Time for coaches and parents to stop athletes’ bad behavior

It’s past time for coaches to start striking a little fear into their players, and for parents to start holding themselves and their sons and daughters accountable for bad behavior.

There’s been too much taunting, too much trash talking and too many people in high school sports who are choosing confrontation instead of contemplation.

In the last month, a boys’ basketball player went into the stands to attack a fan; a girls’ basketball player who, perhaps inadvetently, suffered a broken nose in a bloody court scene that led to unruly fan behavior and accusations of retaliation; and soccer players who got into a brawl.

There have been so many incidents involving Marine League teams in the last 12 months that it might be better to hire a sports psychologist to figure out what’s going on instead of hiring more school police.

The nonsense must stop.

Playoffs begin next week, when stress and pressure will reach a boiling point, potentially causing more people to lose their patience with officials, coaches, players, parents and fans.

Consider this your alarm.

These are games, people. These are teenagers trying to do their best. There are lessons to be learned in victory and defeat.

Be happy after a win and celebrate. Be mad after a loss and feel discomfort. But do it with a little dignity and class and you’ll be rewarded with respect and sympathy.

What’s baffling is that some athletes no longer respect their coaches. In the old days, you were so scared to make your coach mad that no one had to worry about players leaving a bench or a fan taunting an official. The coach’s stare or the coach’s voice would bring an immediate halt to bad behavior.

Not anymore. Some people say transferring has become so rampant that coaches have seen their authority diminished. A coach yells at an athlete or puts him on the bench, and Mom or Dad’s response is, “So long.”

“Let’s rewind 35, 40 years ago,” said Dr. Andrew Yellen, a sports psychologist and former high school football coach. “You could be 100 yards from a teacher and if the teacher said, ‘Stop,’ you’d stop. We’re dealing with a situation where across the board, there’s just not respect for authority as before. You have that Robert De Niro, ‘Hey, you talking to me?’ in your face.”

Yellen said parents have come into his office seeking help about bad behavior from their children. He tells them to demand accountability.

“But they won’t like me,” is one popular response.

“It’s insane,” Yellen said. “What you do is, there’s a reward, and if you don’t there’s a consequence.”

High school sports needs to be the last bastion of sanity in a sports world gone a little mad.

Showboating is fun to see, and trash talking brings smiles to some faces. But not everybody has the self-control or self-confidence to walk away and use that memory as motivation at an appropriate time.

Everyone needs to think more before they act. And maybe it’s time for coaches to bring back their drill sergeant voices and stares.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATSondheimer

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