Respecting High School Football Referees, Respecting Yourself.

Stories of high school football players assaulting referees has been in the news lately. As absurd as this sounds, it is unfortunately true. While this has only happened a few times out of the thousands of football games being played all over the country, it’s a shame it’s happening at all. One of the things a student athlete learns while playing a sport is to suffer under poor leadership.

Not every coach is full of knowledge and encouragement. Not every referee does a good job or is fair. Not every team mate gives it their all and does their job on the field. But those are the things every person experiences in real life and learning to tolerate other fallible people in your life is a valuable lesson. Everyone understands that emotions and adrenaline can get the better of you during a game—especially when you really care about winning. But, there is something more important than winning—keeping your self respect and maintaining your good reputation. The high school players that assaulted the referees have learned the hard way what a split second decision can do their reputations. They are no longer playing the game they love, they will probably never get a chance to play football at the next level and some of them may either be prosecuted for assault or sued in a civil court. Play the game. Build character.

Aristotle wrote, “Men Acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” Get Reel. Get Recruited.