Values lost because sports have become too much about individuals

I’m writing in response to your recent series, “When Parents Cry Foul.” I couldn’t stop nodding my head and exclaiming. I only wish that this kind of involvement quit at the high school level.

I find it astonishing that parents continue to badger and bad-mouth coaches at the college level. It makes me wonder when they will draw the line and when it will stop? Will they step in at their children’s work places as well?

Recently, Whitworth decided not to renew the contract of fastpitch softball coach Teresa Hansen Laher. I believe it was based on the words of some self-seeking players and parents who enabled this behavior. Coach Laher, many of her players, her coaching staff, and anyone who know her well are still reeling from this unjust and stunning dismissal.

As a patron of Whitworth fastpitch of the last six years, I am so disillusioned and disheartened. I was in the stands during the season listening to one of the dads continuously bad-mouth Teresa and Whitworth fastpitch. Why should coaches, teams and patrons have to put up with this? Good people in the stands, including me, didn’t say anything. I assumed with Teresa’s history, success and professionalism, that Whitworth would stand behind its employee once these parents left with their graduated players. That’s not what happened.

Sports should build character and camaraderie, not provoke superstar mentalities and power trips. Coach Laher gave so generously of herself to not only Whitworth and her players, but also to the community of the Inland Northwest and beyond. Every summer she offered reasonably priced boys and girls fastpitch camps that not only taught them the fundamentals of the game, but also strongly emphasized sportsmanship and teamwork. Teams, coaches and players from Montana, Idaho and all over the Inland Northwest have sought her out for her expertise. She frequently held pitching and hitting clinics, attracting and educating many local junior high and high school players. Coach Laher spoke at coaches’ clinics and hoped to be a beacon of sportsmanship, character and athletics in the Northwest.

In my opinion, coach Laher should take a deep breath and be glad it is over. But it’s the principle that is at stake here. Where is Whitworth’s justice and integrity? Having invested her blood, sweat and tears, having brought the team from last place in the conference to third, having a winning average of around 70 percent, Coach Laher deserves a dismissal of honor, not infamy.

I am heartsick at where we see sports headed in our society. It is all about individual players and their “showtime” in the field, on the mound or on the track. Sports used to be a vehicle for teaching character, discipline and teamwork. Now it seems we have become a society focused on superstars and power. Parents are out to make sure that their prince or princesses get all that they feel the silver platter should offer them. They make one-sided judgments from the stands and condemn coaches and referees without knowing the entire story behind calls made from the field.

We live in a society that rewards power, selfishness and greed. I am so grieved that Whitworth, being a “Christian college,” does not rise head and shoulders above the stench. It is tragic to learn that it acts the same as everyone else – kowtowing to the loudest and most provoking bidder.