Agreed Bob. Having played sports all my life..........I can tell you and everyone else that "Pride" is the motivating factor in all of life.
IMO a bully comes from many factors one of which is bad parenting. Another reason is puberty. Raging hormones in an undisciplined child is a disaster.
Take this web site as an example. People say things here on a computer that they would never say to anyone face to face. Ambiguity breeds contempt's which produces a need to be more aggressive than you are able to normally be. That is what a bully does!
I was making a PD (professional development) page for my teachers on the library website.
I came across a sports page for coaches and teachers run by a partner of Sport NZ. It was saying 'Balance is better'. The reasoning was that young people especially teens are dropping out of sport because parents and coaches are being bullies plus it's way too competitive. The site was then advocating for better ways of getting children into sport because frankly, it's just not fun for them.
The bully never counts on the victim to desert them. They NEED their target to be around to fight.
Hello
Major;
My Dad introduced me to baseball in 1965 and played Little and Senior League for 7 years. Later I managed the Seniors (13-15) and my last year the youngest league called T-Ball (6-7 years old) for 6 years.
The pride you talk about is a good pride. The coach taught us fair play, everyone from the bench to the starting players learned to play as one team. The intent was to win the game but accept a loss as good sportsmanship. Most of all baseball or most sports included having fun.
The bullying part on a professional level is when the opposing team is so much superior and will run the score up, degrading the losing team on national tv. Good professional football and basketball games will merely run out the clock.
You mentioned bullying comes from a factor of bad parenting and puberty. I was there from both sides. As a player I understood why some kids never wanted to play or compete again and this impacts their growing years.
But as manager I had to deal with temperamental parents that took the game way too serious and overprotected their son from the coach or umpire. When I umpired I had to take abuse from unruly managers. One that I remember, I had to kick him out of the game and make him leave the ballpark before we could proceed with the game.
I agree what you shared regarding websites as a platform are notorious for bullies, basically cowards who hide behind their keyboard unloading so much disrespect, berating and cursing another human being. That's easy.
It's hard to respect another's civil opinion with Love, acceptance and representing Christ. It's hard
but it's worth it, even when competing in sports.
Hello
Lanolin;
Good for Sports NZ and the development page pushes back on bullies by educating kids and all ages who want to play or enter sports as a profession. At least someone is doing something about it.
