Jamie Goldberg with her parents at the SF Giants Game
Bending the Rules: How athletes gain the competitive edge
By Jamie Goldberg
Staff Editor
Completely submerged underwater, Susan Nordrum, junior, frantically attempts to pry free from her opponent’s grasp. While she fights her way above water, the referee is still looking in the opposite direction, unaware that Nordrum has been held underwater for the last five seconds.
In a variety of sports athletes like Nordrum face opponents who commit rule violations and utilize intimidation tactics that often go unnoticed. Some players resort to outright cheating, while others even intend to hurt their opponent. Athletes consequently must manipulate the rules to simply stay competitive. So, what behavior should be tolerated and what is unacceptable?
What the referee doesn’t see
For Nordrum, a varsity water polo player, it’s common to be dunked and held underwater in her sport because players can get away with it without the referees noticing.
“People will push your shoulder underwater and hold both of your hands so that you can’t get up,” she said. “It’s traumatic.”
Roxanne Love, senior, faces opponents who utilize similar illegal tactics in soccer. According to Love, players can get away with fouls that the referee simply can’t see due to the extensive size of a soccer field.
“There is a lot of shirt-pulling and cheap things that players do to get one step ahead,” Love said. “If they are pulling your shirt and pushing you, rather than playing fair, it’s a lot easier to start doing that back.”
According to baseball pitcher Michael Small, junior, some high school players will try to intentionally hurt their opponents by sliding into their legs or throwing at a batter because umpires won’t make calls unless they are sure the player is trying to intentionally hurt his opponent.
“Last year there were a couple of situations where people on my team were having good games, so the pitchers hit them so they got hurt,” Small said. “They hit them in the ankle so they can’t run as fast or hit them in the hand so they can’t grip the bat as well.
In more extreme cases, athletes will get caught up in the intensity of the game and resort to cheating that can lead to serious injuries. However, the officials usually catch these acts and players are severely penalized according to players.
Small said that he witnessed a runner throw dirt directly into the shortstop’s face while sliding into second base.
“He had to go to the hospital because he had dirt in his eyes,” Small said.
According to Chris Reilly, senior wrestler, the penalties for even minor fouls in wrestling are so severe that it’s not to the advantage of a wrestler to bend the rules. However, he witnessed a player bite a member of the opposing team during a match last year after the player fell far behind his opponent and became desperate.
“He wanted to win. I guess he was pissed at his opponent,” Reilly said. “There are high emotions in a wrestling match.”
Protecting against fouls
Due to unavoidable fouling that occurs in high school sports and the overt cheating and violence that also occurs, coaches must keep an open dialogue with the referee during the game.
According to Jim Nelson, football coach, the first thing he will do if his players are being persistently fouled is call a timeout and talk to the referee. In most cases the referee will warn the other team and pay more attention to the fouling. However, in cases where the referee is simply unable to see the persistent fouls, Nelson said he does teach his players quick karate-like hand movements to stop opponents from committing fouls such as holding.
Nelson also noted that to avoid having penalties called against his team he teaches his players not to retaliate in most situations.
“In a football game, the first punch is never seen, it’s the second punch,” he said. He also stressed that he teaches good sportsmanship above all and feels that, on the high school level, his athletes should not resort to the dirty tactics that are common in NFL games.
Nordrum said that, her coach, like Nelson has also spent time in practice teaching players to defend against fouls by having them partner up and work on hand movements to force an opponent to let go when they are grabbing a player.
Yet, in most sports coaches and players accept that there is a certain level of rule-bending accepted to take place in every game. In some cases, players must bend these rules simply to be competitive.
As a pitcher, Small said that he will sometimes throw the bitch way inside if the opposing batter is standing really close to home plate, in order to move the batter off the plate. Though this intimidation tactic could be misconstrued as an attempt to intentionally hit the batter, it’s an expected form of intimidation in baseball.
In many sports, it’s just part of the game for players to try to influence the referee’s call by exaggerating a foul that otherwise wouldn’t be called. Love, who also plays varsity basketball, said “acting” is quite prevalent.
“In basketball, if you get fouled on offense, you are going to throw your hands up, or if you get knocked to the floor on defense you are going to roll a few times just to get the charge call,” she said.
Likewise, in baseball, Small said that, if a fly ball bounces just in front of a player’s glove, players will always try to disguise it as a real catch.
“It’s that competitive edge that you need,” he said. “You always try your hardest, but if it’s a close call, you try to play it off like your side’s correct.”
This type of “play acting” is expected by coaches and officials, who recognize that this has grown to be acceptable.
Nordrum agrees that a certain level of aggressive play is just part of the game.
“I’m not going to lie. Taking some aggression out on the other team is part of what makes the game fun,” she said. Players have to know how to push back to stay competitive, but they also have to know where to draw the line.”
Redwood High School
Redwood Bark
December 15, 2006