Standards

While watching a recent NBA playoff game, a known bad actor picked up his fifth technical foul in the playoffs. If you guessed we are talking about Draymond Green of the Warriors you would be correct. Five techs in just 10 playoff games, and he tried to get another one in their last game so he could get ejected and not have to play the rest of a major blowout. Unfathomable for such a historically great player on a dynasty type of team.

What is somewhat more surprising than the high number of unsportsmanlike foul calls on Green is that the NBA actually has a rule in place that if a player or coach receives seven technical over the course of the playoffs they are suspended for a game. Seven? Why seven? Why not 12 or 20? We would argue that five is already egregious. Heck, I got one in high school and I didn’t play again for a month my coach was so mad.

The question we have for the league is this.

What kind of standard are we setting here?

Kids watching the playoffs see this kind of thing and they think it’s okay to disrespect referees and other players. And maybe not in the NBA, but in the tranches at the grass roots levels, we have a MAJOR crisis around recruiting, training, and retaining officials. Research says that the lack of respect and abuse that comes from players and parents are the primary reason officials throw in the towel. It’s a tough gig to begin with and the pay isn’t great, so when the added junk comes along, they figure it’s not worth it.

On the brighter side there are some awesome programs out there that are trying to make an impact. The Southern Oregon Sports Commission’s Know Your Role program is a great one. The St. Louis Sports Commission Let ‘em Play campaign is another good one. They also put on the Musial Awards that celebrate great sportsmanship moments every year, a top flight event if you ever get the chance to attend. NC Fusion, one of the top soccer organizations on the East Coast has a strategic initiative around getting referees on board and keeping them engaged, complete with a tactical scorecard to track their progress.

There are all kinds of resources out there to lean into and exhibit the right message to our kids. How to treat officials is mission critical to the future of youth sports in our country. It is up to those of us in our industry to set the right examples, and to exhibit a standard of conduct that is what we expect out of our young people.

Setting the bar as low as the NBA’s seven technicals isn’t it.

Raise the standard this week!