Foul Play

Putdowns and punchouts take place every year in high school sports. Jibes from the stands to officials, coaches and players are a seemingly inherent part of the game.

Despite two high-profile instances involving Westminster and El Toro high schools last month, this school year isn’t that much different from any other, Southern Section officials say. Players taunt each other, coaches harangue officials, someone throws a punch. . . . Still, it may not be as bad as it appears.

“It’s getting better, but it will never be perfect,” Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley said. “We must still make strides to enhance the game. We must teach players, coaches and fans that how they conduct themselves is more important than winning.”

The Southern Section formed a Sportsmanship Committee in 1994 and it instituted the ejection rule--if an athlete is ejected from a game, he or she must also sit out the next one--and established the section’s Code of Ethics.

A section-wide sportsmanship symposium that would have involved more than 2,000 students was planned for this fall, but it fell through at the last minute when the site became unavailable. The section hopes to make it an annual event.

Nearly every league has a sportsmanship award and some leagues hold sportsmanship symposiums.

Still, things happen.

Capistrano Valley boys’ basketball Coach Brian Mulligan had to be restrained several times, finally by one of his own players, after officials charged his team with an offensive foul and subsequently disallowed a basket that would have forced a third overtime Friday against top-ranked Mater Dei.

After Mulligan finally settled down and with 1.2 seconds left in the overtime, the public address announcer asked everyone in the gym to “show good sportsmanship” and to walk out of the gym without incident. The announcement was booed by both sides.

“I was way too emotional,” Mulligan said Sunday. “I would like to apologize for that.”

Mulligan explained himself to players for 30 minutes after the game, telling them he had not practiced what he preached. He apologized to parents afterward.

“I’m not condoning [his actions] at all, but he bottled up a lot of garbage the entire game,” said Nathan Hair, one of the Cougars’ players. “None of the guys blame Coach for what he did. I’m sure the kids had the same emotions Coach did. We know he messed up, but we appreciate his passion.”

The Sportsmanship Committee created athletes’ and coaches’ codes of ethics. It requires all student-athletes to sign the code, whose last line is, “Win with character, lose with dignity.” That sentence is not included in the coaches’ code.

Fans Misbehave

Being a bad sport isn’t confined to coaches and players. “I’m much more concerned these days about what’s happening in the stands than I am in the courts and fields of play,” said Dr. Russ Gough, professor of ethics at Pepperdine and author of “Character is Everything: Promoting Ethical Excellence in Sports.”

Sonora guard Curtis Levine, who attended the Freeway League’s sportsmanship symposium, said flatly, “People can’t keep their mouths shut.”

After the call that enraged Mulligan, fans began throwing things on the floor.

Bolsa Grande Athletic Director Ron Inman says incidents such as these are a product of the times, television and the high cost of a college education.

“One of the major problems is there are a lot of parents who think their son or daughter is going to get a Division I scholarship,” he said. “Heaven help the official who is going to take that opportunity away.”

Junior Chris Wimmer, a soccer player on the Fountain Valley boys’ team, says there’s far too much arguing with officials in his sport. “You’re not always going to get what you want,” Wimmer said. “That’s part of winning and losing. That’s part of life.”

He also said the consequence of riding a player from the stands only incites more emotion, not all of it good for your team. “A lot of people make fun of the players and aren’t watching the game,” he said. “It kind of [ticks] you off, but also makes you want to play even harder. It makes you want to win the game more so you can put it in their face.”

Several people, including Capistrano Valley’s Hair and Sonora boys’ basketball Coach Mike Murphy, say what takes place in high school games, from taunting to heckling, trickles down from the professional levels. “The fans,” Murphy said, “are worse now than ever before.”

Brea Olinda girls’ basketball player Lindsey Davidson says whenever her team plays, “it’s like the whole world is against you.”

Though sportsmanship may not be what we expect all the time, it is not dead.

“Sportsmanship is very much alive and well in many quarters of amateur sports,” Gough said. “What we’re seeing among sports fans is not all that unique to sports. It’s just another unfortunate example of the no-place-for-second-place attitude that’s plaguing our culture.”

Things Looking Up

Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons said incident reports, usually involving altercations, have been reduced 25%-30% the last three years, and ejections are down 15%-20%. “Coach ejections are way down,” Simmons said, “but we’re still concerned about player ejections.”

Though such events aren’t the norm, there were two recent high profile examples involving Orange County girls’ basketball teams. In both cases, the consequences were severe.

After losing a semifinal game in the Santa Ana Valley tournament in December, a Compton Dominguez player punched a Westminster player while the teams shook hands and a melee ensued.

Dominguez clearly started the fight, according to tournament director Lionel Horn, and Westminster was clearly “a victim,” but both schools suffered the same fate--disqualification from the tournament.

“At Santa Ana Unified, we have zero tolerance,” Horn said. “Our administrators looked at it as if there had been two kids fighting, and they felt Westminster didn’t do enough to get out of it.”

That was followed during the winter vacation tournament season by El Toro Athletic Director Sheri Ross’ decision to suspend the girls’ basketball team from the Marina tournament for its fans’ behavior at a tournament in Santa Barbara days earlier.

“We didn’t take strong enough action in the past,” Ross said. “The past is done, and now we’re doing what we should be doing. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the only thing to do--to take a stand.”

Ross instituted a spectator policy that will be handed out, announced or posted at every sporting event on campus.

Its three points: All persons must remain in the designated home spectator area at all times during the contest, only positive cheers and comments will be addressed to any participant within the venue (including referees and visiting fans), and the policy is in effect any time one’s on school property. Any deviation could result (but not be limited to) removal from the contest and future contests.

As for the suspension of the basketball team?

“That took guts,” said Jerry Jelnick, Corona del Mar’s athletic director. “Maybe it will show other parents [what] could happen.”

A 15-year-old boy claimed he was attacked after the El Toro-Chino Don Lugo game by two of the Chargers’ supporters, who questioned the boy’s rooting for Don Lugo, according to the Santa Barbara Police Dept. He suffered a cut over an eye.

Additionally, San Diego Rancho Bernardo High filed a complaint with the tournament’s host hotel, alleging El Toro supporters harassed players and loitered in the lobby. Tournament director Steve Kozaki said El Toro would not be invited back to the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions next season.

Ross responded by punishing the team for the apparent sins of its fans.

“There is so much injustice in this world,” said Alicia Mendiola, mother of players Giuliana and Gioconda Mendiola, when asked about the team being suspended.

El Toro administrators had taken to calling opponents last season advising them to beef up security whenever the girls’ basketball team played, Ross said.

Even before the incidents at Santa Barbara, Marina coach and tournament director Pete Bonny had prepared signs specifically for El Toro’s fans; the electronic message board over the concession stand read, “Any negative behavior [El Toro] will result in removal from the gym and possible forfeit, yes team forfeit, as determined by the tournament director.”

Said Ross: “When this reputation precedes you, regardless of who is at fault, you’ll look the worst because of what has happened in the past.”

El Toro wasn’t the only school whose reputation took a hit in its game against Don Lugo. Gioconda Mendiola threw an elbow across the throat of Don Lugo’s best player, Diana Taurasi. Mendiola was eventually assessed a technical foul, but only after Taurasi’s father, Mario, came out of the stands and headed toward Mendiola, waving his finger and yelling at her.

“He said he regrets what he did,” said Don Lugo Athletic Director Joe Marcos, who met with Taurasi last week. “He reacted when his daughter was hit because the refs didn’t make the call immediately and the emotion of the situation got the better of him. He said he was sorry it happened, that it never happened before and it won’t happen again.”

Don Lugo Coach Larry Webster used the day to go over sportsmanship issues with his team. Marcos arranged to send a synopsis of the meeting to El Toro.

That’s more than Westminster got from Dominguez. The only contact between the schools was Dominguez Coach Neisha Williams’ apology to Katz in the moments after the Dec. 10 incident. But Dominguez didn’t brush off the incident: two players were suspended from games until this week.

Bonny says El Toro’s situation is unique.

“For all the games like El Toro, there’s 99 games where everything goes smoothly and everyone leaves with a good feeling,” he said. “You don’t hear about those games because it’s boring.”

One school will hear about it. Pacifica junior Eric Larson is writing a letter to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, a team the Mariners beat this season. When Pacifica played in Las Vegas, Mira Costa--also at the tournament--was there in street clothes to offer good luck before and after the game.

“It’s good to know that people still know what sports are about,” Larson said. “I’m writing the letter to say thanks and we’re signing it as a team.”

Learning Sportsmanship

Dr. George Selleck, a retired clinical psychologist, is founder and president of the nonprofit Sports For Life, which develops sportsmanship-type training programs, tools, school curriculum and live workshops for athletes, coaches, administrators and parents. One of two books he wrote, “How to Play the Game of Your Life: A Guide to Success in Sports and Life” has been used by the NBA’s rookie transition programs.

“Sportsmanship is a character issue,” Selleck said. “It’s about hard work, respect for others, learning from your mistakes and accepting responsibility for your own behavior.

“Sportsmanship is the end point. Everyone wants it to be the starting point.”

Orangethorpe Elementary School in Fullerton has won a California School Bell Award for its 24-year-old sports program, which places a strong emphasis on sportsmanship. The principal, Dr. Pat Backus, is a high school football referee and softball umpire.

“We think it teaches a sense of responsibility, to understand the feelings of other people, and that winning is not the prime requisite in everything,” Backus said.

Some leagues have taken to sportsmanship symposiums at the beginning of the school year, where as many as 30 students from each school (representing different sports, the band, cheerleaders, etc.) gather to discuss solutions to sportsmanship issues.

The Empire, Freeway and Pacific Coast leagues in Orange County, and the Sunkist and Sierra leagues elsewhere in the section, are among those taking that approach.

At Temescal Canyon and Elsinore high schools, both in Lake Elsinore, administrators issue yellow cards to offending fans.

“The yellow card serves as a warning, like in soccer,” Elsinore Athletic Director Roger Blake said. On the card is a message that students came up with at the Sunkist League’s 1996 symposium. It includes, “. . . Be a fan, not a fanatic. We need your support and enthusiasm, not your criticism and yelling.”

“Sometimes people don’t realize they’re out of hand unless someone tells them,” Blake said. “Adults are like kids--they don’t want to be embarrassed.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Code of Ethics

The following has been developed by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports n the state.

It is the duty of all concerned with high school athletics:

1. To emphasize the proper ideals of sportsmanship, ethical conduct, and fair play.

2. To eliminate all possibilities which tend to destroy the best values of the game.

3. To stress the values derived from playing the game fairly.

4. To show cordial courtesy to visiting teams and officials.

5. To establish a happy relationship between visitors and hosts.

6. To respect the integrity and judgment of sports officials.

7. To achieve a thorough understanding and acceptance of the rules of the game and the standards of eligibility.

8. To encourage leadership, use of initiative, and good judgment by the players on a team.

9. To recognize that the purpose of athletics is to promote the physical, mental, moral, social, and emotional well-being of the individual players.

10. To remember that an athletic contest is only a game--not a matter of life and death for player, coach, school, officials, fan, community, state or nation.

Source: CIF Southern Section