We normally don't cover gymnastics but...

Just read this article.


Wow. Just wow. Shawnee Mission Northwest's team was supposed to win, they had a small lead over Lawrence Free State and Newton. But because their coach asked what their score was, and did so not in the allotted 5 minute window, her team was docked a point therefore moving them from first to third place. That is so wrong. Again, this goes back to something I blogged about not too long ago. The random cross country rules in Baltimore that cost a team first place because the stitching on his shorts under his uniform were white instead of black, that could happen here in Kansas.

This gymnastics fiasco already has happened here in Kansas. The reason why team sports are encouraged is because they teach kids rules. They teach teamwork. They teach kids that when someone else is down you help them up, they teach sportsmanship, but they also teach that hard work should be rewarded. These girls from Shawnee Mission Northwest worked hard. They trained, practiced, focused and set their eyes on one heck of a big goal. And they reached that goal only to have it taken away on a technicality.

There's something else to be taught here in sports. Compassion. Common Sense. How many times do these young men and women have to go home with nothing to show for their hard work before we wise up and realize that these kids are TEENAGERS!

I'm no softy, I'm not of the soccer mom mentality that everybody wins and everybody should play. I'm probably the most competitive person you'll ever meet. I was the kid who rode my bike to the tee-ball league umpire's house to ask what the score of the game was because I wanted to win. But I also wanted to win fairly. I wanted to win because I worked hard and because I put forth the effort. And I sure didn't want to lose because someone, somewhere, who undoubtedly had never played my sport in their whole lives decided on an arbitrary rule to keep athletes in check.