Spectator heckling can cause consequences for sports teams
Spencer Pyke
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Sports
Lynchburg College's spring athletic season has been filled with excitement and victories as the softball team brought home their third consecutive Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship, lacrosse earned a first round bye in the conference tournament with a number two seeding and the men's track and field team captured their 23rd ODAC Title.
Sportsmanship is a part of every sporting event, whether the contest ends with a victory or defeat, on the LC campus or another location. Often times, LC fans forget the sportsmanship aspect as "hecklers" try and get into the head of the opponents, which usually occurs at most sporting events. While it is considered fun and part of the game by many, most spectators do not know the ramifications that the teams, as well as the college, face. Junior Sam Howe was once one asked to leave the men's lacrosse season opener in which LC lost a hard fought battle with Salisbury University, ranked number one at the time.
"I was asked to leave the game and had to meet with the athletic director as a result of my actions," Howe said. "Dr. Toms told me in the meeting that LC could be forced to forfeit games if the referee thinks the fans are too obscene, so I understand why I was asked to leave but I do not agree with the strict rules."
In the Viability Statement for NCAA Division III Provisional and Reclassifying Institutions located at ncaa.org, it says to "Encourage the development of sportsmanship and positive societal attitudes in all constituents, including student-athletes, coaches, administrative personnel and spectators." The NCAA also identified fan heckling as one of the top issues at their annual conference in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 14, from a series of public and membership surveys.
When game managers, professors or students who work the games, have to ask the unruly fans to leave the premises, they are viewed as the 'bad guys.' The game managers in fact are there to make sure that the LC athletic teams do not have to forfeit as a result of unsportsmanlike colleagues and to maintain the mission statement of the athletic department.
According to the school's website, the LC Athletic Department Mission Statement states that "Lynchburg College places significance on the importance that athletics have on student-athletes rather than serve as an entertainment for spectators."
Sportsmanship is a part of every sporting event, whether the contest ends with a victory or defeat, on the LC campus or another location. Often times, LC fans forget the sportsmanship aspect as "hecklers" try and get into the head of the opponents, which usually occurs at most sporting events. While it is considered fun and part of the game by many, most spectators do not know the ramifications that the teams, as well as the college, face. Junior Sam Howe was once one asked to leave the men's lacrosse season opener in which LC lost a hard fought battle with Salisbury University, ranked number one at the time.
"I was asked to leave the game and had to meet with the athletic director as a result of my actions," Howe said. "Dr. Toms told me in the meeting that LC could be forced to forfeit games if the referee thinks the fans are too obscene, so I understand why I was asked to leave but I do not agree with the strict rules."
In the Viability Statement for NCAA Division III Provisional and Reclassifying Institutions located at ncaa.org, it says to "Encourage the development of sportsmanship and positive societal attitudes in all constituents, including student-athletes, coaches, administrative personnel and spectators." The NCAA also identified fan heckling as one of the top issues at their annual conference in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 14, from a series of public and membership surveys.
When game managers, professors or students who work the games, have to ask the unruly fans to leave the premises, they are viewed as the 'bad guys.' The game managers in fact are there to make sure that the LC athletic teams do not have to forfeit as a result of unsportsmanlike colleagues and to maintain the mission statement of the athletic department.
According to the school's website, the LC Athletic Department Mission Statement states that "Lynchburg College places significance on the importance that athletics have on student-athletes rather than serve as an entertainment for spectators."