Ah, the struggle that is being a high school student.
You have to wake up early, be at class on time and often can’t leave the school grounds to enjoy lunch at a fun place to eat like McDonald’s or Wendy’s.
Your parents may have you on a tight leash, with daily chores, curfews and other restrictions.
Often, your main goal as a high school student is fitting in with the “cool” kids and making friends. Usually, despite your awkwardness or insecurities, there is at least someone who can relate and give your support.
High school athletes tend to be revered in the school community. Parents, teachers and students show up for their games and cheer them on with a sense of school pride.
Sometimes, athletes are allowed to leave school early to mentor younger students in the community or simply to leave for a long bus trip for a tournament.
At many sporting events, the school’s students are highly encouraged to dress up in uniform, utilizing themes at different games.
No matter if you’re an outcast, isolated or not well-liked, you can enjoy a sense of purpose by being at the football or basketball game and cheering your loudest with your peers.
Sure, there’s supervision and it’s a public place, but sporting events allow students the freedom to creatively express themselves with a sense of school pride and a general unity against an opponent.
Unfortunately, last week, the governing body of high school sports in Wisconsin, struck a chord throughout the state and nation by reiterating outdated rules that take some harmless fun away from students, as if they aren’t walking on egg shells most days anyways.
April Gehl, a girls basketball player from Hilbert, has become the martyr in an episode that has turned the WIAA into a national embarrassment.
To be fair, the WIAA never exactly enforced a rule banning chants at sporting events, but its email last month just before Christmas break made it perfectly clear that the big wigs in Stevens Point want to curb disrespect and promote sportsmanship.
The problem is they went about it all wrong.
First, the WIAA somehow policed the Twitter account of Gehl after she tweeted a profanity toward the organization in response to the email.
She was suspended five games by the school for the tweet, which is outrageously ridiculous.
How many other students or athletes have sworn on Twitter, a place in this country where you can still speak your mind, and not get suspended?
OK, profanity isn’t acceptable, but neither is excessive punishment.
This led to an article by the Appleton Post-Crescent along with an avalanche of backlash on Twitter from students. There were even columns written in Sports Illustrated and USA Today bashing the WIAA.
Nation rips WIAA
Jay Bilas, an ESPN college basketball analyst with one million Twitter followers, tweeted a photo of nuns sitting and quietly enjoying a game, suggesting that’s the only acceptable behavior at a Wisconsin high school sports event.
Bilas has been tweeting since this fiasco started Jan. 12 about how ridiculous and over-reaching the WIAA’s behavior is.
Well, the nation is going to take notice when you try and ban harmless chants. Here are some of the funniest:
- “Air ball”
- “Scoreboard”
- “Fundamentals”
- “You can’t do that”
- “Warm up the bus”
“Booing of any kind” is another no-no – and there were more than 20.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you can’t chant “air ball” or “fundamentals” when an opponent screws up, what can you do? You basically have to be silent.
What’s the fun in that?
High school sports are all about atmosphere and excitement, loud chants and entertainment. It’s a competitive, learning environment where healthy ribbing occurs.
There’s a common respect among opponents, and if things get out of hand, there’s always a supervisor to take action or remove a student if necessary.
If a kid is singled out for physical appearance or race, that is crossing the line and should be stopped.
But seriously, how often does this happen at a high school game, and aren’t those offenders usually dealt with?
Student chants show school pride, unity and healthy expression. Athletes and schools should want an active crowd that’s involved, especially when cell phones and iPads keep most of the public distracted these days.
“Fundamentals,” “Air ball” and “Scoreboard” are solid reminders to step it up and improve play. If you want to beat us, you’re going to have to bring it for the entire game. Otherwise, our students will properly let you know about it.
If you’re losing by 20 points and your best player dunks the basketball, don’t get too excited. There’s a swift “scoreboard” waiting to remind you who’s going to win the game.
And maybe “air ball” is just encouragement to take your time on your next shot and follow through. How is that disrespectful?
Believe it or not, the “roller coaster” and “wave” are also seen as disrespectful by the WIAA, so students and fans can’t have any fun whatsoever.
Too little, too late
Of course, a day after the WIAA became a giant laughingstock, they released an apology letter of sorts for any distress or dissatisfaction caused by the original email.
This was followed by a somewhat defiant tweet that read, “to be clear, there has been…NO NEW DIRECTIVE, NO NEW RULES, NO NEW MANDATES, NO NEW ENFORCEMENT EXPECTATIONS.”
Sorry, guys, but it’s too little, too late.
Your intentions have been made perfectly clear. You want some of the fun, excitement and competitive spirit out of high school athletics.
A silent student is a good fan, right?
Students at Watertown Luther Prep and Ashwaubenon duct-taped their mouths shut at their respective basketball games last week.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this pleased the WIAA, since nobody was being “attacked.”
High school students and athletes aren’t made of tissue paper. Bilas summed it up recently on his Twitter account.
“Air ball chants, ribbing refs, fun distractions to the opponent are not disrespectful. All part of a great game atmosphere.”
This “great game atmosphere” was something I admired when my brother-in-law took me to Janesville Craig boys basketball games back in the 1990s.
The Cougars were a high school basketball power, and their clever student section chants were entertaining, smart and downright funny.
“Fundamentals,” “Warm up the buses” and “Air ball” helped me fall in love with high school basketball and attending sporting events.
Yes, students need to be careful with what they say on social media. You never know who’s watching, and there may even be harsh consequences.
But do we really want to live in a world where people can’t express their opinions in a creative way that isn’t harmful?
Don’t we want unity and camaraderie, heck, even friendship among our community’s youth?
These die-hard fans, beaming with school pride, aren’t out in the streets doing drugs or drinking at a party.
They’ve decided to gather in a public place with their peers to watch a sporting event and support their school, with soda pop flowing and popcorn popping.
If the WIAA isn’t going to stand up for our kids, who will?
Allow me to be the first to volunteer.
Thank you, April Gehl, and keep fighting the good fight.
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Ok, wait. She posted a swear directed towards WIAA. She should be banned! If I swore like that to my boss…I’d get fired.
I believe people supporting this girl being suspended for 5 games are the same people that are coddling their children too much and giving an Achievement Ribbon just for breathing! Come on.
All this coming from a guy that used Twitter to glorify student fans that were kicked out of a HS soccer match and then tried to get back in by climbing the fence. When you try to be the “kiddies’ pal,” you should expect a piece like this.
The WIAA did nothing wrong by sending out their sportsmanship reminder to ADs and administrators. The WIAA sends out several reminders every year on different things, like open gyms, severe weather, etc. The info that was in the sportsmanship reminder is the same info that can be found in the Sportsmanship Reference Guide on the WIAA website–and that was published in 2005! The chants that were referred to in the e-mail are also listed in the aforementioned Guide as examples that “…can help schools, students, parents, competitors, coaches and support groups identify inappropriate sportsmanship.” It’s up to the schools to determine what level of sportsmanship they want to promote. There is no rule banning any cheers or chants. No team is going to get a technical foul because someone in the stands yelled “airball.” People need to stop over-reacting about this. The games I have been to since this happened have been business as usual–the same cheers and chants still happening, and all being handled as they were in the past.
As for Miss Gehl…she is entitled to her opinion. I have no problem with her not liking what the WIAA had to say about sportsmanship. She went about expressing her opinion the wrong way, though. If one person came to you and said, “I don’t agree with this,” while another came to you and said, “Eat S***,” I am pretty confident that you would have a much more hostile attitude towards the latter. There’s a reason they call them “fightin’ words.” If she voices her opinion in a more respectful manner, this whole matter doesn’t get any attention.
Is it too much to ask of high school students to act responsibly?
No, it’s not ok to have mean-spirited chants. That isn’t school spirit, that is just being mean. What the WIAA did was perfectly acceptable. They sent out a memo reminding schools of that fact.
I guess this article is what we can expect from our sportswriter, who writes like he is in the 7th grade, and also thinks he is still in the 7th grade.
I’m all for cheering loud, being rowdy and getting excited. But why does that have to be at someone else’s expense?
“Voice of Reason,” sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. In the same breath, you condemn being “mean-spirited” while telling this writer he writes and acts like he is in 7th grade. You’ve lost all credibility — that is, what little credibility you had to begin with (considering you don’t even put your actual name).
The irony of my original post was not lost on me when I posted it. Yes, it is wrong for me to be mean to Mike, just as it is wrong for high school students to be mean to other high school students. (that’s the irony)
It is just wrong in general to be mean to people, and to justify it by calling it “school spirit” is ridiculous.
Also, “Julie” you don’t even use your real name either, so according to your justification, you’ve lost all credibility as well. I guess neither one of us is credible. Oh well, such is life.
I would agree with the other posters here.
This article is promoting poor sportsmanship and glorifying negative behavior. To call a young lady that used extreme profanity (and was then punished for using the profanity) a martyr is ridiculous. She is simply someone who made a poor choice, that doesn’t make her a martyr.
Adults should support good behavior, not encourage poor behavior.
I would remind you all of two things..
1. This happens all the times in sports for as long as I can remember. Have any of you seem the movie hoosiers? Have you ever been to a basketball game HS, College or Pro?? It’s a part of the game. The teams WANT the crowd in the game.
2. As for the Young lady that wrote what she wrote, she did it on twitter. Not on school property, not in a school function etc.. She does have a right to free speech. She never signed a document telling her what she could or could not say about the WIAA. Sorry your arguments hold no water in the bucket. She actually has reason to sue if she wanted to for violation of FREE SPEECH.
Don’t come at me with yelling fire in a movie theater either, different legal argument.
I like that Mike covers the local sports the way he does. He has gained a level of trust and camaraderie with the kids and coaching staffs. He REALLY loves his job and it shows.
Keep it up Mike.. Haters gonna hate..
Actually, the majority of schools have their athletes sign a sportsmanship agreement. So I’m guessing in this case, the girl actually did sign a document agreeing to good sportsmanship. Her breach of this agreement is what lead to her punishment. Clearly, there is something such as free speech, but that does not guarantee that you are not held accountable for your speech.
I would love to see that document. I know after reading my daughters who goes to BHS, there is nothing stating “ANYTHING” about social media etc and statements against the WIAA.
This was not a sportsmanship issue.
Do I think it was a childish comment. Sure but last I looked this young lady was still considered a child. I would talk to her, explain how this looks etc, but if there was nothing spelled out about this type of issue she should not have been banned from the games.
Without seeing the documents, it’s hard to tell, but even without anything specific to social media or statements against the WIAA, I would assume that agreement is a blanket agreement that all athletes sign that state they will be responsible citizens (or something to that effect).
Let’s face facts. The girl made a very poor choice. She was punished for her poor choice. End of story. If someone said this in the “real world” they would be fired from their job.
The fact that this article is defending this behavior and behavior like it, disturbs me.
I read a story of how last night Arrowhead’s students chanted “Food Stamps!, Food Stamps!” toward a less affluent school during a basketball game.
I’m wondering if the writer of this article supports this type of action?