters of high school athletics, we have reached a point where we pay lip service only to those ideals. Have we, perchance, become so obsessed with the idea that winning is so important that the sport has become the end instead of a means to an end? Some long-time friends of athletics are troubled. As football season a do roaches, for example, they see their sons placed in an extremely awkward position. Many are employed. It has long been assumed that football players give up employment two weeks prior to the opening of school but if they are expected to drill up to six hours dally two weeks before that, it imposes problems. Do they not, for example, have an obligaton to help harvest the now ripe fruit crop? To give full measure on whatever Job they hold? If a young man must choose between being "responsible" to hjs employer, his family, and the football team, his is an almost impossible situation. Whatever he does is wrong. On the other hand, if his parents release him from all other responsibilities, is that giving him a realistic perspective? There are some family activities that cannot possibly be scheduled around practices. Many people hold sacred one night a week for family. Should a boy be placed In a position where he must be disloyal to either team or family? The answers are not easy. We put tremendous pressure on our coaches to produce winners and when other schools involve their players all summer, we feel that we must follow suit in order to successfully compete. Perhaps the reason we cannot teach our kids that they can't have their cake and eat it, too, is because we, as a society, are demanding exactly that. |