A Bob Ettinger column: How they played the game

BOB ETTINGER
Star Beacon

July 23, 2008 09:47 pm

— In sports, winning and losing is inevitable. It's the nature of the beast.
Scores are kept and statistics are recorded. We hail the victors and feel for those on the wrong end of the final score. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and all that.
But winning and losing is not all that sports is. That's especially true when it comes to sports where our young people are concerned.
You see, sports is a great opportunity to teach. Of course, success and the strive for is important. But it goes far deeper than that.
In getting caught up in the result, we forget that our young athletes can learn skills that are far more important than how to win or lose.
We forget that some things, like losing and winning with class, learning teamwork, how to be a team player and being a good sport is important in every day life. Attributes, I myself, learned from playing football and baseball for my dad and a number of other coaches along the way, and still use every day whether I'm on the job or picking up a glove for a slow-pitch softball game.
There are some, and thankfully, they are leaders of young people, that haven't forgotten those lessons. As a sports writer, I can get to be extremely cynical at times. It's the nature of having to sit and observe and to ask questions.
But this weekend, while watching the action at the 2008 Ohio Jaguars Summer Showcase, I was treated to some very good examples of people that haven't forgotten those simple things.
I witnessed Ohio Jaguars manager Scott Francis with his team, the 18-and-under Ohio Jaguars.
In the championship game, the Jaguars were on the wrong end of a 1-0 score and were scratching and clawing for every base runner they could get. In one inning, they had two runners reach base and a third, Jenn Tennant, laid down a beautiful bunt, attempting to move the runners.
The bunt was so good, the Tri-County Hurricanes had no play on her and she was safe at first.
But it was ruled that Tennant had been hit by the ball in fair territory. She was called out and the runners sent back to their original bases. The play, controversial at the time because of the tight score, could well have cost the Jaguars a run in the inning.
But instead of raising a fuss, Francis calmly talked to the umpires about what they saw and what they ruled. His team, though upset, said very little.
The call stood. But instead of offering that as an excuse after the loss, by that 1-0 count, Francis never mentioned it. He never asked, "what if ?" His players, disgusted with the loss, put the blame on themselves and talked of how they didn't make good on their opportunities. They gave credit to the Hurricanes for the win.
Francis set an example. His players followed.
Earlier in the afternoon, during what amounted to a two-hour rain delay, I saw kids, coaches, parents and casual fans from most every team pick up rakes, shovels, buckets and even stryrofoam cups and bowls, to rid the JAGS Complex of water.
At one point, it was thought, the tournament would have to be decided by coin flips. The fields were thought to be unplayable.
But the efforts and teamwork of the masses changed that decision.
Hundreds of people were working together just so the girls on those 50 teams could play out the weekend. Many of the people helping, like local high school boys Bryan Easton, Kyle Gilchrist and C.J. and Zak Gaf, had no real vested interest in the outcome.
They just wanted their friends to be able to play. They just wanted to see some softball.
One coach, Brian Ogrodowczyk of the 18-and-under Erie Frost, touched his players in a way I rarely see.
After his girls lost a tough game to the Hurricanes that would have put them in a semifinal, Ogrodowczyk took the time to say a few kind words and a thank you to each girl on his team. Many of those kids, in tears with the loss, turned those frowns into smiles. Others became even more emotional.
It was an act of kindness from a coach to his players. An act that, in the grand scheme of things, will mean more to those girls than any tournament championship.
It's no surprise that Ogrodowczyk's team was one of the first, alongside the 18-and-under Jaguars, to start working on a field.
Ogrodowczyk claimed that when his team was just starting out, they played at the Jaguars' tournament. He said Francis, the tournament director, showed them respect and treated them well. Ogrodowczyk said that his team comes back to Jefferson every year. The least he could have done, he felt, was help Francis and his girls and their parents keep the tournament running.
Think those girls haven't learned from a good example?
High school coaches have a lot to gain from their players playing travel softball every summer. Their success can hinge upon the work the girls put in with their summer coaches.
Shelley Monas and Andy Gray at Edgewood and Pymatuning Valley understand that, the same as every other coach.
Both Monas and Gray, as well as Monas' sister Sharon, Edgewood assistant Ashley Barker, Lakeside assistant Dan Juhola and Jefferson assistant Gerald Martin were in attendance in Jefferson. But they weren't coaching. They were rooting their players on.
Not because success meant a win here or there next Spring. That means very little. They wanted to see their girls have success. They wanted their girls to know they were supported.
There are hundreds more examples from the Summer Showcase, all similar to those I've laid out. I could go on for days about the good things I witnessed.
I drove away from Jefferson on Sunday evening with a feeling that our young people are in good hands. They are working with people that understand that a win is important, but there are far important things in life. And that, in itself, gives me hope.

Ettinger is a sports writer for the Star Beacon. Reach him at bettinger@starbeacon.com.

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