Writer

Aaron Redpath

With the emergence of social media in the sports world today there’s a level of respect that has been lost for the game. Instead of playing hard, athletes are playing for the “gram.” Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, or any of the other social platforms are great for a lot of things but like anything else, social has its pros and cons. One of those cons is that social negatively contributes to shaping the mentalities of young athletes. I witnessed a youth basketball game this past summer with high school aged athletes end with 4 minutes left to go in the game because a player had a nice dunk, the gym got excited, and the bench players ran onto the court formed a circle around the player that got dunked on then proceeded to jump around and taunt the that player. 

All I could think to myself was how disgusted scouts and post secondary coaches would be after seeing that display. No respect for the game and no respect for competing. For many of these players the dream is to be in the NBA, play professionally overseas or get a scholarship to play at the university level. The reality is that in order to get to the next level first and foremost you have to be a high character individual. Coaches, scouts, and general managers are looking for respectful individuals that know how to conduct themselves and won’t be a headache to coach or deal with. Coaches and parents of these young athletes should be properly nurturing these young impressionable players for the next level.   

As these young athletes grow we want them to succeed in life more importantly than on the court. In order for them to do that respect will always have to be at the forefront of their minds. They’ll have to learn to respect their teammates, colleagues, coaches, bosses, partners, professors, teachers, opponents, as well as themselves. Respecting the game is just the start.