Apologizing for victory?

[Arsenal28]

Well, being a varsity level coach for the boy's soccer team in my school district, I can say that the coaching staff of that winning team has a lot to learn when it comes to winning with class. There are poor teams in every division of every sport at every level. It does not mean that they have to be embarrassed about how they play. I don't think a team should ever have to apologize for winning, they were doing what they were told by their coaches. The coaches should have stepped in and made a change to how the game was being played. There are teams in the Buffalo area that my team could beat 10-0 or more in a soccer game. In those games, we get a comfortable lead, sit the starters, and let the reserves get some time. If they continue to score then we set restrictions on how they play. For example, completing 10 passes before a shot, only scoring off of a cross, things like that. Obviously we don't yell out to the team about the restrictions, that is even more embarrassing for the opposing team, but my teams knows that when the game is starting to get out of hand, we change our style.

I have to say that I am a bit surprised by some of the comments from people here but I don't really know any of you on a personal level, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Words like "they suck" and other comments have no place in a high school level game. Especially when the score is 100-0. And I would be even more disappointed in the losing team if they actually did start throwing the ball from half court in a desperate attempt to score just one basket. A score of 100-3 doesn't sound any better. Instead, they stuck to their game plan and kept on doing what they had been working on all game. Unfortunately they didn't have the same skill as the other team and were beaten in a classless way. The good news for the Dallas Academy is that the girls are very excited about how much press this story has gotten. I wish them the best and hope that other coaches presented with similar situations would take a different plan of action when playing a weaker team.

[Lilred36]

Very nice reply Arsenal, glad theres someone here that understands.Thank you thank you.

[eejit101]

I do understand, but i think the winning team apologising for winning???

Compare it to poker - you play 10 HUs vs a weak apponent. Youve won the first 9, do u let win win the last?? Hell no.

You play sports to win, professionally and socially. If i play soccer with friends, i try and score. If i play squash (which i do quite well), i try and win. Thats the point of a score being kept.

My point here - as a "heartless brit", is to say this 100-0 loss for Dallas or whoever, is life affirming, it will help them in later life maybe. They get an idea of disappointment. They understand how the game is played by a great team, and can learn/improve.

Im not saying they suck, im sure they would beat me at basketball. Im just saying their coach cant be that good or even a proper coach if he cant call plays and change the way they were playing to even get one score.

The girls did nothing wrong. My point is they should learn to lose, and a huge loss (which ive felt at school playing football), just makes you want to get better.

[Lilred36]

My point you still don't get it.nuff said.

[eejit101]

My point you still don't get it.nuff said.

right. I do get it, i just dont agree with all of it. Can i not have a point of view?

[Arsenal28]

I do understand, but i think the winning team apologising for winning???

Compare it to poker - you play 10 HUs vs a weak apponent. Youve won the first 9, do u let win win the last?? Hell no.

You play sports to win, professionally and socially. If i play soccer with friends, i try and score. If i play squash (which i do quite well), i try and win. Thats the point of a score being kept.

My point here - as a "heartless brit", is to say this 100-0 loss for Dallas or whoever, is life affirming, it will help them in later life maybe. They get an idea of disappointment. They understand how the game is played by a great team, and can learn/improve.

Im not saying they suck, im sure they would beat me at basketball. Im just saying their coach cant be that good or even a proper coach if he cant call plays and change the way they were playing to even get one score.

The girls did nothing wrong. My point is they should learn to lose, and a huge loss (which ive felt at school playing football), just makes you want to get better.

They haven't won a game in 4 years. They already know how to lose. They are playing for the love of the game.

[eejit101]

I didnt know that they hadnt won a game in 4years. IF so.... and they pay for the love of it, dont they expect this by now? This just seems weird

[Lilred36]

I won a tournament why doesn't it say that above my name? Oh and this is my last reply to you EEJIT.You miss the whole point here, one last time.No one here has said the winning team should apologize.Yes they are used to losing.The winning team kept putting the hammer down,shooting 3s after a 59-0 halftime lead is just unsportsmanlike.No one faults the girls that won.IT IS THE DAMM COACHES WHO LEFT THE GOOD PLAYERS IN>Getting to 100 and holding your opponents to zero, doesn't get you anything else,victory was in hand.Do you understand how hard it is for some schools to even dress a girls team?The point Eejit is that the coaches on the winning team had no reason to get to 100, the first player on there team that shot a 3 in the second half shoulda been benched.Winning is ok but trying to embarass someone is different.These coaches knew they were'nt going lose this game before it started.Also I never said nothing about try and you will win, in high school"Teamwork,Playing to your best ability and learning the fundamentals is all that matters".I feel sorry for alot folks here.I think you should rethink some of the stuff you said,I am done now no more posts.

[Arsenal28]

I didnt know that they hadnt won a game in 4years. IF so.... and they pay for the love of it, dont they expect this by now? This just seems weird

I agree that it would be weird if it was the school that got beat was asking for an apology. Instead it was the head of the school that won the game that was looking to give an apology. I thought it was a nice gesture by the head of the school since the coach didn't seem to care about what went on.

[eejit101]

Ok, lets finish this mockery of a debate up

1 - yes, ill concede trying to shame another team isnt very sportsmanlike (though in professional league, is a team is winning 54-0 at NFL, they still go for more)

2 - Surely the head of the school did this for publicity?? Noone had heard of it till that point. Now its here and i know about it, and im a long way from Texas.

3 - Yes lilred, ok, but youve said last post in this thread FOUR time and i just had to point that out to ya buddy.

4 - im not heartless. I just didnt know every fact about it, and a loss is just a loss. The kids must have been thrilled when they told their parent they lost 100-0 and their parents took them out shopping for all kinds of stuff they wanted to cheer them up or something.

5 - yes, speak to the coaches. But a coaches job is to make his team as good as possible. Using the end of a game as a 3 pointer training session isnt reallt ALL that bad. Yeah its maybe slightly immorral, but things happen.


Right, lets all be friends