Yesterday I read an interesting article by a man who says young players shouldn‘t watch the NBA.
And he backs this up with many solid points:
The NBA is chock-full of:
- Poor sportsmanship
- Yelling at referees
- Technical fouls and ejections
And it’s not great for our young, impressionable youth to see these things on a nightly basis.
Especially when we’re doing our best to teach them the opposite…
- Good sportsmanship
- Controlling emotions
- Respect for others
Repeating myself for emphasis:
It’s incredibly difficult to convince our youth players of the importance of these traits when the world’s best players — who are the idols and role models of the current generation — are doing the exact opposite of what we preach.
Watching them is undoubtedly going to have a negative influence.
He even points out how the commentators encourage these *dirty* acts during the game by saying things like:
“A good elbow to the midsection just sends a good message to your opponent.”
And while this may be accepted in the NBA where millions of dollars and world championships are on the line, it becomes a big problem when young players start to believe that it’s acceptable for their level.
Now, to be clear…
I’m not telling you to forbid your team from watching the best basketball players on the planet (NBA, of course). I watch a lot of it myself.
It’s just an interesting topic that I thought would interest you.
I’ll leave you to decide what to make of it.