A longtime OTP reader shared this with me recently:
Today at my U14 game, my daughter made a diving save and deflected the ball past the post. The referee signaled for a goal kick and she shouted to him “Ref, it was out off my hand, it should be a corner.” He listened and gave the ball to the other team. As her dad and coach, I was proud of her display of sportsmanship.
I’d be proud too! Sometimes we lose sight of the most important lessons we should be teaching. One of my favorite stories about sportsmanship was during a U10 Rec match. A player got tangled up trying to steal the ball and went down hard. Before the referee even thought to blow the whistle, all the kids took a knee. Granted, we explained to the coaches after that to remind the kids to play until the whistle blows, lest we see U10 kids start diving 
. But it was clearly a spontaneous act of compassion by the kids. It was great to see.
What cool examples of sportsmanship have you seen in youth soccer? Were they rewarded or highlighted? How?
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March 24th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Here’s another story I recently heard. Can’t verify that it is true, but expect it is. I’d probably do the same thing. Competitive girls game, either club or school, on a field where the net had a gap near the ground by the post.
A shot went just wide and went into the net through the gap. The ref signals goal, even though both teams told the official that the ball had gone through the gap. Decision = final.
So the coach of the team that had scored the goal told his team to let the other team score a goal on the next possession, which they immediately did. Thus the invalid goal was nullified. The team that did this ended up losing 2-3.
Afterward the coach noted it was the right thing to do, even if it cost them a point in the standings, given the lesson it taught.
April 11th, 2009 at 3:13 am
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