Playing to win:

In the April 2000 American Academy of Pediatrics News issue, it stated that violence on the playing field is skyrocketing. There are 30 million sports playing children (<18 years old), 3.2 million of these have sports injuries per year. Approximately 1/2 of these injuries are preventable.

Some of the preventable injuries listed are those caused by violent behavior on the field. Here are a few cases to illustrate this point:

A 15 year old boy in Chicago was charged with aggravated battery after he violently cross-checked another player, leaving him paralyzed.

A 17 year old's family is suing a hockey coach for reconstructive surgery costs, after the coach allegedly encouraged his player to fight on the ice.

Youth soccer injuries have jumped more than 20% during 1994-1998.

News reports show more violent outbursts towards umpires and professional players are displaying progressively violent behaviors on and off the field.

Dr. Jane’s comment:

Since many people polled these days profess to believe in God or have "Christian" beliefs, one would deduce that a good portion of the 30 million children playing sports has "Christian parents." So where are we in the turmoil of the day? Certainly we are not represented by the mainstream press, but hopefully we aren’t hiding at home either.

This report on the increase in violence in our children’s sports events challenged me to consider what will I say when confronted with "win at all costs" attitudes. What will I do when the coach yells at my boys "come on, kill them out there?"

Thankfully we have God’s Word, the Bible, for counsel and wisdom. Paul says in James 4:1 "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?"

What do these warring people look like? Well, they are "proud, knowing nothing, but are obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which comes envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose godliness is a means of gain" (1 Timothy 4,5)

We are called as Christian parents not to be proud, greedy for gain, but to have different standards -- Jesus’ standards.

Again Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:11-12 what this looks like. "But you, O man (this includes woman) of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life..." Does this mean that we shouldn’t partake in sports? Yes and no. Yes, if it teaches your children the value of hard work and rewards, gentlemanly and ladylike sport’s etiquette, team spirit, and conflict resolution. No, if it means gouging for the gold, take no prisoners type attitudes, and hate your neighbor. Model these qualities to your kids and they will model it on the field, fighting the Good fight, the eternal fight.