Dallas ISD has officially launched an initiative through the University Interscholastic League to reduce the number of unsportsmanlike incidents happening within high school sports as the season gets underway.
UIL has tracked the number of unsportsmanlike actions in recent years and discovered an increased number of such incidents. It has tasked Dallas ISD with finding ways to limit the number of times this happens during sporting events, as reported by NBC 5 DFW.
A recent study conducted by the UIL found that there has been a nearly 50% increase in the number of coach ejections during public school events, coupled with a 45% increase in the number of fan ejections initiated by officials over the last five years, according to The Dallas Morning News.
With coaches and young athletes beginning high school seasons with high hopes for their teams, it is no surprise that the intensity and emotions spill over at times during and after the games.
However, leaders from the district have all agreed that significantly reducing the number of times it happens should be a priority.
Vince Reyes, assistant superintendent of Dallas ISD, recognized the trend of more unsportsmanlike incidents and said the district is now searching for ways that the athletes “can cope with the heat of battle.”
“The UIL has made it perfectly clear that sportsmanship and issues with sportsmanship across the state has increased, and Dallas ISD intends to buck that trend,” he explained while speaking with NBC 5.
Since being formed in 1913, the UIL has worked to “provide educational extracurricular academic, athletic, and music contests” to high school students in Texas while providing “leadership and guidance to public school debate and athletic teachers.”
“Participation teaches that it is a privilege and an honor to represent one’s school. Students learn to win and to lose; to take as well as to give. Self-motivation and intellectual curiosity are essential to the best academic participants. Physical training and good health habits are essential to the best athletes,” UIL states on its website.
These goals are true for many involved in Dallas ISD athletics, as student leader and department intern Jacob Marsaw said the competitiveness should remain on the field and not cause issues.
“Keep that competitive drive, but make sure we do it in a respectful manner that what we’re trying to do at the end the day,” he said, per NBC 5. “We can have our differences, have our trash talk but we want to make sure it’s a safe place for everybody.”
Marsaw further explained that he will help introduce the STOP, THINK, and CHOOSE initiative, which encourages all those involved to “play big” and also remember that it is just a game.
“The way they can play big is to be happy to come to the game, understand that everyone out here, including the officials, are doing the best that they can, and the third is just to enjoy each other’s company,” he said, per NBC 5.
