We have all seen and heard it far too many times over the past few seasons of high school sports. That is bad sportsmanship, whether it is from players, coaches, and, far too many times, the fans on the sidelines.
It has gotten so bad in Kentucky that many areas are seeing a shortage of officials in team sports because no one wants to take an official’s pay for the verbal abuse, and sadly, on an increasing number of occasions, the physical abuse and the harassment off the field.
So when you see an example of great sportsmanship, you want to point it out, and we need to point it out and give recognition to the good things that are still going on in high school sports.
The Todd County Central Lady Rebels soccer team has had a tough off-season. The Lady Rebels saw Coach Tori Bankston step down unexpectedly after the 2022 season. Then, the coach they thought was going to be her replacement left right before the start of the season. New head coach Jerry Turner just took over the program on Monday, with the team playing its first match Thursday night, just three days later.
Another issue was player numbers. For the second time in the past three seasons, it came down to the wire as to whether or not the Lady Rebels would be able to field 11 players at one time. At Thursday night’s match, Todd County Central dressed exactly the 11 players for a full team on the field. Exactly eleven.
That brings us around to the crux of the story. With only 11 players available, Coach Turner elected to play Barren County with only ten players on the field at a time in order to give one player the chance to be resting throughout the match. That meant the Lady Rebels would be playing the Barren County Trojanettes ‘one down.’
Or rather, it could have been that way. When the Barren County coaching staff heard that the Lady Rebels would be playing with ten on the field, they made a decision that exemplifies one of the many good things about high school sports.
Barren County also elected to play the match ‘one down.’ The Trojanettes did not have to play it out that way. They could have fielded an 11-player team and played with an advantage for the whole match. But they decided not to win that way. And it was not for a lack of numbers. Barren County, by my count, had 25 players dressed out for Thursday night’s match.
I spoke with one of the assistant coaches at halftime of the match about the decision for Barren County to play ‘one down’ and he said it just seemed like “the fair thing to do.” Again, they didn’t have to, but they chose to play the Lady Rebels, who had been through a rough preseason, on even terms for the entire match.
Barren County would go on to win the match 3-1. It might have been a bigger win for the Trojanettes had they played fully loaded, but they exhibited great sportsmanship and decided to get the win over the Lady Rebels on ‘even terms.’
We see so much bad sportsmanship and behavior in sports sometimes today, I think we come to expect it and are not surprised by it. That’s why when something like what the Barren County coaching staff decided to do happens, it needs to be pointed out, if for no other reason to remind us that there still is good in sports, in high school sports, and it should be celebrated.
