A call to step up

And so the dust has settled or so it may seem for the unfortunate football incident exactly a week ago today. The findings are out. The now famous cover picture of the incident was just one part of everything that happened. But it sticks out like a sore thumb since the photographer was at the right place at the right time. Had there been many more photographers like him across the field, we would have seen the total picture of what had transpired. The main commotion was at the other side of the field where some players exchanged more than just trash talk. Outsiders (non-players) joined in the fun (when they shouldn’t have) and all the fun led to a fiesta of fireworks. Another picture which didn’t go as “viral” as the picture showed a player with his eye shut, black and blue from a sucker punch coming from a supporter of the other side. Sanctions have been meted out, but the investigation continues especially for the non-players involved.

Now that all is said and done, what do we do now? How do we react? What are our next steps? The irony of it all is that an incident which somehow depicts the shortness or absence of character in us, is also an excellent opportunity to show that we are people with character. This is the real challenge for all of us. Things happen for a reason, and the call is on us to act according to the dictates of our conscience and sense of responsibility. Our post-incident reactions, comments and behavior are actually good indicators of the character within us. And there are only two ways to go. We either worsen the situation or develop the need to improve it. Will we go on fighting the “opponent,” call them names, defend ourselves to death and never admit that we committed a mistake? Will we stand hard that the other side is the only wrong party that is at fault while we have not done anything wrong? Or can we simply shut our mouths, refrain from joining in the crossfire of nasty and degrading comments that only worsen the situation? Will any of this offer a solution to the problem? At this point, a lot of relevant things no longer matter: who threw the first punch; who started the trash talking; who reacted this way or that. The point is that it happened and everyone is to blame for being part of this comedy of errors and booboos. And time will tell. Justice will ultimately prevail. Now is the time to move on and work with the healing process.

What we need now is a move to heal, solve, settle and become better persons out of this whole experience. For all the players involved, there’s a need to deal with them, teen-agers that they are, such as processing their thoughts on the matter and how they’re coping with what happened, regardless of their part in the incident. Since football is a team sport, every single player, coach and official is involved. We simply can’t say “It was them who did it, I didn’t do anything.” The mere fact of doing nothing to prevent the problem was already a fault of omission. We go back to basics of reviewing why we’re into sports and that’s it’s a great way to develop character and one’s personality. It builds confidence, discipline, a sense of teamwork, camaraderie and fellowship. For us parents, we ought to review why we urge our kids to go into sports. We must also review and reflect on our roles as parents of kids in sports. Are we there acting as their coaches, trainers and professional managers? Or shouldn’t we be the chief supporter from the stands who simply enjoys watching them play, win or lose? We are the providers of the shoes and the uniforms that they proudly wear. We are also their chief drivers and alarm clocks for games and practices that they attend. And we stay away from distracting, criticizing or belittling the coaches of our kids. We let the coaches coach, and respect all his decisions even if this means no playing time for our kids. We simply have fun to relieve our stress and relax; instead of being stressed and highly strung.

This may sound off-tangent, but at the end of the day, I’m actually grateful to Our Lord for making this happen. It may be a tough incident to absorb, accept and comprehend. But lessons are there to be learned. Will we learn these or remain indifferent? Values and attitudes need to be changed. Will we switch or remain stagnantly ignorant of the obvious?

It’s our call. May the footbrawl make us better persons of character.

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Time-out: Join the BEST Basketball Clinic sponsored by Milo. May 12-17, 2014 at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Mango Avenue Campus. For more info, check out BEST Center Sports Cebu in Facebook. >>> You can reach me at [email protected].