Kids Reflecting Their Parents

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This weekend like last weekend I watched a few games of school boy rugby on television which is great exposure for all the young players. I expect to see ahigh percentage of the players on view turning professional over the next 5 years playing not only locally, but in other leagues around the world. I kind of wish we had these types of opportunities as when I was growing up rugby was not a professional sport.

The televised games are meant to showcase these top schools in a good light making their old boys proud wherever they might be watching locally or around the world. This has become a new sport segment for television audiences with millions of ex school boys tuning in to see their old school playing on Saturdays rekindling memories of when they played all those years ago.

The one game that stood out was for all the wrong reasons as very few games have genuine fist fights. Rugby is the one sport you do not need to publicly show your fighting skills as there are many other areas in the game where you can air your grievances. Those that have played the sport know if you want to throw a punch you can do this in the scrums and no one is the wiser. The final whistle blew and punching started up immediately again and the feed to the game was cut short.

During this game 2 players of the same team were sent off for fighting and their actions harmed their teams result as they went from a winning position to the game ending in a draw. I am not sure if the television cameras or the large crowds in attendance played a part, but seriously there is no need for this.

Having a school televised to millions not only in South Africa, but around the world you should be showing your school in the best possible light. Many of the top schools have wonderful facilities that other schools can only dream about and in this school derby series that is televised many of these schools are deemed derbies because they are in the same town or a short drive of each other. Fighting is not going to win over potential new students as it negatively impacts the school highlighting a lack of discipline and respect. This comes back to parenting and I will discuss that further in the post as your kids often reflect you.

I know if any of my school mates were caught fighting on the sports field back in the day it would result in 6 of the best and expulsion. These days they do not dish out corporal punishment, but I am sure the high possibility of expulsion would still stand. Being expelled from your school would not look great on any CV as it would normally mean only 2 things being drugs or fighting. I can recall during my entire school career only 1 student was expelled and shows how rare this is so this would be a red flag harming a kids future career prospects.

If I was a betting man which I am not I would say that the fighting was instigated by the parents on the side lines. When I refereed school rugby matches in the past the only problems I ever encountered was aggressive parents with a win at all cost mentality. One of the games I had to call to a halt until a set of parents left the stands which sounds extreme and was. Maybe in the weekends game the kid will not be expelled and it will be a more of a talking to for the entire family because the kids are obviously being influenced by their parents.

Parents for some reason think that winning at all costs is the right lesson to teach a kid when in reality being beaten by a better team should have no shame and teach you that winning or losing is fine as long as it is done correctly. Nobody likes to lose ,but that is a lesson everyone has to learn in life and to do better the next time.

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