Marshwood, Spaulding ADs remind high school sports fans: Good sportsmanship is No. 1 rule

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — This past June, the Marshwood High School baseball team received the Maine Class A South Good Sportsmanship Award. It was the sixth Marshwood team to earn the honor from its peers in the 2022-23 school year. At the time the six sportsmanship banners established a state record, a record that was broken later that week.

More: Marshwood High School holds state record of six Good Sportsmanship banners for one day

Eric Wells’ baseball team joined Marshwood's field hockey, football, girls cross country, boys indoor track and wrestling teams to be honored and recognized last year.

More: Marshwood High School field hockey wins Class A Sportsmanship Award

Unfortunately, that good sportsmanship the Hawks showed on the fields and courts last year, has not carried over to at least some of the fans and spectators at Marshwood games in the first few weeks of the fall 2023 season.

On Sept. 21, Marshwood athletic director Rich Buzzell sent an e-mail to the parents of students to express his concern about behavior at games in the first three weeks of the season that was “a great concern to our administration, community and the overall educational learning environment at Marshwood.”

“We have been met with a few challenges this year in regards to fan behavior that we had not seen in recent years and we are addressing those now,” Buzzell wrote. “We have a very supportive athletic community of our co-curricular program and we take sportsmanship very seriously at Marshwood.  We are proud of the support we give our kids and programs and want to back that with the best behavior we can.”

In the e-mail that Marshwood parents received, Buzzell revealed there were two separate reports from visiting teams, administration and their families stating they were treated poorly at Marshwood and considered the school an unsafe environment for their athletes.

Also, Buzzell, in the e-email, said there was inappropriate language and cheering directed towards Marshwood teams, taunting and derogatory behavior towards other teams; and aggressive interactions among players as well as spectators.

“We have had 'one on one' meetings with people that fall short of our sportsmanship policy and expectations on behaviors at events,” Buzzell wrote. “We have sent letters home to parents and kids about the expectations as well as the School Board policy on sportsmanship that exists in our district.  We have informed everyone that we will follow this policy and if behaviors don't improve they will be removed from events for an extended period of time.

“This is not what we want, but we will do whatever we can to uphold our policy and treat everyone with respect from officials, teams and teammates, opposing players and fans,” Buzzell continued. “We hope that our own fans will 'police' one another when behaviors start to go off track. It really takes a group effort and we must be in this together.”

Spaulding principal, athletic director send out proactive e-mail to parents

Marshwood is not the only school to address parents and call for fan behavior to improve. Spaulding High School Principal Justin Roy and athletic director Kevin Hebert jointly sent a proactive e-mail recently to the parents at Spaulding.

The e-mail, in part, said Spaulding has seen an increase of unsportsmanslike behavior during athletic contests, both home and away, and that “we have made a commitment to promote good sportsmanship by student athletes, coaches, and spectators at all athletic events; profanity, degrading remarks and intimidating actions directed at officials, competitors and other fans will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from the event site.”

Hebert said the e-mail was more proactive in nature rather than in regards to a particular incident this fall at the Rochester school.

“The reality is we want our people to go the games and enjoy the games,” said Hebert, who is also Spaulding’s head football coach. “We wanted to remind parents that playing sports is an extra-curricular activity, it's not a right, it's a privilege. It’s the same thing with being at a game. It's not anyone's right to be watching the game, it's a privilege. So, it (the e-mail) was more of just a gentle reminder of what we expect and what we want to see.”

Like Marshwood, Spaulding has been recognized by the NHIAA with good sportsmanship honors.

“For the past five years we’ve been at the top of the sportsmanship votes in almost every season,” Hebert said. “We’re usually in the top three, and I am proud of that, really proud of that. One of the things that gets judged in the current sportsmanship ballot is what we call 'environment and spectator behavior.' Those are the things that parents that show up to the games don’t even know exist. This (e-mail) was a reminder to our community that we expect them to hold themselves accountable. Sports are passionate, we get it, we understand. But the other side of the coin is there are certain things we won’t tolerate.”

Why could behavior be trending in wrong direction?

Buzzell believes there are number of factors why fan behavior may worse than previous years.

“In my opinion, I see social media, national trends of fan behavior and lack of general respect that people have with others as the main factors,” he said. “But I don't want to mistake these factors for excuses.  Because in my mind, there is absolutely no room for treating people with a lack of respect, no matter what the situation is.

“I think kids on social media and postings made towards other schools/fan bases can feed the fire with kids and their fans behind the scenes,” Buzzell said. “I think most of it starts out in good fun but when taken to a level that crosses lines, problems begin for all of us.”

Buzzell said he, and the school value last year’s six sportsmanship banners just as much as any state championship a team wins on the field.

“Being awarded those says a lot about our kids, coaches and fans that support us,” Buzzell said. “I don't want to lose sight of that. Our behaviors that have recently detracted from our sportsmanship are definitely in the minority.  We have some really great kids, teams and parents here in our district that make us proud every day and support our teams and program the right way. It is very important in my mind to recognize that.  We will work tirelessly to maintain a safe environment for all to come watch games and feel included.”

Winnacunnet, Dover athletic directors weigh in on what they have seen

Both Winnacunnet High School athletic director Aaron Abood and his colleague Peter Wotton at Dover said things, for the most part, have been pretty good this fall in terms of spectator behavior.

“This year, to be honest, I think it's been pretty good,” Abood said. “I haven't had any issues with parents or students. I mean, every now and again, you hear people yelling a little bit. I think the biggest thing is when we have our preseason meeting with the parents that I just try to encourage them not to yell, not to yell at officials and not to yell at the kids. We want people cheering and cheering loudly but cheer for your own team, cheer for your kids.

“Sometimes you have groups of people that sometimes don't act the right way,” Abood continued. “But I think at the end of the day, the vast majority of parents and kids are there for the right reasons and are there to be positive. We've had years that have been worse than others. Currently this year, it’s been pretty good from my end.”

Wotton said there are high expectations of appropriate behavior at Dover, which received the New Hampshire Division I Good Sportsmanship Award for the 2022-23 school year.

“I think kids do a nice job for the most part of holding kids accountable,” Wotton said. “I'm guessing most of our spectators do as well. I don't insert myself into the fan base a whole lot other than to be around, to be seen. It’s not to say we're perfect but I think if anything does come out of the stands, it might be one comment and then it ends. So far this year I have appreciated very much how our spectators have been.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Marshwood, Spaulding ADs remind high school fans about sportsmanship