All, I'd really like your take on something.
A while back, Thing One's team played another team in a soccer tournament and scored five goals on them in the first ten minutes of play. Being up five goals triggered the "mercy rule" in that particular tournament, so our boys effectively played a giant game of keep-away for the entire remainder of the game--they were not permitted to go up any further, so they could not take any shots. Not fun for either team.
Tonight, Thing One's team played in a tournament against three other teams, all of which are much better than his. Not sour grapes speaking, just reality: his team plays in flight 5, two of the other teams in flight 1, and the third team is a professional development team (think feeder for the junior Olympics) that is well superior to flight 1. Thing One's team never stood a chance.
This tournament had no mercy rules. Thing One's team lost to the professional development team 20-2. Their boys might have enjoyed that game, but ours certainly didn't.
So, is it better to beat the hell out of another team or embarrass and patronize them by benching your best players (another common variant on the mercy rule) or playing keep-away instead? Mercy rules or no mercy rules? Would love to hear some thoughts on this.
(And yes, setting up fair matches in the first place would be ideal, but often doesn't happen for practical reasons in big tournaments.)
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I think that learning to recognize that you are not the best at something and that you will lose and yet you don't give up and find something to gain from the experience is something quite valuable. Learning to take a stunning defeat is important, and I found as a teacher that the kids who were most protected from losing or frustration were the ones who most lacked real-life flexibility and other skills.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I absolutely despise kids' sports. Not their existence, as I'm sure there are some valuable things to be gained, but the thought of having responsibility to be a soccer mom or something such is probably the strongest reason that I do not have children. Really. I cannot overstate how much I detest watching such things. So I know nothing of which I speak.
NOLA, you're probably right. The kids got a good lesson in how to lose badly with grace, even if they hated every lopsided minute of it.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean to tell me that you wouldn't enjoy my life of constantly shuttling from one sports setting to another?? Three kids--each of whom do basketball, soccer and taekwondo--will do that to you! :)