Sportsmanship and Handshakes

* In response to “When Handshake Is Setback to Sportsmanship,” March 25:

The Marmonte School District’s decision to forbid post-game handshakes reflects much more than a school problem in east Ventura County. It goes to the core of the struggle for values in our nation.

Few would condone sports violence, on or off the field. Many of us would like to fix the responsibility--the blame--for violence on someone who was there--the players, the coaches, the spectators--all pulling for a victory. But winning, as fun as it is, is increasingly treated as a substitute for genuine self-worth, as a way for me to feel good about myself because I or my team “won.” It’s a societal problem; we’re all involved.

What happens on the sports field can teach a lot about values and identity. Striving mightily can teach about expanding one’s capacity, about discipline and perseverance. Competition, including winning and losing, can promote excellence. All of that is good.

But not everyone can win; not even the very best can win all the time. Counting on winning to boost your self-worth is a dream, an impossible dream. However, doing your thing with totality, being “all you can be” is within the reach of all of us all the time. One needs only to watch the faces of the Special Olympians to understand this principle.

When you win, win with grace. When you lose, lose with the pride in having done your best. And, after the game, you can freely shake hands because you know what’s really important.

DONALD E. MUELLER

Huntington Beach

* As a basketball coach and teacher for 12 years, I am very distressed to see that the Marmonte League has decided to eliminate the after-game handshake. I see this as a failure of parents, administrators and coaches to instill and support the true values of high school athletics: the spirit of competition and sportsmanship. We lower our expectations of our young people when we back off from such values and standards. And with lowered expectations we will receive lesser results. Instead of expecting less of our youth, we should hold them to high standards; we should insist that our student-athletes exhibit sportsmanship above all else. To do otherwise is a sign of “giving up,” a contradiction of the spirit of competition. Let us not give up on young people, and let us expect them to win the battle of sportsmanship!

MARC PAEZ

Banning High School, LAUSD

* The Maramonte League’s decision to ban the postgame handshake is a temporary solution to a much greater problem. I find it extremely sad that athletes are creating trouble during the final handshake, a time when the animosities of the game should be forgotten and sportsmanship revealed. These students are either looking for status points among their peers or are truly angered and feel that their actions are justifiable. In either case, society is at fault--our dilapidated society. Look where we are headed. Sure, we may lose the postgame handshake, no big deal--but what will follow? It appears that we are setting ourselves up for new rules: no contact or verbal exchanges before, during, or after the game, and no teaching of sportsmanship required.

Sportsmanship will continue to decrease, and danger to players will increase. By losing the handshake we are succumbing to the deterioration of civilized life.

TAYLOR PECK, Student Council

President, San Marino High School