(12-11-2017, 06:22 PM)Mick link Wrote:Question for you, 76 and OldAlum. Imagine a reasonably competitive basketball game of 7th and 8th graders. Not AAU, but not gym class either. One team is down by one point, two seconds left in the game. Gym is silent. The team that is behind has two free throws to tie, win or lose the game. As the shooter goes into his motion, a parent from the other team yells "Miss!"
Poor sportsmanship, or just getting an advantage over the other team?
Absolutely poor sportsmanship at that age. In California's excellent state-wide youth competitive basketball league (National Junior Basketball, or NJB, grades 3-8, in the middle between recreational league and AAU), any criticism or heckling or disruption of either team by fans, parents, coaches, or players is prohibited; only positive cheering is allowed. To help instill this often-foreign habit, in the second game of the season there is no fan verbal comments/cheering allowed at all, only clapping. There is also an adult gym monitor to enforce this.
In college, with a noisy gym, fan noise is part of the game and yelling to encourage your team and discourage the other team is fine.