Tips for sporting parents

Let me offer some tips for sporting parents so the incident in Dumaguete won’t happen again.

Some years ago, I remember watching my son stagger after a bigger student had thrown him during one of their Aikido belting exams. By golly, I wanted to scream. I held my peace, sat back and enjoyed as the children executed the techniques.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned, over the years.

Prepare for the unexpected.

When your son or daughter’s team plays against a hometown team, be prepared for the unexpected. I mean hometown teams will get all the favors (including favorable calls from erratic, blind, even deaf referees, umpires or judges) and they will try to get any advantage they could. I heard Dumaguete had a player about 5’7” with “advanced basketball skills.” Some parents pointed out that he might be “ineligible,” but did Cebu do something about it, like maybe question his credentials?

Record the game.

I suppose some parents brought video cameras with them. With the game on tape, it would be easy to argue the case with officials later – if they ever listen. A friend who used to work in Taiwan as labor attaché once told me that, over there, when there’s a rally Taiwanese police have its own cameraman. When the rally turns ugly, it would be easier to pinpoint the culprits from the footage.

Let the coach argue.

As a coach, I always tell my players never to argue with referees, that they leave the arguing to me. Arguing a call will never amount to anything because the referees will never change their mind. I’d like to commend the coach of the USC-NC team for keeping his cool. You could just imagine if he got emotional himself. The coach, if he feels the game is going out of hand, could approach the table officials and calmly request, that perhaps, the referees call it fair. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t, but let the coach do the arguing.

If you’re too emotional, don’t watch.

Emotion is associated with mood, temper, personality and disposition. Thus when you’re too emotional, I suggest you don’t watch the games of your children. I mean, if you’re too emotional you become irrational and you see things differently. When my team played for an inter-sitio championship some years back, I requested my players that their spouses, significant others shouldn’t sit behind our bench. Not watching the game is good for your heart. Even Michael Jordan shed a tear while watching one of his sons won a championship last week.

It’s only a game.

So what if the boys lost the game? It’s only a game. The world goes on, as we all know, after that forgettable match or any other game for that matter. Let’s move on. I’ve written praises to these boys some columns back after watching the U13 championship at USC-NC gym. Even if they lost, they played a hell of a game. There will be another chance to play Dumaguete and I believe that Cebu could beat them – fair and square!

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There will be a Cebu Marathon. After three years, it’s back and slated on January 10, 2010. It’s about time we have our own marathon because I know we’re capable of organizing such an event. Runners, let’s prepare early!

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For comments, please write [email protected]. – THE FREEMAN