Kudos to PCA National Advisory Member Julie Foudy for her strong condemnation of New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert for her dirty and dangerous soccer play as seen on ESPN last night. It's a shame this story broke on the same day as a heartwarming high school soccer example of Honoring the Game.
Chris Brigham, athletic director at Vermont's Enosburg Falls High School, dropped off 20 pairs of cleats for Winooski High School's players, many of them immigrants whose families cannot afford soccer equipment.
Even more special, Enosburg Falls donated the shoes a few days before the teams met in the state quarterfinals...in which Winooski used the shoes to defeat Enosburg Falls in penalty kicks.
Read the whole Burlington Free Press article here and share your thoughts on these two starkly different soccer stories by clicking on the Comments link below.
Posted by David Jacobson at 11/06/2009 08:50:53 AM |
I didn't see the ponytail, etc. incident on ESPN. I saw it all over other newscasts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would venture to guess that the story of the soccer cleats was not covered on ESPN. Repeatedly, generally speaking, any act reflecting negative sportsmanship, character, or integrity are all you see on news coverage. There are plenty of great human interest stories out there in the world of sports, but the public never hears of them because they are not a "hot" news item deemed worthy of any ink or airtime by news professionals.
This makes it all the more difficult for individuals and organizations that know what it means to honor the game. Perhaps more of our national media should be exposed to the message of PCA and other organizations that are trying hard to influence our young citizens and future leaders in a positive direction.
Posted by: Tim Thomas ( Email: ) at 11/8/2009 10:26 AM
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The Elizabeth Lambert story highlights a serious issue in competitive sports. However, I can see how, in the world of "if you're not cheating, you're not trying" competitive sports, her emotions could get the best of her.
I grew up with coaches who never played the game. They taught us the rules and we did our best to play within those rules. This philosophy was shattered for me, when my team was destroyed by a team that had no issue bending the rules. I vividly remember my dad saying, "they are making the ref call the game."
Today, I play and coach soccer. To be honest, I enjoy a friendly and physical game. Do I foul and get fouled? Sure. At the end of the day, I'm probably going for beers with the other team. On the other hand, Elizabeth is fighting for scholarship dollars. Professionals and collegiate athletes are under tremendous pressure to perform at all costs.
In Elizabeth's case, you can see in the video the BYU players were, at best, bending the rules too. The "hair pull" (yes, she had her by the pony tail but I think the force came from the right arm against the neck - also it wouldn't be the first time a player embellished a foul with some acting) was instigated by the BYU player with a shorts grab (or worse with the other hand). The question is: Did she have reasonable expectation that the ref would call the shorts grab or an NCAA office after the fact would take action? Given the current climate of competitive sports, I think not.
The reality is, under the pressure of the highly competitive environment, a young woman lost her temper and the rule bending spiraled out of control. Now her name and face are plastered all over the internet and people are saying all sorts of nasty things about her. Elizabeth has made an apology and I'm sure learned some lessons. I hope coaches and society learn some lessons about sportsman ship too.
Posted by: Sean ( Email: ) at 11/10/2009 9:51 AM
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Julie's comments were spot on. Sure soccer is physical game and there can be some jostling and contact but the pony tail pull is way beyond that. If witnessed by the ref should have been a red card ejection.
Posted by: Mike ( Email: ) at 11/13/2009 5:59 AM
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The conduct of Ms. Lambert is reprehesible at best. She has been suspended indefinitely by her coach as it has now focused attenion in the wrong direction on the Lobos' soccer program. As a junior in occupational therapy, she is no doubt well aware of the possible dterimental actions of his play. By the way, Sean, Lambert is playing at the NCAA level so she is not competing for scholarship dollars. She has them already although maybe not. Sadly this reflects il lon the coach of the Lobos, Kit, who hopefully could not see some of the activity. I know the sport of soccer can be pjhysical just as can be wmones lacrosse, whcih I coach, but there is no need to go beyond the bounds of commons sense. The reality is conduct like this has probably been encouraged at the lower level in order to get those precious scholarship dollars. Does the end justify the means? Not hardly
Posted by: TD ( Email: ) at 11/13/2009 7:46 AM
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Regardless of the 'usual' jostling for the ball and incidental physical contact that occurs in any competitive soccer game, Elizabeth's actions were WELL beyond the line. She knows it. There is no amount of ill behavior from the opposing team which can justify her behavior. Its not a street fight, its a NCAA soccer match.
I've coached against other teams which were 'bending' the rules, and if any of my players respond with any rule-bending of their own, they get benched (they're kids so of course it happens). Soccer IS a physical sport, but the line between competitive drive to play the game and deliberate actions aimed at harming the opposing players is crystal clear. "Play the ball and not the other players" is the mantra that I impress on my competitive players.
Posted by: Nick Thompson ( Email: ) at 11/14/2009 9:46 AM
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