Florida Lacrosse News on Substack - 05/01/2025
Welcome to the post!
In this issue . . .
Boys regional semifinals in the books
Conference awards continue to highlight our kids
USA Lacrosse Magazine National rankings have Benjamin and AH-Delray
AA’s continue to come out
Sportsmanship from the stands still needs to be recognized
Plenty of college games streaming today, as D1 conferences play their playoff games!
Former Ransom Everglades HC Chazz Woodson let go by Hampton
PLL FINALLY has something for the WLL players to do . . .
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#TAFTAG
#LayOffTheRefs
#FloridaRising
#LacrosseFanandDamnProudOfIt
#StopYellingWard
#AcknowledgeFloridaLacrosse
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Congrats Daylin!
Bolles Alum - #FloridaRising
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Smartening the Audience
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On Sportsmanship
It seems every year I have to write something like this.
This sport is FULL of emotions, on the field and in the stands. We could call it a contact sport, but in reality, like hockey and football, it is a collision sport. Tempers flare and things get said in the moment that mature adults would never say without that speed of reaction. Players do trash talk, and that’s been pretty much a constant with the sport for anyone who stands near the benches and observes it. The Box game actually allows fighting, while a high school kid gets ejected and suspended for a punch . . . I’ve known of a number of 6-game suspensions in this state for one punch.
While I don’t condone the constant talk on the field, I at least understand it if the game flow creates it or if it is a response to a previous trash talk. The current culture certainly has encouraged a less ‘turn the other cheek’ approach to things and we can’t expect high school athletes to react any differently than the culture does when body checks and stick contact are a major function of the sport.
Crowd behavior is another thing altogether.
In past years, I’ve emphasized the importance of rooting FOR something, not AGAINST something. Adults should be the example, not the detriment. We all root fervently and passionately for our kids. As a father, if my son was cheapshotted, I’d be angry, and it would take time to calm down.
But those feelings are a REACTION to something that happened; that’s very different from being the PROVOCATEUR. That’s where I draw the line with fan behavior in the stands.
I was copied last night on a letter written from one of the 16 games that was played yesterday. I won’t go into details of which game, as I assume the letter will initiate some inquiry and I will let that play out first. The allegations were focused on crowd chants and if true, they certainly crossed the line of acceptable. The letter did note that the majority of the chanting was from adults, not kids.
As the inquiry goes on (the letter was also CC’ed up to the FHSAA), we’ll monitor and see how it is handled. If the allegations are truthful, there should be consequences when it comes to being able to attend a game in the future by the offender(s).
I come back again to a simple request. This is high school sports, it’s important, but only to a point. Just like anything concerning teenagers, it’s supposed to be about creating lessons on the road to adulthood, it isn’t the conclusion of anything but a season. For a sport? Not exactly a life changing experience in who wins or not.
If you are in the stands, you just have to accept that, or you end up crossing a line that doesn’t put anything positive on you, your team, or the sport itself. I always have to repeat, this sport tends to have a bullseye on its back with a certain percentage of the public and the administers of sports. I see it in certain counties around the state; the desire to see the sport in an unfavorable way. Don’t give them the ammunition, which bad crowd behavior certainly is.
Root FOR your team; leave the trash talking home. Slurs, graphic sexual references, etc., are just dumb. They don’t further any agenda except to hurt the sport. If you are of a historical bent, read up on how the ‘founders’ of this sport handled sportsmanship. It basically was where the line was drawn between their Heaven and their Hell. You might scoff at that, but if you are a believer, you might one day find that behavior comes back at you at an inappropriate time.
It’s high school sports, treat it like such.
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Congrats Gaby!
